Important Files

For any popular open source project a CONTRIBUTING.md file is a path to get started with contributing to the project. It will give basic information about how to contribute as well open pull request with templates and such.

First Contributions

This project aims to simplify and guide the way beginners make their first contribution. If you are looking to make your first contribution, follow the steps below.

If you don’t have git on your machine, install it.

Fork a repository

Fork this repository by clicking on the fork button on the top of this page. This will create a copy of this repository in your account.

Clone the repository

Now clone the forked repository to your machine. Go to your GitHub account, open the forked repository, click on the code button and then click the copy to clipboard icon.

Open a terminal and run the following git command:

git clone [url you just copied]

where “url you just copied” (without the quotation marks) is the url to this repository (your fork of this project). See the previous steps to obtain the url.

For example:

git clone https://github.com/<your_name>/first-contributions.git

where your_name is your GitHub username. Here you’re copying the contents of the first-contributions repository on GitHub to your computer.

Create a branch

Change to the repository directory on your computer (if you are not already there):

cd first-contributions

Now create a branch using the git checkout command:

git checkout -b [your-new-branch-name]

For example:

git checkout -b add-my-name

Make necessary changes and commit those changes

Now open Contribute.json file in a text editor, add your name to it. Don’t add it at the beginning or end of the file. Put it anywhere in between. Now, save the file.

If you go to the project directory and execute the command git status, you’ll see there are changes.

Add those changes to the branch you just created using the git add command:

git add Contribute.json

Now commit those changes using the git commit command:

git commit -m "contribution: Added [your-name] to Contributors list"

replacing your-name with your name.

Push changes to GitHub

Push your changes using the command git push:

git push -u origin your-branch-name

replacing your-branch-name with the name of the branch you created earlier.

Submit your changes for review

If you go to your repository on GitHub, you’ll see a Contribute button. Click on that button.

Now Open the pull request.

Some Repository will have a template for the pull request. If there is a template, fill it out as requested. If there is no template, its best to write a brief description of the changes you made.

Soon I’ll be merging all your changes into the main branch of this project. You will get a notification email once the changes have been merged.

Where to go from here?

Congrats! You just completed the standard fork -> clone -> edit -> pull request workflow that you’ll often encounter as a contributor! You can now search for other simple issues on github and start contributing!