GITHUB, ISSUES, OPEN-SOURCE

Finding Good First Issues on GitHub

2 min read

Contributing to open source requires finding a suitable entry point. This guide details how to locate GitHub issues tagged as a “good first issue”; it assumes you prioritize functional code over more social hobbies.

  1. Navigate to GitHub and log in.
  2. Locate the search bar in the top navigation menu.
  3. Input label:"good first issue" is:open and press Enter.
  4. GitHub returns a list of matching issues from public repositories.
  5. Append language:<your language> (e.g. language:python) to filter by programming language.
  6. Apply a date filter such as updated:>2024-01-01 to exclude stale projects. Projects without recent activity rarely welcome new contributors.
  7. Include no:assignee to find unclaimed issues.

Using Aggregator Sites

Several platforms aggregate beginner-friendly issues:

  1. Good First Issue: Selects tasks from prominent repositories.
  2. Up For Grabs: Catalogs projects with tasks designated for new contributors.
  3. First Timers Only: Lists projects offering explicit guidance.
  4. Good First Issues: Provides a feed of current issues.

Practicing Contributions

New contributors can use sandbox repositories to practice workflows. First Contributions offers a tutorial for forking, cloning, and submitting a pull request. This allows for experimentation without the risk of public rejection by a maintainer.

Consult the CONTRIBUTING.md file in any repository to understand specific setup requirements and coding standards. Ignoring these guidelines ensures a prompt, possibly unpleasant, interaction with a maintainer.

Request assignment by commenting on an issue before beginning work. This prevents redundant efforts and clarifies intent; it also ensures your labor remains productive.

If you liked reading this article, consider reading other articles from the “More from the archive” section below!

This post was re-written by an LLM to be more clear and concise. I write articles then use LLMs to straighten them up a bit so it’s easier to read and flows much more neutrally.

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