Complex, mechanistic models in the field of ecohydrology are often written in non-user friendly and proprietary programming languages, thus hindering wider uptake of such models among ecohydrologists. The TRANSCODE project aimed to translate one such model, Tethys & Chloris (T&C) written in a proprietary language (MATLAB) into an open-source programming language (Julia). In doing so, the model is expected to not only be accessible to more users but also enable T&C to be a truly community-driven project, inviting contributions from a broader set of users. In TRANSCODE, ~15,000 lines of MATLAB code were translated into Julia, fundamentally re-architecturing the model to be more modular and efficient. The model, TethysChloris.jl, has been extensively validated and benchmarked against the original MATLAB version. The model is not only more accessible to less-advanced users but also runs 3 to 5 times faster. The model is hosted on GitHub, in a repository that will be made publicly open to the community for contributions with extensive documentation and tutorials. Going forward, TethysChloris.jl is expected to become a community-driven model with the CHANGE lab at EPFL assuming a stewardship role in making sure that user contributions are rigorously tested before incorporating them into the official model version.