🌱 Your First Contribution

Helping absolute beginners make (and understand) their very first open‑source contribution—step by step, safely, and kindly.

Why this exists

Many newcomers want to contribute but get stuck on: forks, branches, commits, pull requests, reviews, etiquette, or even “what can I change without breaking things?”. This repository is a deliberately simple playground where you can learn the workflow with tiny, confidence‑building tasks.

What you will learn here

By completing one small task you will practice:

• Forking a repo
• Cloning locally
• Creating a branch
• Making a meaningful, minimal change
• Writing a good commit message
• Opening a Pull Request (PR)
• Responding to review feedback

Quick Start (TL;DR)

1. Sign in to GitHub.
2. Click Fork (top right) to copy this repo to your account.
3. Clone your fork to your computer:
   • Example (HTTPS): git clone https://github.com/<your-username>/your-first-contribution-.git
4. Enter the folder: cd your-first-contribution-
5. Create a new branch: git checkout -b add-your-name
6. Pick one starter task from tasks/README.md (e.g. add yourself to CONTRIBUTORS.md).
7. Make the edit, then stage & commit:
   • git add CONTRIBUTORS.md
   • git commit -m "docs: add <your-name> to contributors"
8. Push your branch: git push -u origin add-your-name
9. Open a Pull Request (GitHub will show a prompt). Fill in the PR template and submit.
10. Wait for review, apply any feedback, get merged. 🎉

Starter Tasks

Go to tasks/README.md for a curated list of “good first” micro‑tasks (all safe). Finish one before you try bigger things elsewhere.

Project Structure

README.md                – You are here
CONTRIBUTING.md          – Detailed contribution guide (read after this)
CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md       – Expected behavior & reporting
CONTRIBUTORS.md          – People who completed a starter task
tasks/README.md          – List of beginner-friendly tasks
.github/                 – Issue & PR templates

Contribution Flow (Visual)

Fork → Clone → Branch → Change → Commit → Push → Pull Request → Review → Merge

Commit Message Style

Use a short type + short description:

docs: add Jane Doe to contributors
chore: fix typo in README quick start

Types you can use here: docs, chore, feat, fix, refactor.

Need Help?

If you’re unsure, open a draft Pull Request early and ask a question inside it, or open an issue using the “Question” template. Learning out loud is encouraged.

Code of Conduct

We enforce a friendly, inclusive environment. See CODE_OF_CONDUCT.md for expectations and reporting steps.

FAQ (mini)

Q: I’m scared to break something. The tasks are designed so you really can’t. Worst case: we ask for a small tweak.

Q: My PR failed a check. Read the message, push another commit fixing it. That’s normal.

Q: Can I try more than one task? Yes—just keep each task on its own branch & PR.

After Your First Contribution

Level up by:

• Improving wording / docs clarity
• Creating a new beginner task (open an issue first)
• Helping review a later newcomer’s PR (kindly!)

License

Assumed MIT for now (see LICENSE). If maintainers choose a different license later, this section will update.

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Ready? Head to tasks/README.md and pick your first micro‑task. Have fun! 🌟