Hey everyone! đź‘‹
Can you believe we’re already almost two weeks into Hacktoberfest? It feels like just yesterday we were preparing for the biggest open source celebration of the year. Hosted by DigitalOcean and Major League Hacking this year, it's a fantastic opportunity for developers of all skill levels—from seasoned pros to complete beginners—to contribute to open source projects. And guess what? This year, the legendary swag (yes, the t-shirt is back!) and the tree-planting initiative are both making a return. How awesome is that?
This year, I’ve been involved as both a maintainer and a contributor. What a ride! I'm currently maintaining 12 repositories across three different organizations. Preparing these repositories for Hacktoberfest is a massive effort, and managing them during the event is a complex task. It’s a fun kind of chaos that really shows the excitement driving the open source community.
Hacktoberfest Eligibility: Navigating Rules and Labels
Before we go further, let's quickly revisit some crucial rules for Hacktoberfest 2025. Think of these as your keys to a smooth and successful experience:
Core Qualification Rules
Six Quality PRs: You need to submit a minimum of six quality pull requests (PRs) to participating public repositories on GitHub, between October 1 and 30.
PRs Must Be Merged, Approved, or Labeled: Your PRs must be merged, approved by a maintainer, or have the "hacktoberfest-accepted" label applied to count.
Understanding these guidelines is key to making your contributions count.
When you see a repository with the "hacktoberfest" topic tag on its GitHub profile, that means the repo is officially participating! You can find this tag on the repository main page, in the "About" section.
All valid PRs merged into these repositories will automatically count towards your Hacktoberfest goal. So, if a maintainer doesn't add a "hacktoberfest-accepted" label to your merged PR, no need to worry. It's still counted.
The "hacktoberfest-accepted" label becomes particularly important if your approved PR might get merged after October. Alternatively, if a repository you contribute to isn't officially participating, you can politely ask the maintainers to add the label to your accepted PR so it counts toward the event. By applying this label, your contribution remains recognized and counted towards your Hacktoberfest completion, even if the merge occurs later.
A quick note on rewards: Don't forget to sign up on the official Hacktoberfest website to have your PRs counted and track your progress. The swag is only valid for the first 10,000 contributors who successfully complete the challenge.
A Gentle Reminder: Maintainers Are Volunteers Too!
Just like many of you, most open source maintainers are volunteers. We dedicate our free time—often outside of our full-time jobs—to nurturing and improving these projects. This means that sometimes, we might not be as responsive on weekends, or our availability might be limited.
In fact, the situation is often more complex. Some of us, just like me, maintain multiple repositories across several organizations. Moreover, some projects operate with very small maintainer teams. For instance, the teams I work with typically consist of just 2-3 people who are collectively handling a steady stream of PRs across all those repositories.
This complexity is precisely why we need to be wise in creating boundaries. When boundaries are respected, we prevent maintainer burnout and create a healthier environment for everyone to thrive.
Here's a friendly plea from one maintainer to all contributors: please don't continuously ping us to review your PRs, and please don't message us directly (DM) to review your PR or ask questions related to it.
Open source thrives on transparency and community. If you have questions or need to communicate with maintainers, the best place is to leave a comment on your PR or issue. If the project has a dedicated channel on their chat service (like Discord or Slack), you can ask for help and post your questions there. This way, not only can the maintainers track your progress, but the wider community can also follow along and even jump in to help if you get stuck.
However, it's entirely fair to ask for an estimated review time if your PR hasn't been looked at for a while (say, after about four or five days). We usually get notifications when new PRs come in, and we'll review them at our earliest convenience. Rest assured, your hard work won't go unnoticed.
Beyond the Code: Contribution Etiquette and Long-Term Success
1. Focus on Quality, Not Just Quantity (Avoiding Spam)
The biggest challenge maintainers face is a flood of low-effort, non-meaningful contributions, commonly known as spam PRs. These PRs consume maintainers' valuable time to review, tag, and close them, which takes away the event's spirit.
A spam PR often includes:
Making whitespace edits or adding one non-functional line of code
Unsolicited submissions that are not aligned with a project's goals
Low-effort, unreviewed AI-generated contributions
Important rule reminder:
Pull/merge requests that have a label containing the word spam won’t be counted toward Hacktoberfest, and participants with two or more PR/MRs identified as spam will be disqualified. — Hacktoberfest official website.
If you, as a contributor, see a PR that is clearly spam, you can help the maintainers by leaving a comment on the PR indicating that it should be flagged. This community effort makes a huge difference!
2. Keep Your PR Fresh and Dynamic
To make the review and merge process as fast and smooth as possible, follow these steps:
Regularly Sync: Check your PR every few days. If the default branch of the repository has been updated since you started working, your PR might have conflicts. You need to update your local branch to sync with the latest default branch (often called main) and push those changes. This keeps your contribution easy to merge.
Respond Promptly: If a maintainer leaves suggestions or requests changes on your PR, address them as soon as you can. Quick responses prevent the PR from stagnating and increase the chance for it to be merged fast.
Know When to Step Back: If you find the issue that you’re working on is too complex or you don't have time to finish it, that's absolutely fine! Just leave a comment on the PR or issue informing the maintainers that you cannot continue. This allows them to unassign the issue so someone else can pick it up, ensuring the project keeps progressing.
3. Think Long-Term: Contribution is Year-Round
Hacktoberfest is a great starting point, but the open source community needs your support throughout the entire year. The best way to show appreciation to a project and its maintainers is to stick around after October.
Consider this month your training wheels. Once you understand a project, your contributions become even more valuable. Embrace the chance to become a regular, familiar face in the project community. You might even have the opportunity to be one of the project's maintainers!
Making Hacktoberfest Enjoyable for Everyone!
So, how can we make Hacktoberfest a genuinely fun and rewarding experience for both contributors and maintainers?
For Contributors
Read the Docs: Begin by reviewing the project's README.md and CONTRIBUTING.md files. Every project has different contribution methods. So, understand the project before contributing and follow its specific rules.
Choose Wisely: Look for issues that match your skills and availability. You can look for tags like "hacktoberfest," "good first issue," or "help wanted" to guide your search.
Communicate Clearly: Ask questions on the issue thread or PR comments. Describe your changes thoroughly in your PR description.
Be Patient and Polite: Remember the volunteer nature of maintainers.
Respect Assignments: Always check if an issue is already assigned to someone else. If a contributor is assigned to an issue, don't create a PR for it. Regardless of how good your code is or how fast your submission is, the maintainer won’t be able to accept it, as this violates community etiquette. Opening a PR for an assigned issue is a waste of your valuable time.
Keep Your PR Updated: Regularly sync your PR with the default branch and respond to feedback quickly.
For Maintainers
Clear Guidelines: Ensure your CONTRIBUTING.md is clear and up-to-date. Clear and current guidelines are the most effective way to set up contributors for success and smooth the contribution process. For us, the maintainers, this means significantly less time wasted on reviewing invalid, irrelevant, or non-compliant PRs, allowing us to focus our efforts on merging high-quality contributions.
Tagging is Key: Use the "hacktoberfest" topic tag for your repository and specific issue labels like "good first issue" or "help wanted". Don't forget to add the "hacktoberfest-accepted" label for approved PRs that might be merged after October.
Be Welcoming: A friendly tone in comments and reviews makes a huge difference.
Provide Constructive Feedback: Offer guidance and suggestions rather than just rejecting a PR.
Set Expectations: If you anticipate delays in reviews, communicate that openly.
Set Boundaries to Avoid Burnout: It's okay to limit the hours you spend on reviews and stick to your communicated availability. Protecting your time ensures you can sustain your maintenance efforts long after October ends.
Appreciate Efforts: A simple 'thank you' for any contribution—no matter how small—is a huge motivator.
Automate Where Possible: Tools like issue and PR templates or saved replies can streamline the process for everyone.
Final Words
Let's keep the spirit of open source alive and make this Hacktoberfest the most enjoyable and productive one yet, for every single person involved. Happy hacking, everyone! ✨
