Becoming a Maintainer
Contributing is just the start. Maintaining a repository is leadership. It's about fostering a community, managing quality, and guiding a project's vision.
Level 1: Triage
Triage is the art of sorting the mess. Your goal is to label issues so developers know what to work on.
The "Good First Issue"
Label easy tasks for beginners. This grows your team.
The "Bug" vs "Feature"
Separate broken things from new ideas.
Level 2: Automation (CI/CD)
Don't waste time checking formatting manually. Let robots do it.
A script that runs every time someone pushes code.
name: CI
on: [push]
jobs:
build:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v2
- run: npm test
If this script fails, the PR cannot be merged. Safe!
Level 3: Community Health
A toxic community kills a project faster than bad code.
Code of Conduct
Enforce it. If someone is being rude, warn them. If they continue, ban them.
Say "No" Nicely
You can't accept every feature. Explain why it doesn't fit the roadmap.
Burnout is Real
You don't owe the world your free time. Take breaks.