open-source-ideas/ideas

★ 6,786Audience · developerComplexity · 1/5Setup · easy

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((open-source-ideas))
    What it does
      Idea matchmaking
      Project discovery
      Community building
    How it works
      GitHub issues
      Label filtering
      Comment to claim
    Use cases
      First contribution
      Project ideation
      Collaboration
    Audience
      Beginners
      Experienced devs
      Idea holders

mindmap root((open-source-ideas)) What it does Idea matchmaking Project discovery Community building How it works GitHub issues Label filtering Comment to claim Use cases First contribution Project ideation Collaboration Audience Beginners Experienced devs Idea holders

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Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Find a concrete coding project to build when you want to contribute to open source but don't know where to start

USE CASE 2

Submit an app or tool idea you want someone else to build and get matched with a developer

USE CASE 3

Filter project ideas by effort level and skill category to find something that fits your available time

USE CASE 4

Collaborate with other developers by commenting on an idea issue and building it together

Getting it running

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min

In plain English

Open Source Ideas is a community space where people post project concepts they want to see built but do not have the time to build themselves. Anyone can browse the list, pick an idea that interests them, and start working on it. The repository itself is not a piece of software. It is a curated collection of suggestions, stored as GitHub issues, that connects people who have ideas with people who want a coding project to work on. The system works through GitHub's issue tracker. Someone with an idea files it as an issue and adds labels to describe the estimated effort (little, medium, or much work), the skill level needed (beginner, intermediate, or advanced), and the category (mobile app, web app, AI, security, bots, and others). A developer looking for a project filters the issues by those labels to find something that matches their time, experience, and interests. Collaboration is encouraged. If a developer sees an idea they like, they comment on the issue to express interest. Others can join in, and the original poster can answer questions. When a project gets finished and published, the contributor posts a link back to the issue and the issue gets closed. Completed projects are listed in a Hall of Fame section of the README, recognizing the people who turned ideas into real software. As of the README, eleven projects have been completed through this process and the repository holds over two hundred open ideas. The community follows a contributor code of conduct. There is no code to install or run. The value is in the matchmaking: pairing underused ideas with developers who need a starting point. This is a good resource for someone new to open source who wants to contribute but does not know what to build, or for experienced developers who are between projects and looking for something concrete to work on.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1

Browse the open-source-ideas repository and list all beginner-level web app ideas currently open with no one assigned, then recommend which one is best for a first open source contribution.

Prompt 2

Help me write a well-structured GitHub issue for the open-source-ideas repository proposing a new AI tool, with correct labels for effort level, skill level, and category.

Prompt 3

I found an idea in the open-source-ideas repo I want to build. Draft a comment I can post on the issue to express interest and ask the right questions before starting.

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