Hacktoberfest 2024: Contribute to Open Source and Win

Many communities, companies, and groups dedicate time during Hacktoberfest to contribute or help others contribute to open source projects. There are over 12,000 repositories looking for contributors—explore them here. Each project has its own guidelines, so be sure to review the CONTRIBUTING.md file for rules and expectations. You can also find events, office hours, or mentoring opportunities to get started.

We’ll be organizing some activities ourselves, but you can also check out Hacktoberfest videos on YouTube or visit the official Hacktoberfest website for more details.

Why Esri is Participating

Esri’s commitment to open source remains strong. From our early days with Esri Leaflet to our ongoing efforts with the ArcGIS Platform, our dedication to open source technologies and community-driven projects continues to grow. Last year, we saw some amazing contributions across our repositories and are excited to continue the momentum this year. For a deeper look at what our contributors learned and how they benefited from participating, check out lessons learned from Hacktoberfest 2023.

How to Get Involved

Getting involved is straightforward with these steps:

• Explore: Visit our designated Hacktoberfest repositories listed below.
• Contribute: Submit pull requests to issues labeled “good first issue” or “help wanted.”
• Earn Points: Your contributions must be accepted, merged, and labeled as “Hacktoberfest approved” to count towards the prize tiers.

If you need assistance during Hacktoberfest, we’re here to help! You can:

• Join our Slack channel for support from the Esri team and fellow contributors.
• Schedule a session using one of our MS Bookings pages for one-on-one guidance.
• EMEA bookings page  |  AMER bookings page

• Connect with us on the Hacktoberfest Discord server for real-time support.

Designated Hacktoberfest Repositories

• Esri Leaflet
• Esri Leaflet Vector
• Esri Leaflet Geocoder
• ArcGIS REST JS
• KoopJS
• Calcite Design System
• Arcade Expressions
• ArcGIS JS VSCode Snippets

Rules and Guidelines

For your contributions to count the following rules apply:

• Contribute: Work on projects from our selected list between October 1st and October 31st.
• Submit PRs: Your pull requests must be accepted and merged.
• Limit: You can earn points for only one “good first issue” per person.

For more details, please refer to the official Hacktoberfest rules.

Judging and Prize Tiers

Points are awarded as follows:

• Good First Issue: 10 points (one per contributor)
• Help Wanted: 15 points

Top contributors will be rewarded as follows:

• 1st Place: A free registration to one Developer Summit of your choice (Esri European Developer Summit 2024, Esri Developer Summit 2025, or Esri European Developer Summit 2025).
• 2nd Place: 75% discount on Developer Summit registration (choice of the same events).
• 3rd Place: 50% discount on Developer Summit registration (choice of the same events).

Remember last year’s Hacktoberfest winner, Bruno? His impressive contributions earned him top honors along with the chance to meet us and many other developers at the Developer Summit! With your contributions, you could be the next standout participant.

Conclusion

We’re looking forward to participating in Hacktoberfest again this year, and we hope that your curiosity and the incentives offered by both the official Hacktoberfest organizers and us will encourage you to get involved. There are opportunities for individuals at all skill levels to contribute and make a difference. Let’s make Hacktoberfest 2024 even more successful than 2023!