[Labs-l] Labs newb

[Golden Ring]

Hi,

Apologies if this is a dup; I'm not sure it got through the first time.

I've been thinking recently about how to do recent changes patrol
better.  I've prototyped a tool, which you can see at
http://recent-changes.appspot.com/.

This is currently implemented on Google AppEngine, basically
becausethat's what I had to hand when I set out and already knew
something about using.  It uses the MediaWiki API to retrieve diffs.
This is not ideal for a few reasons, not least because it wouldn't
take very heavy use of the tool before I'd have to start paying for
it, which would probably mean putting ads on it.  I can't be dealing
with all that.

Somewhere on the API pages, it mentioned that it's possible to develop
tools in MediaWiki Labs, so here I am.  I've read some of the
arthitecture and 'getting started' sort of pages on the WikiTech
pages, but TBH I'm struggling to get my head around it all.  A few
specific questions:

Is Labs the right place to develop this sort of tool as part of the
MediaWiki software, instead of as an external tool?
I think I need to start a new project for this.  Is that right?
If so, how do I go about starting a new project?
Or should I join the Tools project?

If I could make a suggestion, it might be worth mentioning labs a bit
more prominently on the API pages - I didn't know Labs existed when I
set out to develop this tool.  Also, a proper 'Getting Started' page,
which states simply what you can do with Labs and how to get started
doing it, would be great.  It's possible it's there and I just haven't
found it!

Regards,

GoldenRing