Contributor Tiers
These tiers of contributors, committers, and maintainers roughly reflect how we've worked the past several years.
| Tier | Entry Requirements | Monthly Expectations | Monthly Reimbursement |
|---|---|---|---|
| Contributor | 1 point | (none) | (none) |
| Code Contributor | 1 point in pull requests | (none) | (none) |
| Committer | ~5 points in issues ~5 points in pull requests ~15 points total
| ~10 points | ~1 share / active month |
| Maintainer | ~10 points in issues ~10 points in pull requests ~30 points total
| ~20 points | ~2 shares / active month |
We treat everything here as approximate numbers. We're a small enough team to informally discuss changes ad hoc and allow off-by-one-or-two months.
Pointing
Although it's impossible to accurately estimate software projects, we want to roughly establish expectations of effort+time spent on the tiers. These are all rough estimations and should be taken as approximate starting guides to consider.
We treat both the creation and review of issues and PRs along the rough scale of:
| Size | Description | Points | Examples |
|---|---|---|---|
| Trivial | Small typos or single-file bugfixes | 1 | #6976 , #6992 |
| Straightforward | 2-3 files at most, with minimal logical changes | 2 | #6780 , #6910 |
| Large | Multi-file logical changes that require real review+thought | 3 | #6107 , #6907 |
| Unusual | Dozen+ file logical changes that require deep investigation | ≥5* | #6084 , #6777 |
*Unusually large efforts may be >5 points at maintainer discretion depending on time spent.
Any other activities (e.g. responding to Discord threads, working on upstream dependencies, …) should be treated as gaining points equal to their nearest equivalent point task in terms of complexity and effort.
Advancement
Each tier corresponds to a role on Discord and GitHub.
When you first hit a tier, you can post in the #roles channel on Discord.
We will confirm privately that you've hit the intent of the contribution tiers. We'll then grant you the role on Discord and GitHub and profusely thank you for everything you've done. ❤️
Recognition
Depending on the tier you reach, you can also provide information for an upcoming Team page:
- Contributor and Code Contributor: Preferred photo, name, social media handles
- Committer and Maintainer: ~2 paragraph bio of yourself
See existing bios for examples of what to put.
You can decline to opt into the Discord role or site recognition, and you can always opt out after the fact. Nothing is mandatory. We just like including recognition as thanks for working with us. 💕
Reimbursement
Team members will be reimbursed the minimum of their activity level and their tier. Each month:
- Committers and maintainers who hit their expectation receive their full shares
- Committers and maintainers who hit roughly half their expectation receive half shares
Reimbursements are generally handled through our Open Collective page.
Community Reimbursements
Contributors who contribute nontrivial changes in a month (roughly ≥5 points and at least one Large item) may be privately nominated at any time by a committer or maintainer to be reimbursed at the equivalent shares.
Our intention is to always do this for contributors who submit Large or greater contributions and don't need significant assistance in getting them merged.