How to Attract New Contributors to Your Open Source Project: A Developer‘s Guide

As a full-stack developer and open source maintainer, one of the most rewarding – yet challenging – aspects of releasing your code to the world is building a thriving community around your project. Open source software powers much of the modern digital infrastructure, from operating systems to web frameworks to machine learning libraries. In fact, over 90% of IT leaders use open source in their organizations and 69% of companies actively encourage developers to engage in and contribute to open source projects, according to the 2020 State of Enterprise Open Source report by Red Hat.

But the vast majority of open source projects fail to gain traction and achieve a critical mass of contributors. Of the over 60 million repositories on GitHub, only a tiny fraction see significant development activity, with the top 100 most popular projects accounting for over 80% of all stars and forks. For every Linux or React, there are countless abandoned projects languishing with a handful of commits and issues.

So how can you beat the odds and make your passion project stand out in this crowded landscape? Having spent the better part of a decade contributing to and leading open source communities, I‘ve learned that attracting new contributors requires deliberate effort, empathy, and ongoing investment. In this guide, I‘ll share proven strategies and tactics for making your project welcoming to potential contributors and building an engaged developer community, based on my own experience and extensive research into successful open source projects.

Understanding the Contribution Funnel

Think of your project‘s contributor growth as a funnel, much like a typical marketing or sales funnel. At the top of the funnel are all the developers who could potentially contribute to your project – those who work with similar technologies, face related challenges, or share an interest in your project‘s mission. Your goal is to move as many developers as possible through the stages of the funnel by reducing friction and providing incentives to progress to the next level of engagement.

A typical open source contribution funnel looks like this:

Stage	Definition	Conversion Rate
Awareness	Developers who have heard of your project	100%
Interest	Developers who have visited your project‘s website or repository	10-20%
Evaluation	Developers who have read your documentation or issues	5-10%
Contribution	Developers who have submitted a pull request or issue	1-5%
Commitment	Developers who have made multiple contributions over time	0.5-2%

[Source: Made-up data for illustrative purposes only]

As you can see, the conversion rates at each stage are quite low, so it‘s essential to optimize for volume and breadth at the top of the funnel. Don‘t expect hordes of developers to start submitting pull requests overnight – it takes time and multiple touches to nurture casual visitors into active contributors.

In my experience, the most successful open source projects excel at two key things: making a compelling case for their value and impact to attract a large pool of interested developers, and creating a welcoming and frictionless onboarding experience to convert those developers into contributors. Let‘s dive into specific tactics for each stage of the funnel.

Attracting Developers to Your Project

Before you can even start thinking about converting developers into contributors, you need to put your project on their radar and pique their interest. This requires a combination of technical excellence and effective marketing. You need to create a project that solves a real problem in a better way than existing alternatives, and then spread the word to your target audience through multiple channels.

Some strategies to attract more developers to your project:

1. Hone your elevator pitch and unique value proposition. Can you explain what your project does and why it matters in 30 seconds? Does it have a clear, memorable name and tagline? For example, the popular static site generator Gatsby has the slogan "Build blazing fast websites and apps with React."

2. Highlight your project‘s key features, use cases, and success stories. Showcase the different ways developers can use your project and the benefits they‘ll get, such as improved performance, productivity, or user experience. Collect and share testimonials from satisfied users, and write case studies of how your project has been used in the real world.

3. Optimize your project‘s SEO and discoverability. Make sure your project‘s website and repository show up in relevant search results and directories. Use descriptive, keyword-rich titles, descriptions, and metadata. Add relevant topic tags to your GitHub repository, and select a license and coding language to improve visibility.

4. Leverage your existing network and communities. Share your project with your colleagues, friends, and online followers. Post links on social media, forums, and aggregator sites where your target audience hangs out. Engage with relevant online communities and offer to give talks or host workshops about your project.

5. Contribute to other open source projects and establish partnerships. One of the best ways to gain credibility and exposure for your own project is to be an active contributor to other respected projects in your ecosystem. Look for opportunities to collaborate, sponsor, or integrate with complementary tools and libraries.

6. Participate in hackathons, conventions, and industry events. Have a presence at key gatherings of your developer community, whether it‘s by giving a presentation, hosting a booth, or organizing a side event. You can also sponsor or speak at conferences to gain brand recognition and trust.

Making Your Project Welcoming to New Contributors

Once you‘ve attracted a stream of interested developers to your project, the next challenge is to convert them into active contributors. This is where many projects drop the ball, with unclear documentation, confusing issue trackers, and unresponsive maintainers. You need to design a smooth onboarding experience that minimizes confusion and hassle for first-time contributors.

Here are some of the most effective ways to make your project welcoming to new contributors:

1. Create a clear, well-organized README file. Your README is the first thing most developers will see when they land on your project‘s page, so it‘s crucial to make a good impression. Include a concise description of your project‘s purpose, features, and benefits. Add badges for build status, test coverage, and dependencies. Provide step-by-step instructions for installing and running your project. Include GIFs or screenshots for a quick demo.

2. Write comprehensive, up-to-date documentation. Thoroughly document your project‘s API, configuration options, command-line interface, and other key components. Include FAQs, tutorials, and examples for common use cases. Keep your docs in sync with the latest version of your code. Consider using a static site generator like Hugo, Sphinx, or Docusaurus to make your docs searchable and navigable.

3. Use issue and pull request templates. Provide templates for new issues and pull requests that include prompts for the information you need to triage and respond effectively. Use checkboxes, dropdowns, and other formatting to make the templates easy to fill out. Link to relevant docs and examples in the templates.

4. Label issues by difficulty, priority, and component. Use a consistent set of labels to help potential contributors find suitable issues to work on. Indicate the level of difficulty (beginner, intermediate, advanced), urgency (low, medium, high), and affected area or module. Also tag "good first issues" for new contributors.

5. Set up a welcoming landing page for contributors. Create a dedicated page on your project‘s website or wiki for prospective contributors, with links to your CONTRIBUTING guide, code of conduct, issue tracker, communication channels, and other resources. Thank new contributors and highlight ways to get involved.

6. Provide a development environment setup guide. Include detailed instructions for setting up a local development environment, with steps for installing dependencies, running tests, and building the project. Provide a Dockerfile, Vagrant file, or other tools to automate the setup process. Minimize the number of manual steps and configuration required.

7. Respond promptly and politely to questions and submissions. Make an effort to reply to new issues and pull requests within 24-48 hours, even if it‘s just to say you‘ve seen it and will review it soon. Be friendly, patient, and encouraging in your communication. Thank contributors for their effort and offer constructive feedback.

8. Recognize and reward contributions of all kinds. Don‘t just focus on code contributions – acknowledge and appreciate documentation improvements, bug reports, design assets, and other types of contributions as well. Use a tool like All Contributors to automate recognition and keep a record of past contributions.

Building and Sustaining Your Contributor Community

Attracting new contributors is just the beginning – to keep your project growing and evolving, you need to cultivate a sense of community and belonging among your contributors. This means investing time and effort into communication, events, and governance to keep contributors engaged and motivated over the long term.

Some key strategies for building and sustaining your contributor community:

1. Set up regular communication channels and touchpoints. Create a public forum, mailing list, chat room, or social media group where contributors can ask questions, share ideas, and get to know each other. Hold regular office hours, maintainer meetings, or community calls to discuss the project‘s roadmap, issues, and decisions.

2. Organize contributor events and initiatives. Host virtual or in-person meetups, hackathons, or conferences to bring contributors together and build social connections. Run mentorship programs, code schools, or other initiatives to help new contributors learn and grow. Partner with organizations like Google Summer of Code, Major League Hacking, or Outreachy to fund contributor stipends and scholarships.

3. Foster a culture of inclusion, respect, and collaboration. Adopt and enforce a code of conduct that sets clear expectations for behavior and consequences for violations. Model and encourage inclusive language, constructive feedback, and healthy debate. Be proactive about diversifying your contributor base and elevating underrepresented voices.

4. Implement a transparent and participatory governance model. Document and share how project decisions are made, who has authority over what, and how contributors can progress to leadership roles. Use a consensus-based process like lazy consensus or RFCs to solicit input and feedback on significant changes. Hold regular elections or votes to select maintainers and representatives.

5. Celebrate milestones, successes, and contributions. Recognize and publicize major releases, feature launches, and contributor achievements through blog posts, social media, newsletters, and other channels. Create contributor spotlights, swag giveaways, or other incentives to show appreciation and build morale. Share metrics and data on the project‘s growth and impact over time.

Conclusion

Building a vibrant contributor community for your open source project takes time, effort, and patience. There‘s no one-size-fits-all solution, and what works for one project may not work for another. But by following the principles and practices outlined in this guide, you can create a welcoming and rewarding experience for new contributors and cultivate a sustainable community of developers around your project.

Remember, your project‘s contributors are its lifeblood – without them, your project will stagnate and fade away. So make it a priority to invest in your contributors‘ success and well-being, and always be looking for ways to improve and optimize your contributor experience. With a strong and engaged contributor base, your project can achieve incredible things and make a lasting impact on the world.