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For open-source project owners

Move your project forward.
Help contributors grow.

Devprentice helps you run a mentored contribution program in your public GitHub repository. You choose the issues and features, set milestones and an AI policy, and review the work. Contributors stay for several tasks, not one drive-by pull request.

Prepare a programSee an example program

Free for public repositories · Private pilot · GitHub sign-in

  • Useful project progress

    Give contributors work your project needs.

  • Growing contributor relationships

    Build familiarity through continued work and feedback.

  • Visible mentorship

    Connect your guidance to the work it helps improve.

Devprentice for Maintainers — Turn Your Backlog Into Progress · YouTubeWatch the maintainer overview on YouTube

See the approach

Turn your project’s next steps
into a contribution path.

Create a program around meaningful work, share the context, and guide someone through it. Build useful progress and a stronger working relationship along the way.

A clear commitment
from both sides.

Program agreementIllustrative · agreed before anyone commits

Your part

Bring the project context and guidance.

Choose useful work, explain what success looks like, and make time for questions and review. Help the contributor understand the decisions and practices behind your project.

The contributor’s part

Bring useful work and follow-through.

Contributors take on agreed tasks, communicate progress, and apply feedback. Your project gains contributions while they gain experience working in an existing codebase.

Working together across several milestones gives you time to build shared context and explore whether the collaboration should continue.

How it works

From your roadmap
to a contribution program.

  1. Shape useful work

    Choose a connected set of issues and features. Define the outcome, starting skills, and scope you can support.

  2. Agree how you’ll work together

    Make expectations for effort, communication, guidance, review, and AI use clear before a contributor commits.

  3. Guide the work as it progresses

    Keep code and pull requests on GitHub. Review progress, help contributors apply feedback, and retain the context of the work and its outcomes.

A program in practice

Give someone a path
through your roadmap.

Bring related work together around a useful project outcome. Guide the contributor through successive tasks, with room to ask questions, review decisions, and improve the work.

Illustrative program

Make issue triage easier

Help project users find, organize, and return to the issues that matter to them.

  1. Understand the projectExplain the relevant flow and agree the expected behavior
    Accepted
  2. Improve filteringDiscuss the approach and review edge cases
    This example
  3. Add saved viewsReview behavior and explain project conventions
    Up next
  4. Improve access and reliabilityReview interaction details and test coverage
  5. Document and hand overReview the outcome and discuss what comes next

feature/issue-filtersMilestone 02 · Improve filtering

  1. Explain the task

    Day 1

    Milestone 02Add useful filters and handle empty results

    • Explain where filtering lives
    • Agree the intended result
    • Name the edge cases to cover

  2. Review the approach

    Day 3

    feature/issue-filtersOpen

    Adds label and status filters to the issue list, with tests for each filter.

    +118−95 files changed

  3. Give feedback

    Day 4

    Maintainer · reviewWhat should happen when no issues match?

    Maintainer · reviewOur list views share an empty-state component. Reuse it, and add a regression test.

  4. Review the revision

    Day 5

    // Show an empty state when nothing matches− return <IssueList issues={matches} />;+ if (matches.length === 0) {+   return <NoMatchingIssues />;+ }+ return <IssueList issues={matches} />;

    Maintainer · decisionAccepted. This matches the behavior we agreed.

  5. Guide the next milestone

    Next milestone

    Up next · Milestone 03Add saved views. Explain how the project stores user preferences.

Illustrative program. Choose a scope and review rhythm you can realistically support.

The guidance behind the work

Make your contribution as a mentor
easier to see.

The goals you help define, the feedback you give, and the decisions you explain are part of the collaboration. A Contribution Record connects that context with the work and reviewed outcomes.

When a contributor publishes their record, others can see the contribution and the guidance behind it. Sharing follows the product’s existing visibility controls.

See a sample Contribution Record

Contribution Record

Sample Contribution Record

CompletedPrivateFictional

Invitation reliability program

Sample contributor completed Invitation reliability program · Jun 12, 2026

Accepted milestones

  1. Distinguish expired and already-used invitation links

    Acceptance criteria: Expired and already-used invitation links show distinct states, retries stay safe, and regression tests cover both.

    Reviewed by Sample maintainer on May 23, 2026.

    Acceptance context: The first review asked for an already-used-link regression test and a note on the expected state. The revision added both, so the bounded task was accepted.

    • Earlier submission 1

      First submission: distinct expired-link state with tests.

      Earlier submitted revision; not the accepted submission

    • Accepted work 2

      Added the already-used-link regression test and explained why later visits show the completed invitation state.

      Submission present when this milestone was accepted

  2. Agree the retry edge cases before coding

    Acceptance criteria: Duplicate, expired, and interrupted requests are listed and agreed before the retry path is changed.

    Reviewed by Sample maintainer on Jun 8, 2026.

    Acceptance context: The edge cases were agreed before coding, and the change matched them.

    • Accepted work 1

      Edge-case list agreed in review, then the retry change with tests.

      Submission present when this milestone was accepted

Maintainer confirmation

The maintainer confirmed that the required milestones were accepted.

Both required milestones were accepted. The contributor applied review feedback within the agreed scope.

Record details

Repository
example-org/invitation-service
Completed
Jun 12, 2026
Based on a fictional sample. This is not a skill rating, credential, or independent verification.
  1. Reviewer named on each milestone
  2. Feedback kept in context
  3. Maintainer confirmation of the outcome

Could your project fit?

Start with useful work
and time to guide it.

A library, developer tool, or side project can offer meaningful experience. A good starting point is a usable repository, a sequence of improvements, and someone available to explain the project and review contributions.

  1. A repository you maintain

    Start with a public project you can explain and guide someone through.

  2. Meaningful development work

    Choose connected tasks that lead toward a useful outcome.

  3. Someone available to review

    Name the person who will answer questions, provide feedback, and review the work.

  4. Clear working expectations

    Agree skills, scope, availability, communication, and AI rules.

Prepare a program

Begin with a program you have the capacity to support. The setup flow checks the requirements for participation.

FAQ

Questions before you prepare a program.

Read all frequently asked questions

Project fit

Do I need a large or established project?

A smaller library, tool, or side project can offer useful work. A good fit depends on a usable starting point, suitable scope, and your ability to guide and review a contributor.

The work

What work should I put into a program?

Choose related issues and features that build toward a useful outcome. Include clear expectations and opportunities for guidance across the work.

Commitment

How much time will I need to spend?

Plan for project context, questions, feedback, and review. Choose a scope and review rhythm you can maintain, and make your availability clear before someone commits.

Decisions

Who controls the technical decisions?

Your project retains its technical direction, contribution rules, code review, and merge decisions. Devprentice organizes the program context around that work.

AI expectations

Can I set the program’s AI rules?

Yes. Make the allowed use of AI and any disclosure requirements clear before someone joins. Contributors remain responsible for the work they submit.

Relationships

Will contributors keep contributing afterwards?

A program gives you time to build shared context and a working relationship. Continued contribution depends on both sides, so discuss it as the program progresses.

Sharing

What can become public?

GitHub activity follows the repository’s visibility. Contributors choose whether to publish their Contribution Record, which can show the work, feedback, and guidance behind the outcomes.

Pricing

Does it cost anything?

Devprentice is free for public repositories.

Prepare a program

Give your next contributor a path worth following.

Start with useful work, clear expectations, and the guidance you can offer.

Free for public repositories.

Prepare a programLooking to contribute? See Devprentice for contributors