---
title: Introduction
sidebar_position: 1
description: Learn about the OpenBB Platform, an open-source solution built by the
  community. Understand its use via Python interface and REST API, and acquaint yourself
  with how to build a custom extension or contribute directly to the platform
keywords:
- OpenBB Platform
- Open source
- Python interface
- REST API
- Data integration
- Data standardization
- OpenBB extensions
- openbb-core
- Python package
- High-Level Architecture
- Custom extension
- Contribution
---

import HeadTitle from '@site/src/components/General/HeadTitle.tsx';

<HeadTitle title="Introduction - Contributing | OpenBB Platform Docs" />

The OpenBB Platform is built by the Open-Source community and is characterized by its core and extensions. The core handles data integration and standardization, while the extensions enable customization and advanced functionalities. The OpenBB Platform is designed to be used both from a Python interface and a REST API.

The REST API is built on top of FastAPI and can be started by running the following command from the root:

```bash
uvicorn openbb_platform.platform.core.openbb_core.api.rest_api:app --host 0.0.0.0 --port 8000 --reload
```

The Python interfaces we provide to users is the `openbb` python package.

The code you will find in this package is generated from a script and it is just a wrapper around the `openbb-core` and any installed extensions.

When the user runs `import openbb`, `from openbb import obb` or other variants, the script that generates the package code is triggered. It detects if there are new openbb extensions installed in the environment and rebuilds the package code accordingly. If new extensions are not found, it just uses the current package version.

When you are developing chances are you want to manually trigger the package rebuild.

You can do that with:

```python
python -c "import openbb; openbb.build()"
```

The Python interface can be imported with:

```python
from openbb import obb
```

This section will take you through two types of contributions:

1. Building a custom extension
2. Contributing directly to the OpenBB Platform

Before moving forward, please take a look at the high-level view of the OpenBB Platform architecture. We will go over each bit in the following sections.

<picture>
  <source media="(prefers-color-scheme: dark)" srcset="https://github.com/OpenBB-finance/OpenBBTerminal/assets/74266147/c9a5a92a-28b6-4257-aefc-deaebe635c6a"/>
  <img alt="OpenBB Platform High-Level Architecture" src="https://github.com/OpenBB-finance/OpenBBTerminal/assets/74266147/c9a5a92a-28b6-4257-aefc-deaebe635c6a"/>
</picture>