Open source contribution in PHP: how to start contributing without losing your mind

Why open source is not scary, but beneficial?

Have you ever looked at a large PHP project's repository and thought: "Only gurus there, I'm afraid to even look"? A familiar feeling. But the truth is that open source contribution is not about superheroes with 20 years of experience. It's about ordinary developers who once decided: "Why not?"

Let's figure out why you need this at all. First, contributing to PHP is the best way to level up your skills. You will read other people's code, understand architecture, and learn to write code that won't get rejected during code review. Second, it's a portfolio. Employers love candidates who have stars on GitHub. And third, it's just nice to know that your code is used by a thousand (or maybe a million) developers around the world.

But the main fear of a beginner: "I'll write nonsense, and they'll laugh at me." Spoiler: they won't. In the PHP open source community, it's customary to help beginners. They will correct you, but politely. The main thing is to start.

Where to start? Choosing a project

Don't jump straight into Symfony or Laravel. Choose something simpler. The ideal first project is a library or package that you use yourself. Open your composer.json and look at the dependencies. There's probably something small there: a Markdown parser, a date handling library, or a simple HTTP client.

Here are a few criteria for choosing:

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• Project activity: the last commit should be no older than 3 months. Otherwise, you risk writing into a void.
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• Presence of issues labeled "good first issue": this is a goldmine for beginners. Many PHP projects specifically mark simple tasks.
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• Clear README: if the documentation explains how to run tests and set up the environment, that's a good sign.
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For example, go to GitHub and search for PHP open source projects with the tag good-first-issue. There you will find hundreds of tasks waiting for their hero.

First step: read CONTRIBUTING.md

Seriously, don't skip this file. It usually contains everything: from commit naming rules to how to run tests. If you ignore CONTRIBUTING.md, your work might not be accepted simply because you didn't follow the format.

Typical requirements in PHP projects:

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• Code must comply with PSR-12 (code style standard).
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• All changes must be covered by tests (PHPUnit, Pest).
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• Commits must be signed or at least have a clear description.
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Finding your first task: from issue to first code

Let's say you found a task. For example, in a PHP library for working with JSON there is an issue: "Add support for the JSON_THROW_ON_ERROR option". Sounds scary? Actually, it's simple: you need to add a flag so the function throws an exception instead of returning null.

Here's an example of code that might be in the project:

<?php\n\n/**\n * Parses a JSON string.\n *\n * @param string $json\n * @param bool $throwOnError\n * @return array|null\n */\nfunction parseJson(string $json, bool $throwOnError = false): ?array\n{\n    $data = json_decode($json, true);\n    \n    if (json_last_error() !== JSON_ERROR_NONE) {\n        if ($throwOnError) {\n            throw new \\RuntimeException('Invalid JSON: ' . json_last_error_msg());\n        }\n        return null;\n    }\n    \n    return $data;\n}\n

See? It's not rocket science. You just add a parameter and check it. A perfect task for a beginner.

Writing code: rules of good practice

When you contribute to PHP, remember: your code will be read by other people. Write so that it's understandable without comments, but if the logic is complex, comments are mandatory.

Here's not