How to Find a Beginner-Friendly Issue on Good First Issue

Good First Issue (goodfirstissue.org) surfaces GitHub issues that maintainers have tagged as suitable for newcomers. To find one that fits you, browse by technology or category, then read each issue card for difficulty, newbie-friendliness, and maintainer response time before you commit. The site currently indexes 241k repositories and 139k beginner-friendly issues, so the filtering you do up front matters more than the number of issues available.

Start With a Technology You Already Know

The fastest way to narrow 139k issues is to pick the language you can already read and write. The site's Browse by technology section lists JavaScript, Python, and Go as entry points, with an "All categories" option if you want the full set.

Choosing a familiar language removes one variable from your first contribution. You spend your effort on the project's conventions and review process instead of on syntax.

Use Categories and Project Lists to Cut Further

Beyond language, the site offers two other narrowing tools:

• Categories — group issues by type of work, so you can avoid, say, documentation-only tasks if you want code.
• Project lists — the site highlights "the ones most likely to merge your first pull request," which is useful if your goal is to get a merged PR rather than to explore.

If you have no language preference, start from the project list. A project that has already merged newcomer PRs is a lower-risk bet than an unfamiliar repository.

Read the Issue Card Before You Open the Issue

Each card on the site carries signals you should check in this order:

A card like "Difficulty 1/5 · Under an hour · Newbie friendliness 98/100 · Maintainers usually reply within 1 day" is about as safe as a first issue gets. A card with needs triage and a lower friendliness score means the issue itself may still be undefined — you could end up waiting for clarification before you can start.

Confirm the Issue Is Still Open and Unclaimed

The site's core promise is that listed issues are "still open, unclaimed, and small enough to finish." Verify this yourself before writing code:

1. Open the issue on GitHub.
2. Check that it is still open, not closed.
3. Scan the comments for anyone who has already claimed it or opened a linked pull request.
4. Look for a maintainer comment confirming the issue is up for grabs.

If someone has already claimed it, move on. If the issue is open but has no recent activity, a short comment asking whether it's still available is a reasonable first step — it also puts your name in the thread.

Use the Report Button to Flag Bad Listings

Each card has a "Report a problem with this issue" option with these reasons:

• Already taken
• Not beginner-friendly
• Stale or invalid
• Something else

If you find an issue that doesn't match its card, reporting it keeps the index useful for the next person. It also tells you something about the listing's reliability.

Seasonal Note: Hacktoberfest

The site tracks Hacktoberfest issues separately — 582,656 open issues under the hacktoberfest label or topic. Since 2026 the official programme counts events rather than pull requests, but the tag still signals that a maintainer is inviting contributions during October. If you're contributing during that window, expect more competition on tagged issues and check claim status carefully.

A Practical First Run

1. Pick your strongest language from the technology list.
2. Sort or scan for difficulty 1/5 and a time estimate under an hour.
3. Prefer cards with newbie friendliness above 80 and a maintainer reply time of 1 day.
4. Open the GitHub issue and confirm it's open and unclaimed.
5. Leave a comment saying you'd like to take it, then start.

If nothing fits after filtering, widen to difficulty 2/5 or switch to the project list. The index is large enough that a poor match usually means your filters are too narrow, not that the site is out of options.