Preptember - Prepare For HacktoberFest 2021

Preptember - Prepare For HacktoberFest 2021

30+ Repositories To Look Out For This HacktoberFest

Hey everyone, HacktoberFest is around the corner (just 15 days away) and for all those who are searching for repositories to contribute to this October, worry not, I have gathered a list of repositories best suited for beginners in open source.


What is HacktoberFest?

Hacktoberfest 2021 will be a month-long virtual festival event to celebrate open source contributions. It is the easiest way to get into open source!

During the entire month of October 2021, all you have to do is contribute to any open-source projects and open at least 4 pull requests. Yes, any project and any kind of contribution. You don’t need to be an expert in programming or coding. It can be a bug fix, improvement, or even a documentation change (I don't recommend it, explore where you can do code changes if there are not many)! And win an awesome T-shirt and awesome stickers.

The Hacktoberfest’s simple plain objective is:

Support open source and earn a limited-edition T-shirt!

But, it’s not just about the t-shirts or stickers. It's about supporting open source. It's about celebrating open source and giving it back. If you’ve never contributed to open source before, this is the perfect time to get started because Hacktoberfest provides a large list of available contribution opportunities (and yes, there are always plenty for beginners too).

HacktoberFest 2021

Let's look at some of the most awesome beginner-friendly repositories that you can look at and start your contributions right off the bat.


For Complete Beginners

This section contains repositories for complete beginners. You can go and learn about first contributions and how to raise PRs.

Yeah, self-promotion, I know but you can still check this out, no need to wait till October, go ahead and contribute to this and be more comfortable while doing other contributions during HacktoberFest.

Note: During HacktoberFest, this repository accepts only 1 contribution per user.

Another awesome repository for you to check. This project aims to simplify and guide the way beginners make their first contribution.

Again, an awesome repository for you to start with. This is hosted by one of my favourite institutions, Zero To Mastery. They always create awesome projects for people to contribute to during HacktoberFest. You can check out their previous projects as well here.

Add meaningful resources to the list and help others on their learning journey. This is one of the best resources repository available on GitHub. Do check it out and contribute that link to a course or article you feel is important for others to take note of.

For CSS Enthusiasts

Simple buttons you can use easily for your next project. Check out this and contribute the next button design you have in mind.

This is a game to learn CSS Grid in a Game Mode Style, to make learning more fun! Contribute and make this even more interesting.

For Python Players

It is an open-source, non-profit community, working to develop a democratic engagement web system. Check out their README.md file and give a head start to your contributions.

Babel is a Python library that provides an integrated collection of utilities that assist with internationalizing and localizing Python applications (in particular web-based applications). An awesome library you can get your name on!

Kinto is a minimalist JSON storage service with synchronisation and sharing abilities. Check out their easy-pick issues.

It provides Mac-style shortcut keys for Linux & Windows. Seamless copy and paste with all apps and terminals. The zero effort solution. Well, go ahead and make your own shortcuts.

BorgBackup (short: Borg) is a deduplicating backup program. Optionally, it supports compression and authenticated encryption. Search for easy label issues and backup like never before.

Other Repositories (that you might already know)

For JavaScript Lovers

The goal of this project is to maintain a canonical list of commonly used features for suggesting consistent spelling and tagging in OpenStreetMap. Well, this is your chance to be a contributor for OpenStreetMap.

Mission Control is a service running on the DAV network, and serving as a marketplace connecting DAV users, vehicles, and services. Go ahead and contribute to this awesome DAV running service and sharpen your networking skills using javascript.

PouchDB is an open-source JavaScript database inspired by Apache CouchDB that is designed to run well within the browser. PouchDB was created to help web developers build applications that work as well offline as they do online. Help this awesome project grow with your innovative ideas.

Have you ever wanted a drag and drop library that just works? That doesn't just depend on bloated frameworks, that has great support? That actually understand where to place the elements when they are dropped? That doesn't need you to do a zillion things to get it to work? If so, then this is the right place for you to contribute your ideas.

The idea is to persist data locally in the browser by default, then synchronizing them with the server explicitly when connectivity is guaranteed. It is an offline-first javascript client for kinto, do check it out and contribute.

Ember.js is a JavaScript framework that greatly reduces the time, effort and resources needed to build any web application. It is focused on making you, the developer, as productive as possible by doing all the common, repetitive, yet essential, tasks involved in most web development projects. Contribute and help developers be more productive.

Ghost gives creators tools to launch their own subscription business. They are redefining the creator economy. Go ahead if you are a creator or want to support their cause, it will be amazing.

Other Repositories (that you might already know)

For Scala Functionaries

Scala language server with rich IDE features 🚀. Go ahead and start contributing to this awesome repository.

This project is used in production at Twitter (and many other organizations) and is being actively developed and maintained. You can check out their contributing guidelines and become a part of the Twitter developer network.

The Play Framework combines productivity and performance making it easy to build scalable web applications with Java and Scala. Play is developer-friendly with a "just hit refresh" workflow and built-in testing support. With Play, applications scale predictably due to a stateless and non-blocking architecture. By being RESTful by default, including assets compilers, JSON & WebSocket support, Play is a perfect fit for the modern web & mobile applications. Go ahead and contribute to this beast of a framework.


There are so many repositories that I want to include, but that would just make this a messy article. Keeping things short and simple, let's move on to what you should do now.

Take this as homework and go over GitHub or GitLab and search for beginners issues and repositories and see which resonates with you and just without thinking much, start with your first contributions during this HacktoberFest 2021! All The Best!

Note: Do not do meaningless contributions like adding extra space or changing the font in documentation, add your programmer thoughts to it before making contributions and explore, give it as much time as it needs for your meaningful contributions to reflect in your choice of project.


  • Make sure to follow me to get regular updates or subscribe so that you never miss my upcoming articles, ranging from Python to Computer Vision to Scala.

  • Just starting your Open Source Journey? Don't forget to check Hello Open Source

  • Want to showcase your Python project or just out there to explore? Check Awesome Python Repos

  • Want to make a simple and awesome game from scratch? Check out PongPong

  • Want to ++ your GitHub Profile README? Check out Quote - README

Till next time!

Namaste 🙏

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