# Welcome to Aviary
[Aviary](https://github.com/OpenMDAO/Aviary) is an aircraft analysis, design, and optimization tool built on top of the Python-based optimization framework [OpenMDAO](https://github.com/OpenMDAO/OpenMDAO).
Aviary provides a flexible and user-friendly optimization platform for conceptual aircraft design. 

```{note}
Aviary is under active development!
While the base features of the code are relatively stable, new releases may make changes that require users on the bleeding-edge to update their models.

If you have questions or suggestions please let the Aviary team know by posting to the [GitHub discussions page](https://github.com/OpenMDAO/Aviary/discussions).
If you find a bug, please [submit an issue on GitHub](https://github.com/OpenMDAO/Aviary/issues/new/choose).
```

## Getting Started
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For new users, reading the [Getting Started](./getting_started/getting_started) section should be your first step. This contains background information on what Aviary does, and installation instructions.

## User Guide
The [User Guide](./user_guide/aviary_fundamentals.md) provides tutorials and explanations on how to use Aviary for various types of aircraft design problems.

## Theory Guide
The [Theory Guide](theory_guide/intro) gives a much deeper explanation of the equations and modeling assumptions behind Aviary. 

## Developer Guide
This [Developer Guide](developer_guide/codebase_overview) provides relevant information for developers who would like to modify Aviary or contribute code.

## Miscellaneous Resources
There are some features of the Aviary code which are not addressed in the above documentation.
The [Miscellaneous Resources](misc_resources/FAQ) section includes documentation on these additional features, as well as other relevant information.