How to Contribute to Open Source
GitHub's community written guide to making a first open source contribution: why it is worth doing, how to read a project's README, contributing guide and issue tracker before touching code, and how to open an issue or pull request that maintainers will welcome. Read it once before your first pull request and the process stops feeling like guesswork.
Guide
Other
GitHub
An hour
Beginner
Free
GitHub's community written guide to making a first open source contribution: why it is worth doing, how to read a project's README, contributing guide and issue tracker before touching code, and how to open an issue or pull request that maintainers will welcome. Read it once before your first pull request and the process stops feeling like guesswork.
Ready to start?
Opens on GitHub in a new tab.
Stuck on something specific?
Writing only gets you so far. If you want an answer to your situation rather than the general case, book a session and we will work through it together. Sessions are free for approved Sefism members, and a few slots open each week.
Follow along
New writing, resources and project ideas land here first.