Maintaining an Open Source Project this Hacktoberfest

Maintaining an Open Source Project this Hacktoberfest

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3 min read

Isn't it too late to write about Hacktoberfest ?? It's 11 days already...

Well, Open Source contributions are not going anywhere after October and maintaining projects would not be any easy so don't miss out on these points as a Maintainer.

๐Ÿ“‚ The Repository Perspective

  • Set Up a Goal

Before starting out a project, have a goal in mind that you want to achieve this month. It'll help you give the project a direction

Create GitHub milestones to keep the checkpoints of the project.

  • Set up a license that suites your project

Not every repo has code in it, so choose your licenses that match your project. choosealicense helps you pick a suitable license for your project and is created by GitHub.

  • Set up good labels for your project

Don't forget to add the hacktoberfest label to your repo and the issues you want to be included in this Hacktoberfest.

Apart from that, give meaningful labels to the issues that you make. There are bunch of default one's provided by GitHub like enhancement,bug but you can always add new meaningful labels that are specefic to your project.

๐Ÿ‘ฉโ€๐Ÿ’ป The Contributor Perspective

As a maintainer, it is your responsibility to make the contributor's workflow easy and you can do this by simply adding and updating a few things.

  • Have a README and CONTRIBUTING file

Having a clear Readme and Contributing file helps the contributor navigate through the project easily. Consider giving the contributors a good User Experience of your repository.

Mention the tech stack, the goal and ways to contribute in the project. Emphasize on the key points of the repo to make people genuinely interested in the project.

  • Set Up Issues and PR Templates

Providing a template while submitting a PR or raising an issue ensures that the maintainers and contributors stay on the same page.

Don't forget to add the hacktoberfest-accepted label while merging the Pull Requests

  • Use GitHub Discussion !!!

Turn on the GitHub discussions on the project, and convert issues to discussions if further analysis on the Issue is required. Discussions are great to throw out ideas and anyone can get involved and give their 2 cents.

Be polite in the discussions and keep in mind that this might be the first time for a lot of people and you are their guide in this new realm.

๐Ÿ‘ฆ๐Ÿค๐Ÿ‘ง The Community Perspective

  • Join Communities

Join multiple open source communities to learn ,collaborate and ask for help. This is the WHOLE point of the month long Fest!!!

Join Hacktoberfest, EddieHub discord channels and participate in other Hackathons as well. Hashnode and many more are having one right NOW!!!

  • Get your project some attraction !!

Tweet about your project, get the contributors some attention on their GitHub profiles and highlight their contributions in the README as well.

Write a blog about the project, and engage with your community.
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This HacktoberFest I am maintaining a project tabsMonster and having a great time maintaining it.

Looking to mentor anyone who wants to learn.

Feel free to check it out !!!


Here is the List of other open-source blogs you can check out to know more.

๐Ÿ‘พ Happy CONTRIBUTING ๐Ÿ‘พ

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