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Open {re}Source

    Guide

    Start Here

    The whole guide takes 4 h 53 min to read, and you don’t need all of it to start. Pick the reader below that sounds like you: each path is a handful of chapters, in order, with the time they take. Leave the path whenever a chapter sends you somewhere more useful.

    First-timer#

    Student, bootcamp, self-taught.

    Open a real pull request this week.

    8 chapters · 43 min

    1. Definition of Open Source
      1 min
    2. Git and GitHub Basics You Actually Need
      7 min
    3. Reading a Repository in Five Minutes
      6 min
    4. Finding a Project to Contribute To
      5 min
    5. Your First Contribution, Step by Step
      9 min
    6. How to Write a Bug Report That Gets Fixed
      7 min
    7. Open Source Etiquette: Talking to Strangers Who Owe You Nothing
      6 min
    8. Overcoming Challenges in Open-Source Contributions
      2 min

    Designer, writer, translator#

    You make the docs, the icons, the translations or the website.

    Contribute without writing code.

    7 chapters · 53 min

    1. Non-Code Contributions Maintainers Actually Want
      8 min
    2. Reading a Repository in Five Minutes
      6 min
    3. Open Source Etiquette: Talking to Strangers Who Owe You Nothing
      6 min
    4. Git and GitHub Basics You Actually Need
      7 min
    5. How to Write a Bug Report That Gets Fixed
      7 min
    6. Licenses for Things That Aren't Code: Docs, Fonts, Hardware, Data and Models
      7 min
    7. Building a Strong Project Identity
      12 min

    New maintainer#

    You just got the Maintain role, or you shipped v0.1.

    Survive your first hundred issues.

    8 chapters · 55 min

    1. The Files That Turn a Repository Into a Project
      8 min
    2. Reviewing Pull Requests: What to Check, What to Say, When to Close
      6 min
    3. Saying No: Five Replies That Keep Contributors Coming Back
      5 min
    4. Running a Community Without It Running You
      9 min
    5. Security for Maintainers: Before, During and After the First Report
      7 min
    6. Managing Project Dependencies
      5 min
    7. AI-Assisted Contributions: A Policy You Can Copy
      9 min
    8. Burnout, Succession and the End of a Project
      6 min

    Founder or business#

    You're building a company on a project you open-source.

    Build on open source without getting burned.

    7 chapters · 44 min

    1. Choosing a License: Four Questions and a Table
      6 min
    2. License Compatibility: What You Can Combine, and the Tools That Check
      6 min
    3. CLA or DCO: What You Sign When You Contribute
      7 min
    4. Trademarks, Names and Logos: What Your License Doesn't Cover
      7 min
    5. Relicensing: The Source-Available Wave, and the Forks That Answered
      9 min
    6. Understanding Funding Models
      3 min
    7. Governance: Who Decides, and How to Write It Down
      6 min