Finding the Right Open Source Project to Contribute To

The Project Selection Dilemma

With millions of open source projects available, choosing the right one to contribute to can feel overwhelming. Should you contribute to popular projects with thousands of stars? Small projects needing help? Projects in your favorite language? Or something completely different?

The truth is, the “right” project depends on your goals, skills, and interests. This guide will help you navigate the vast open source landscape and find projects where you can make meaningful contributions while growing as a developer.

Understanding Your Motivations

Before searching for projects, clarify why you want to contribute to open source.

Common Motivations

Learning and Skill Development

• Master a new programming language
• Learn specific technologies or frameworks
• Understand how large-scale software is built
• Improve code review and collaboration skills

Career Advancement

• Build a public portfolio
• Demonstrate expertise in specific domains
• Network with industry professionals
• Gain recognition in your field

Giving Back

• Support tools you use daily
• Help solve problems you’ve encountered
• Share knowledge with the community
• Make software accessible to more people

Social Connection

• Join a community of like-minded developers
• Collaborate on meaningful projects
• Find mentors and mentees
• Build lasting professional relationships

Understanding your motivations helps narrow your search and keeps you engaged when challenges arise.

Evaluating Project Health

Not all projects are created equal. A healthy project makes contributing easier and more rewarding.

Signs of a Healthy Project

Active Maintenance

• Recent commits (within the last few weeks)
• Regular releases
• Responsive issue tracker
• Pull requests being reviewed and merged

Clear Communication

• Well-written documentation
• Defined contribution guidelines
• Code of conduct
• Active communication channels (Discord, Slack, forums)

Welcoming Community

• Friendly responses to questions
• Patience with newcomers
• Recognition of contributions
• Diverse contributor base

Good Project Hygiene

• Organized issue tracker
• Clear labeling system
• Reasonable test coverage
• Consistent code style

Red Flags to Watch For

Project Abandonment

• No commits in months or years
• Unanswered issues and PRs
• Maintainer explicitly stepping down
• Critical bugs ignored

Toxic Environment

• Hostile responses to contributors
• Dismissive attitude toward feedback
• Lack of code of conduct
• Public conflicts among maintainers

Unreasonable Barriers

• Overly complex contribution process
• Undocumented setup procedures
• No response to contribution attempts
• Rejection without explanation

Technical Debt

• Broken build systems
• Failing tests in main branch
• Outdated dependencies
• Poor code quality

Strategies for Finding Projects

Strategy 1: Start With What You Use

The easiest path to meaningful contributions is improving tools you already use.

Your Daily Tools

Development: VSCode extensions, terminal tools
Work: Frameworks, libraries, dependencies
Personal: Apps, utilities, games

Benefits:

• Already understand the domain
• Know the pain points
• Can test changes effectively
• Personal stake in improvements

Action items:

1. List tools you use weekly
2. Find their repositories
3. Check if they’re open to contributions
4. Read their issue trackers for opportunities

Strategy 2: Follow Your Interests

Contributing to projects in areas you’re passionate about keeps motivation high.

Interest-Based Exploration

• Web development: React, Vue, Angular, Svelte
• DevOps: Kubernetes, Docker, Terraform
• Data science: Pandas, NumPy, scikit-learn
• Gaming: Game engines, modding tools
• Security: Security tools, vulnerability databases
• Accessibility: Screen readers, accessibility libraries
• Education: Learning platforms, tutorial projects

Platforms for exploration:

• GitHub Topics: Browse by technology or domain
• Awesome Lists: Curated lists of projects by category
• Reddit: Subreddits for specific technologies
• Hacker News: Trending open source projects

Strategy 3: Match Your Skill Level

Choose projects that challenge you without overwhelming you.

Beginner (0-2 years experience)

• Focus on documentation improvements
• Simple bug fixes
• Adding tests
• Small feature additions
• Projects with “good first issue” labels

Example projects:

• First Timers Only repositories
• Hacktoberfest participants
• Educational projects
• Small utilities

Intermediate (2-5 years experience)

• Feature implementation
• Performance optimization
• Refactoring
• Architecture improvements
• Projects with “help wanted” issues

Example projects:

• Popular libraries in your stack
• Developer tools
• Framework plugins
• CLI applications

Advanced (5+ years experience)

• Core feature development
• Security improvements
• Major refactoring
• Architectural changes
• Mentoring new contributors

Example projects:

• Language implementations
• Databases
• Operating system components
• Core infrastructure tools

Strategy 4: Leverage Discovery Tools

Dedicated platforms help match contributors with projects.

Discovery Platforms

Good First Issue (goodfirstissue.dev)

• Curates beginner-friendly issues
• Filters by language
• Direct links to issues

Up For Grabs (up-for-grabs.net)

• Projects actively seeking contributors
• Tagged by skill level
• Searchable by technology

Code Triage (codetriage.com)

• Delivers issues to your email
• Subscribe to multiple projects
• Regular engagement reminders

GitHub Explore

• Trending repositories
• Topics to follow
• Personalized recommendations
• Collections curated by GitHub

IssuHub (issuehub.io)

• Advanced filtering
• Multiple label search
• Language-specific searches

Strategy 5: Explore Through Events

Special events often highlight projects needing contributors.

Hacktoberfest (October)

• Month-long celebration of open source
• Participating projects eager for contributions
• Prizes for participants
• Beginner-friendly focus

Google Summer of Code

• Paid internships for students
• Mentored contributions
• Major open source projects
• Structured timeline

Outreachy

• Paid internships for underrepresented groups
• Three-month programs
• Diverse projects
• Strong mentorship

Local Hackathons

• In-person collaboration
• Project discovery
• Community building
• Immediate feedback

Deep-Dive Project Evaluation

Once you’ve identified potential projects, evaluate them thoroughly.

Technical Assessment

Codebase Quality

# Clone the repository
git clone <repo-url>
cd <project>

# Review the code structure
tree -L 2

# Check test coverage
npm test -- --coverage
# or
pytest --cov

# Review recent commits
git log --oneline -20

# Check branch activity
git branch -a

Questions to ask:

• Is the code well-organized?
• Are there tests?
• Is the build system working?
• Are dependencies up-to-date?

Documentation Completeness

Essential documentation:

• README with clear description
• Installation instructions
• Usage examples
• Contributing guidelines
• Code of conduct
• License file
• Changelog

Issue Tracker Health

Analyze the issues:

Total open issues: Should be manageable (not thousands)
Issue age: Mix of recent and older
Response time: How quickly do maintainers respond?
Issue quality: Are they well-described?
Closure rate: Are issues being resolved?

Community Assessment

Maintainer Responsiveness

Check recent activity:

• How quickly are PRs reviewed?
• Do maintainers explain rejections?
• Are questions answered?
• Is feedback constructive?

Look for patterns:

• Review time: Days vs. weeks vs. months
• Communication style: Friendly vs. terse
• Feedback quality: Helpful vs. vague

Contributor Diversity

A healthy project has:

• Multiple active contributors
• First-time contributors being merged
• Contributors from various backgrounds
• Low bus factor (not dependent on one person)

Check the contributors page:

Insights > Contributors

Questions:

• How many regular contributors?
• Are new contributors welcomed?
• Is contribution activity increasing?
• Are contributions from diverse sources?

Community Channels

Active projects typically have:

• Discord/Slack workspace
• GitHub Discussions
• Mailing list or forum
• Regular meetings or calls

Visit these channels:

• Are people asking questions?
• Are questions being answered?
• Is the tone friendly and welcoming?
• Can you find useful information?

Making Your Final Decision

Create a Project Scorecard

Evaluate each project systematically:

Project: [Name]

Technical Fit (1-5):
[ ] Matches my skill level
[ ] Uses familiar technologies
[ ] Codebase is approachable
[ ] Good learning opportunities

Project Health (1-5):
[ ] Active maintenance
[ ] Healthy issue tracker
[ ] Good documentation
[ ] Working build/tests

Community (1-5):
[ ] Welcoming to newcomers
[ ] Responsive maintainers
[ ] Active communication channels
[ ] Code of conduct

Personal Interest (1-5):
[ ] Interesting domain
[ ] Useful project
[ ] Aligns with goals
[ ] Sustainable interest

Total Score: __/20

Score 15+: Excellent match Score 10-14: Good option Score below 10: Keep looking

Start Small, Scale Up

Don’t commit fully to one project immediately.

Week 1: Observe

• Read the documentation
• Browse the codebase
• Follow issue discussions
• Join community channels

Week 2: Engage

• Comment on issues
• Ask questions
• Review pull requests
• Suggest improvements

Week 3: Contribute

• Fix a typo in docs
• Submit a small PR
• Respond to your first code review

Week 4: Decide

• Did you enjoy the process?
• Was the community welcoming?
• Do you want to continue?

Managing Multiple Projects

It’s okay to contribute to several projects:

The Portfolio Approach

• 1 main project: Regular, substantial contributions
• 2-3 secondary projects: Occasional contributions
• Multiple minor projects: Small fixes, documentation

Benefits:

• Diverse learning
• Network expansion
• Reduced burnout
• Skill variety

Challenges:

• Time management
• Context switching
• Community engagement

Special Considerations

Language and Framework Choice

Stick with familiar technology

• Faster to contribute
• Can focus on domain knowledge
• Build deeper expertise

Try something new

• Learn new skills
• Expand your toolset
• Career pivot opportunities

Balance both: Primary project in familiar tech, secondary project in new tech.

Project Size and Impact

Large, popular projects

• More structured processes
• Higher contribution bar
• Greater visibility
• Slower progress

Small, niche projects

• Direct impact
• Faster feedback
• Closer community
• More responsibility

Consider contributing to both.

Time Commitment

Be realistic about availability:

Minimal (1-2 hours/week)

• Documentation fixes
• Issue triage
• Code reviews
• Small bug fixes

Moderate (3-5 hours/week)

• Feature implementation
• Regular issue resolution
• Community support
• Testing

Significant (5+ hours/week)

• Core development
• Architectural work
• Maintainer duties
• Community leadership

Start minimal, increase gradually.

Red Flags Revisited: When to Walk Away

Sometimes the best decision is to stop contributing:

Project-level issues

• Maintainer burnout with no succession plan
• Fundamental disagreements about direction
• Licensing changes you disagree with
• Project complexity exceeds your current skills

Community issues

• Persistent toxic behavior
• Your contributions are consistently rejected without explanation
• Lack of response to your attempts to engage
• Feeling unwelcome or undervalued

Personal reasons

• Lost interest in the domain
• Time constraints
• Better opportunities elsewhere
• Misalignment with your goals

It’s okay to move on. Your time is valuable.

Your Project Search Plan

Create an action plan for finding your ideal project:

This Week

• Define your motivations and goals
• List technologies you want to work with
• Identify 5-10 candidate projects
• Review each project’s documentation

Next Week

• Join 2-3 project communities
• Set up development environments
• Review issue trackers
• Interact in community channels

This Month

• Make small contributions to 2-3 projects
• Evaluate your experience
• Choose 1-2 projects for regular contribution
• Set contribution goals

Long-Term Success

Building a meaningful open source presence takes time:

Months 1-3: Exploration

• Try different projects
• Learn community norms
• Build confidence
• Make small contributions

Months 4-6: Specialization

• Focus on 1-2 main projects
• Take on larger issues
• Build relationships
• Increase commitment

Months 7-12: Integration

• Become a recognized contributor
• Help onboard newcomers
• Take on responsibilities
• Consider maintainer roles

Year 2+: Leadership

• Maintain components or features
• Guide project direction
• Mentor new contributors
• Represent the project

Conclusion

Finding the right open source project is a journey, not a destination. Your needs, skills, and interests will evolve, and so will your project choices. The perfect project for you today might not be the same a year from now, and that’s completely normal.

Start by understanding what you want to achieve, evaluate projects systematically, and don’t be afraid to try multiple options before committing. The open source community is vast, diverse, and welcoming. There’s a place for everyone, including you.

The best time to start was yesterday. The second-best time is now. Begin your search today, and don’t be discouraged if it takes a few tries to find the right fit. Every successful open source contributor started exactly where you are now.

Your perfect project is out there, waiting for your unique contributions.