First Contributions
A step-by-step tutorial that walks beginners through their first open source contribution.
- Stars
- 56.7k
- Forks
- 112k
- Licence
- MIT
- Language
- —
- Last update
- 4 days ago
- Type
- Learning resource
What it is
This is a beginner tutorial hosted on GitHub that explains how to make a first contribution to an open source project. Its description says it helps beginners contribute to open source projects. The README provided here is mostly badges and translation links, so the exact steps of the tutorial are not visible in this excerpt.
- Follow the tutorial to make a first small change to a practice repository
- Learn the basic fork, branch, commit and pull request workflow on GitHub
- Share the project with someone new to open source as a starting point
Great for
- People who have never submitted a pull request to an open source project
- Students looking for a guided first exercise in using Git and GitHub
- Mentors or teachers who want a starting link to share with newcomers
Not ideal for
- Experienced contributors who already know the GitHub pull request workflow, since the tutorial targets beginners
- People looking for a software tool to install, because this is a learning resource rather than a program
How to get it
- 1
Read it online
Clone the repository
git clone https://github.com/firstcontributions/first-contributions - 2
Run it
- Open the project homepage at https://firstcontributions.github.io or the GitHub repository
- Read the README and follow the tutorial steps in order
- Make a small change in the practice workflow and submit it as a pull request
- 3
Get the most out of it
- Read the translated versions linked in the README if English is not your first language
- Use the Translations.md page to find localized guides
Downloads
Strengths
- Widely used by newcomers, with 56,610 stars on GitHub at the time of the metadata
- Released under the permissive MIT license, so it can be reused and adapted
- Available in many languages through the translation links in the README
Trade-offs
- The README excerpt provided is mostly badges and translation links, so the tutorial content could not be verified here
- Learners still need to be comfortable with a web browser and basic Git concepts
- No formal release is listed, so the project is best treated as a living guide rather than a versioned package
How it compares
| Project | Stars | Type | Level | Updated | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| first-contributions (this) | 56.7k | Learning resource | beginner | 4 days ago | People who have never submitted a pull request to an open source project |
| Project-Ideas-And-Resources | 17.1k | Curated list | beginner | 20 days ago | Beginners who want a practice project to build |
| terminal | 105k | App | beginner | 6 days ago | Windows users who work in the command line every day and want tabs and rich text |
| rustlings | 64.5k | Learning resource | beginner | 10 days ago | People learning Rust for the first time |
| claude-howto | 46.4k | Learning resource | beginner | 4 days ago | Developers who have installed Claude Code and want to go beyond basic prompts |
| java8-tutorial | 16.7k | Learning resource | beginner | 3.2 years ago | Java developers who work on older Java code and want to learn Java 8 features |
Stats synced from GitHub. The assessment above was drafted with AI from the project's README on 2026-10-29 and may miss recent changes — check the README before relying on a command. MIT licence: free to use, modify and distribute, including commercially, as long as you keep the copyright notice.