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Contributing Guide Generator

Generate CONTRIBUTING.md files for your open source projects.

Why Contributing Guidelines Matter

A well-written CONTRIBUTING.md file makes it easier for people to contribute to your project. It sets expectations, reduces friction, and helps maintain quality and consistency.

Benefits of Contributing Guidelines

For Contributors
  • Clear process for getting started
  • Understanding project standards
  • Knowing what to expect
  • Feeling welcomed and valued
For Maintainers
  • Fewer low-quality contributions
  • Less time explaining processes
  • Consistent code quality
  • More time for meaningful work

Essential Sections

Establishes behavioral expectations and creates a welcoming environment. Should cover:

  • Expected behavior (be respectful, constructive, inclusive)
  • Unacceptable behavior (harassment, discrimination, trolling)
  • Enforcement and reporting procedures
  • Consequences for violations
Tip: Consider adopting the Contributor Covenant, a widely-used code of conduct.

Help new contributors set up their development environment:

  • Fork and clone instructions
  • Development environment setup
  • How to run tests
  • How to build the project
  • Links to additional documentation

Guide contributors on submitting quality bug reports:

  • Where to report (GitHub Issues, etc.)
  • Search existing issues first
  • Information to include (steps to reproduce, expected/actual behavior, environment)
  • Screenshots and error messages
  • Link to bug report template

Set expectations for feature requests:

  • Project vision and scope
  • What makes a good feature request
  • Discussion process
  • Timeline expectations
  • When features might be rejected

Clear steps for submitting contributions:

  • Branch naming conventions
  • Commit message format
  • Testing requirements
  • Documentation updates
  • Review process and timeline
  • What happens after approval

Define code quality expectations:

  • Code style guide (or link to it)
  • Naming conventions
  • Comment/documentation requirements
  • Testing standards
  • Performance considerations
  • Linter/formatter configurations

Pull Request Checklist Example

Provide a clear checklist for contributors:

## Pull Request Checklist

Before submitting your PR, please review and check the following:

- [ ] Code follows the project's style guidelines
- [ ] Self-review performed
- [ ] Comments added for complex/unclear code
- [ ] Documentation updated (if needed)
- [ ] No new warnings generated
- [ ] Tests added for new features
- [ ] All tests pass locally
- [ ] Dependent changes merged and published
- [ ] Changelog updated (if applicable)

Commit Message Guidelines

Many projects follow conventional commit formats:

## Commit Message Format

type(scope): subject

body (optional)

footer (optional)

### Types:
- feat: New feature
- fix: Bug fix
- docs: Documentation changes
- style: Formatting, missing semicolons, etc.
- refactor: Code restructuring
- test: Adding tests
- chore: Maintenance tasks

### Example:
feat(auth): add OAuth2 login support

Implement OAuth2 authentication flow for Google and GitHub.
Users can now sign in using their existing accounts.

Closes #123

Best Practices

  • Be welcoming: Use inclusive language and assume good intentions
  • Be clear: Write step-by-step instructions, not assumptions
  • Be realistic: Set honest expectations about response times
  • Be specific: Provide examples of good and bad contributions
  • Be concise: Keep it as short as possible while being complete
  • Provide templates: Link to issue and PR templates
  • Link to resources: Point to style guides, documentation, etc.
Remember: Your CONTRIBUTING.md is often the first interaction new contributors have with your project community. Make it count!
Quick Tips
  • Place in repository root
  • Link from README
  • Keep it up to date
  • Use clear examples
  • Thank contributors
  • Make it easy to find
  • Be welcoming and friendly
Great Examples

Learn from these projects:

Related Files

Complement CONTRIBUTING.md with:

  • CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md
  • .github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE/
  • .github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md
  • SECURITY.md
  • GOVERNANCE.md
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