Where to Look
| Project |
Good First Issues |
| Kubernetes |
good-first-issue label in k8s.io repos |
| Terraform |
good first issue label on provider repos |
| Prometheus |
difficulty/easy label |
| containerd |
good first issue label |
| CoreDNS |
good first issue label |
Start with provider repos (terraform-provider-aws, etc.) and tools rather than core infrastructure. Provider repos are smaller, better documented, and more welcoming.
What Makes a Good First Contribution
In order of difficulty:
- Documentation fixes — typos, clarifications, examples
- Test additions — add tests for untested paths
- Small bug fixes — well-scoped issues with clear reproduction
- Minor features — adding a field to an existing resource
- Refactoring — only if explicitly requested in an issue
Before You Touch Code
- Read
CONTRIBUTING.md — every project has one
- Read the Developer Certificate of Origin (DCO) — many CNCF projects require sign-off
- Check if someone else is already working on the issue
- Comment on the issue: "I'd like to work on this. Here's my approach..."