How to Find Open Source Projects for New Contributors on Up For Grabs

Updated

Up For Grabs (up-for-grabs.net) is a directory of open source projects that have explicitly set aside tasks for people who have never contributed before. You use it when you want a curated starting point instead of searching GitHub blindly: the site lists projects, shows how many newcomer-friendly issues each one currently has, and links you straight to the repository. It is a discovery tool, not a task tracker — the actual work happens on GitHub.

What the site actually shows you

The homepage headline is "Explore open source projects and jump in!" Each entry in the list contains:

  • Project name — links to the project's page on the site, which in turn points to the GitHub repo.
  • A label — typically good first issue, up-for-grabs, or help wanted. This tells you which convention the project uses to mark newcomer tasks.
  • A number — the count of currently open issues carrying that label. A higher number generally means more entry points available right now.
  • A short description — one or two sentences on what the project does.
  • Topic tags — comma-separated keywords such as python, typescript, unity, c#, discord, healthcare, game.

Examples from the directory illustrate the range: FuseMedML (a Python framework for machine-learning discovery in medicine, tagged deep-learning, machine-learning, healthcare, medical, pytorch), Bitwarden Clients (the password manager's client apps, tagged javascript, typescript, angular, node.js, electron), UnityStation (a SpaceStation 13 port, tagged ss13, unity, game), and notify (a Go notification library, tagged go, notifications, messaging).

Filtering by language or tag

The site's filtering relies on JavaScript. If JavaScript is disabled in your browser, the site falls back to rendering a static selection of projects rather than the full filterable list — so if you see only a handful of entries and no working filters, that is the cause. Enable JavaScript for the domain to get the interactive list.

Once the filters work, the practical approach is:

  1. Filter by the language you already know. If you write Python, narrow to python; if you write Go, narrow to go. Your first contribution should not also be your first time using the language.
  2. Skim the topic tags for domain interest. Tags like healthcare, civic-tech, game, or security tell you what the project is about, which matters more for staying motivated than the language alone.
  3. Check the issue count. A project showing good first issue 56 (UnityStation) has far more open entry points than one showing up for grabs 1 (disgo, CasmLang). More open issues means less chance the one you pick is already claimed.

Matching a project to your skills

Use two signals together:

Signal What it tells you How to use it
Language tag Whether you can read and modify the code Pick tags matching languages you already use
Topic tags Whether the domain interests you Pick domains you'd read about anyway
Label type The project's newcomer convention good first issue is the most standardized; up-for-grabs and help wanted vary by project
Issue count How many entry points exist now Higher counts give you fallback options if one issue is taken

A concrete example: if you know TypeScript and care about accessibility or civic tools, Clarvia (tagged typescript, bereavement, civic-tech, legal-tech, open-data) is a closer fit than a Go notification library, even though both are listed. If you know C# and want infrastructure work, CacheManager (caching, distributed, redis, azure, c#, .net) or FluentTc (teamcity, api, rest, c#, .net, ci) are better matches than a game port.

From the list to an actual task

The flow is:

  1. Click the project in the Up For Grabs list to open its detail page.
  2. Follow the link to the GitHub repository from there.
  3. On GitHub, open the Issues tab and filter by the same label you saw on Up For Grabs (good first issue, up-for-grabs, or help wanted).
  4. Read the issue and its comments before starting. Check whether someone has already been assigned or has opened a pull request. An issue count on Up For Grabs is a snapshot; GitHub is the live state.
  5. Read the project's CONTRIBUTING file if one exists. It usually states how to set up the development environment, run tests, and submit a pull request — the steps that trip up most first-time contributors.

Common snags

  • The count doesn't match GitHub. Up For Grabs caches or periodically refreshes; GitHub is authoritative. Always verify on the repo.
  • The label name differs. Some projects use good first issue, others up-for-grabs, others help wanted. The label shown on Up For Grabs is the one that project actually uses — search for that exact string on GitHub.
  • "New contributor friendly" doesn't mean "no setup." A good first issue can still require building the project locally. Budget time for environment setup before you touch the code.
  • No filters visible. Almost always a JavaScript-disabled browser or an extension blocking scripts. The static fallback list is a subset, not the whole directory.

When Up For Grabs is the right tool — and when it isn't

Use it when you want a pre-filtered, cross-project list of newcomer tasks and you're open to browsing by language or topic. It saves you from guessing which repositories actually welcome beginners.

It is less useful when you already have a specific project in mind (go straight to that repo's issues), when you need a task in a niche language that isn't well represented in the directory, or when you want a guaranteed unclaimed issue — the site can't tell you that, only GitHub can.