Open Source
Contribute to software the whole world uses.
Make your first pull request, find projects that want help, and join programs like GSoC and Hacktoberfest.
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Learning path
Work through these in order. Each step builds on the last.
Step 2: Make your first pull request
A safe practice repo built for exactly this.
Step 3: Find a project
Step 5: Join a program
Hacktoberfest
A month-long celebration of open source every October.
hacktoberfest.com
CommunityGoogle Summer of Code
A paid summer program working on open-source projects with mentors.
summerofcode.withgoogle.com
CommunityLFX Mentorship
Paid mentorships on Linux Foundation and CNCF projects.
mentorship.lfx.linuxfoundation.org
Community
Everything in Open Source
GitHub Skills
Short interactive courses that teach GitHub inside real repositories.
skills.github.com
First Contributions
A step-by-step practice repo for making your very first open-source contribution.
github.com
Good First Issue
Curated beginner-friendly issues from popular open-source projects.
goodfirstissue.dev
Up For Grabs
Projects with tasks set aside for new contributors.
up-for-grabs.net
SOSC on GitHub
Our own projects. Ask on any issue and a member will help you get started.
github.com
Open Source Guides
GitHub's guides to contributing, maintaining and building open-source communities.
opensource.guide
Conventional Commits
A simple convention for commit messages that many projects expect.
conventionalcommits.org
Hacktoberfest
A month-long celebration of open source every October.
hacktoberfest.com
Google Summer of Code
A paid summer program working on open-source projects with mentors.
summerofcode.withgoogle.com
LFX Mentorship
Paid mentorships on Linux Foundation and CNCF projects.
mentorship.lfx.linuxfoundation.org
Choose a License
Pick the right open-source license for your project, in plain English.
choosealicense.com
How to Contribute to Open Source
GitHub's guide to finding a project, making your first contribution and what to expect after.
opensource.guide
GitHub Docs, Contributing to Projects
The official fork, clone, branch and pull request walkthrough.
docs.github.com
GitHub Flow
The simple branch-based workflow most open-source projects use.
docs.github.com
About Pull Requests
How pull requests work, from drafts to reviews and merging.
docs.github.com
Syncing a Fork
Keep your fork up to date with the original project, a step everyone forgets.
docs.github.com
GitHub Explore
Trending repositories, topics and collections to find projects you care about.
github.com
GitHub Topics, good-first-issue
Repositories tagged as welcoming to first-time contributors.
github.com
First Timers Only
Explains first-timers-only issues and links to places to find them.
firsttimersonly.com
CodeTriage
Get a popular project's open issues in your inbox each day to help triage.
codetriage.com
Awesome for Beginners
A long-maintained list of projects with beginner-friendly issues, sorted by language.
github.com
Awesome
The original awesome list of awesome lists, a map of the open-source world.
github.com
Outreachy
Paid remote internships in open source for people underrepresented in tech.
outreachy.org
MLH Fellowship
A remote, paid fellowship where students contribute to open-source projects in small teams.
fellowship.mlh.com
Season of KDE
KDE's mentorship program for new contributors to its desktop apps and tools.
mentorship.kde.org
Google Season of Docs
A Google program that pairs technical writers with open-source projects.
developers.google.com
GSoC Guides
The official GSoC contributor guide on picking an org, writing a proposal and working with mentors.
google.github.io
GSoC Organizations Archive
Past GSoC orgs and projects, useful for picking an org early and studying accepted ideas.
summerofcode.withgoogle.com
GSoC Organizations Finder
Filter past GSoC organisations by technology, years participated and number of slots.
gsocorganizations.dev
Linux Foundation Free Training
Free courses from the Linux Foundation, including Open Source Licensing Basics and Beginner's Guide to Open Source.
training.linuxfoundation.org
CNCF Mentoring
All Cloud Native Computing Foundation mentorship programs, including LFX and GSoC slots.
github.com
Summer of Bitcoin
A paid summer internship for university students to work on Bitcoin open-source projects.
summerofbitcoin.org
GirlScript Summer of Code
A popular Indian three-month open-source program for beginners.
gssoc.girlscript.org
FOSS United
An Indian non-profit running FOSS meetups, IndiaFOSS and grants for open-source projects.
fossunited.org
Open Source Initiative
The steward of the Open Source Definition and the list of approved licenses.
opensource.org
OSI Approved Licenses
The official list of open-source licenses, with full texts.
opensource.org
tl;drLegal
Software licenses explained in plain English, what you can, can't and must do.
tldrlegal.com
SPDX License List
Standard short identifiers for every common license, used in package files.
spdx.org
GNU Licenses
The GPL family of licenses and the Free Software Foundation's take on software freedom.
gnu.org
Creative Commons Licenses
The licenses to use for docs, images and other non-code work.
creativecommons.org
REUSE
FSFE's simple rules and tool for clearly marking licenses and copyright in every file.
reuse.software
Developer Certificate of Origin
The short sign-off text many projects require on every commit.
developercertificate.org
Contributor Covenant
The most widely used code of conduct for open-source projects.
contributor-covenant.org
Starting an Open Source Project
How to launch your own project with a README, license, and contributing guide.
opensource.guide
Best Practices for Maintainers
Setting expectations, automating chores and avoiding burnout as a maintainer.
opensource.guide
Make a README
What a good README contains, with a template to start from.
makeareadme.com
Awesome README
A curated list of great READMEs to learn from.
github.com
Keep a Changelog
A simple, widely used format for writing human-friendly changelogs.
keepachangelog.com
Semantic Versioning
The MAJOR.MINOR.PATCH rules for version numbers that most packages follow.
semver.org
Producing Open Source Software
Karl Fogel's free book on how successful open-source projects are run.
producingoss.com
Working in Public
Nadia Eghbal's book on how open-source maintainers and communities really work today.
press.stripe.com
The Cathedral and the Bazaar
Eric Raymond's classic essay on the open-source development model.
catb.org
Forge Your Future with Open Source
A practical book on finding a project and making your first contributions.
pragprog.com
How to Write a Git Commit Message
The seven rules of a great commit message, a widely shared classic.
cbea.ms
Git Rebase Interactive Guide
Pro Git's chapter on squashing, rewording and cleaning up commits before a PR.
git-scm.com
Git Docs
The official reference for every Git command.
git-scm.com
GitHub CLI
Create, review and check out pull requests and issues from the terminal.
cli.github.com
GitHub Desktop
A free GUI for Git and GitHub if you're not ready for the terminal.
github.com
GitHub Actions Docs
Automate tests and checks on every pull request with GitHub's built-in CI.
docs.github.com
pre-commit
Run linters and formatters automatically before each commit, common in big projects.
pre-commit.com
GitLab Docs, Contribute to GitLab
How to contribute to GitLab itself, one of the largest open-source codebases.
docs.gitlab.com
Mozilla Contribute
Ways to help Mozilla with code, docs, localization and testing.
mozilla.org
Kubernetes Contributor Guide
A detailed guide to contributing to Kubernetes, a model for large projects.
kubernetes.dev
Python Developer's Guide
How to contribute to CPython, with a gentle getting-started section.
devguide.python.org
Linux Kernel Newbies
A community and wiki for people starting out with Linux kernel development.
kernelnewbies.org
Wikimedia How to Contribute
Ways to contribute code, docs and translations to Wikipedia's software.
mediawiki.org
Translatewiki.net
Translate open-source software into your language, including Kannada and Hindi.
translatewiki.net
Open Source Friday
GitHub's initiative encouraging people to give a little time to open source every Friday.
opensourcefriday.com
The Changelog
A long-running podcast with the people who build and maintain open-source software.
changelog.com
Eddie Jaoude
A YouTube channel all about open source, GitHub and getting started contributing.
youtube.com
freeCodeCamp Git and GitHub Crash Course
A one-hour beginner video on Git and GitHub from freeCodeCamp.
youtube.com
Kunal Kushwaha Complete Git and GitHub Tutorial
A popular long-form video on Git, GitHub and contributing to open source.
youtube.com
GitHub Sponsors
How developers and maintainers get funded directly by the community.
github.com
Open Collective
Transparent funding for open-source projects and communities.
opencollective.com
CHAOSS
A Linux Foundation project defining how to measure open-source community health.
chaoss.community
TODO Group
Guides for companies running open-source program offices (OSPOs).
todogroup.org
OpenSSF Scorecard
Automated security health checks for open-source projects.
scorecard.dev
All Contributors
A spec and bot for recognising every kind of contribution, not just code.
allcontributors.org
GitHub Codespaces
Open any repository in a cloud VS Code environment, free hours for students.
github.com
Apache Software Foundation, Get Involved
How to start contributing to Apache projects and join their mailing lists.
community.apache.org
The Apache Way
How the Apache Software Foundation runs community-led projects.
apache.org
Free Software Foundation
The organisation behind the GPL and the free software movement.
fsf.org
Open Source Design
A community connecting designers with open-source projects that need them.
opensourcedesign.net
Write the Docs
A global community for documentation, with guides on writing good docs.
writethedocs.org
Diátaxis
A framework for structuring docs into tutorials, how-tos, reference and explanation.
diataxis.fr
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