This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by WH yang
This week I opened an issue in a classmate's repo to suggest adding a new option to their CLI project. Another classmate did the same for my project. I’m writing this to share the process and what I learned.
I created an issue and said I would add the new option myself. It took me some time to figure out where to change the code. I tried to follow the existing style and avoid breaking anything. Reading and tracing someone else’s project needs patience. While doing that, I noticed a few things I had not been doing correctly in my own code.
After I finished, I tested the new feature and opened a pull request, including my test results. Even though the code worked, I realized I was still missing some documentation. Besides writing code, adding clear comments and instructions is another skill I need to improve.
When I tried to contribute to another project, one of my classmates tried to help me, but at first we couldn’t get the same output as the main branch. I reviewed his changes and pointed out where the inconsistency might come from. He eventually fixed it and added a new feature while keeping the original behavior.
From these two experiences, I learned:
- Online collaboration is asynchronous, so I should leave clear messages with references.
- There is always room to improve—my project, my code, and my communication.
- If I add automated tests, both my classmates and I can save time, because differences in output would show up right away when code is pushed to GitHub.
This content originally appeared on DEV Community and was authored by WH yang
WH yang | Sciencx (2025-09-20T00:47:52+00:00) How to Contribute a Feature to Someone Else’s Repository. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2025/09/20/how-to-contribute-a-feature-to-someone-elses-repository/
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