Please find below a few guidelines that will help you make the most of open-source contributions.

1. Create clear and welcoming documentation

Start with the basics: a comprehensive README file explaining your project, how to set it up, and how to contribute. Clear onboarding documentation should detail the mechanics of your project, what contributors can do, and which areas they should avoid. It's also highly recommended to include steps on how to get started.

Additionally, you can also create a CONTRIBUTION.md file to outline the contribution process. For example:

• You can let contributors know that in order to be assigned to an issue, it is best to introduce themselves and share how they will approach the task.
• If you have a telegram (or Discord) group - which we highly recommend - you can let contributors know to join the group for further discussions.
• You can include a code of conduct to ensure a respectful community.

2. Label and detail your issues

To help contributors better understand the nature and complexity of tasks, use labels to categorize your issues.

This can be done by type (bug, feature, documentation…), difficulty (easy, medium, hard) and priority. We also advise you to use tags like “good first issue” to highlight introductory tasks for new contributors that are not yet familiar with your project. Overall, proper tagging ensures issues are easily discoverable, helping contributors find tasks that match their skills and interests.

When writing issue descriptions, be clear and detailed. Include the problem statement, steps to reproduce, expected behavior, and any relevant screenshots or logs. This helps contributors understand the issue fully and know how to help resolve it.

<aside> 💡 A maintainer from Walnut that has successfully onboarded strong contributors suggests “to create issues and write descriptions in a way that someone new, who is not yet familiar with the repository or the project, can understand the bulk of it and knows what to do”.

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