Thread by @AparnaSoneja

How to find good Open source projects for beginners/ first time contributors

1. If u want to practice a skill X, eg: React JS, search for React in the Explore tab on GitHub

2. Here u can see how many search results are shown up for React
The ones that I highlighted in red are the no. of stars on each project.
Select the project that has more stars, a good community & more no. of open issues.

3. After your project is selected, u can not just jump to any issue as a beginner.
So, first try to choose good first issues for u on going to the "Issues" tab

4. Some projects might not list the good first issues on "Issues" tab, like the one in the screenshot.
To find an issue that u can do as a newbie, go & find labels like "good first issue" or "first timer"or even if u are not good at coding, search for labels like "documentation"

5. Most common labels are:
- bug
- feature request
- documentation
- help wanted
- improvement
- good first issue & many more

If u are good at coding, u can go with issues with any of the labels. But if not, don't worry, u can still go for doc issues, good first or improvement

6. After selecting the label, select 1 issue out of the labels & if u want to work on that, comment on that issue so that the maintainers of the project can assign that to your name.

7. Can't find an appropriate issue for u?
Don't worry, u can just check out the code for that project or even it's readme file & see if any improvements can be made to it.
If yes, u can contribute by suggesting your changes by creating a new issue.

That's a wrap on "How to search for good open source projects to contribute".
In my upcoming threads, I will discuss "How can u actually make your first contribution" & "Some good Open source projects".