OSS-Skills

15 skills that walk you through your first open source contribution, and your tenth. Install in 30 seconds on Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, Cline, Copilot, Windsurf, Zed, Gemini CLI or Kiro. Start with oss-find-issue. The skill handles the research, you handle the thinking.

Built by a GSoC mentor who got tired of watching contributors make the same avoidable mistakes - picking issues nobody maintains, skipping CONTRIBUTING.md, submitting PRs that ignore the repo’s conventions, and not being able to explain their own code during review.

These skills encode what I wish every contributor knew before their first submission.

This is NOT a curated list or a collection of resources. These are executable skills you install and run. They search GitHub issues, read contribution docs, trace code paths, check if repos accept outside contributions, and ask you questions at every step. If you want a markdown list, this isn’t it.

See it work

An abridged session. The issue numbers are invented, everything else is what the skills actually do.

You:     /oss-find-issue
Skill:   What languages do you know? Any specific repos, or want me to find one?
You:     I know Python. No specific repo - find me a good first issue anywhere.
Skill:   [searches repos, checks eligibility, filters by maintainer-filed issues]
         Found 3 unclaimed issues matching your skills...

         1. fastapi/fastapi #5621 - Fix type hint in dependency injection
         2. pallets/click #2734 - CLI argument parsing edge case
         3. encode/httpx #3102 - Connection timeout not respected

You:     That second one looks interesting - the CLI argument parsing bug.
Skill:   Why that one? What do you think the fix involves?
         (Hint: look at the scope above - what about it matches your skills?)
You:     I've worked with Click before. The description mentions argument groups
         which I dealt with in my last project...
Skill:   Good. Re-checking nobody took it while we talked... still clear.
         Some repos want a maintainer to assign instead. This one lets you
         self-claim, so post a one-liner and keep it short:
         "I'd like to work on this - looks like it's in the argument group
          handling. Happy to take it if nobody else has started."
You:     Posted.
Skill:   Run /oss-prep-to-contribute next.

You:     /oss-prep-to-contribute
Skill:   [reads CONTRIBUTING.md, CODE_OF_CONDUCT, maps architecture]
         This repo uses pytest, conventional commits, and requires DCO sign-off.
         Quick check: do you know what DCO sign-off means?
You:     Not really...
Skill:   It's a one-line attestation that you have the right to submit this code.
         Add it with: git commit -s. Here's the full guide: ...
         Now explain the repo's architecture in your own words.

Install - 30 seconds

Requirements: Git, gh CLI (authenticated), and an AI coding tool.