Handling Incomplete GitHub Issues in Your Open Source Project

Alexis Zamanidis — Tue, 19 Aug 2025 23:26:24 +0000

If you maintain an open source project, you’ve probably seen this scenario:

Someone opens a GitHub issue with almost no details.

You get something like:

“It doesn’t work!”

No steps to reproduce, no environment info, not even the version they’re using. Frustrating, right?

For maintainers, these vague issues can become a huge time sink. You spend more time chasing details than actually solving the problem.

Why this happens

Many contributors are new to GitHub or open source. They know there’s a problem but don’t know what information is important.

As a project maintainer, it’s up to you to make it easy for them to communicate clearly.

Your solution: GitHub Issue Templates

If you have an open source project, issue templates are your best friend. They guide contributors to provide the right details upfront.

For example, a Bug Report Template can ask for:

Steps to reproduce
Expected vs. actual behavior
Environment details (OS, browser, versions)

A Feature Request Template can ask for:

Motivation for the feature
Use cases
Possible implementation ideas

By providing a clear structure, you reduce back-and-forth and get issues that are actionable from day one.

How it looks when a contributor creates a new issue

Create new issue

Bug Report

My experience as a maintainer

After adding issue templates to my projects, I noticed a huge improvement:

Contributors provided detailed information from the start
Debugging and fixing issues became faster
Overall collaboration improved

Even a small project benefits from templates: they save time, reduce frustration, and keep your community happy.

Takeaway

If you maintain an open source project, don’t wait for contributors to “figure it out.” Set up GitHub issue templates.

It’s a simple way to improve communication, streamline your workflow, and help your project thrive.

Open source works best when everyone knows how to collaborate effectively, and issue templates make that easy.

Bonus: How to add an issue template on GitHub

Go to your repository on GitHub.
Click Settings → Issues → Set up templates.
Choose Bug report, Feature request, or Custom template.
Fill out the sections to guide contributors.
Save and commit the template.

Now, every new issue will prompt the contributor to fill out the relevant details.

VS Code Git Worktrees

Alexis Zamanidis — Sun, 01 May 2022 09:15:27 +0000

VS Code Git Worktrees

A Wrapper for Git Worktree Operations that provides an interactive API so developers can have a better experience.

Purpose of the extension

After creating a ZSH plugin that was responsible for wrapping up my daily git operations(zsh-git-fzf), I found myself very often switching between the terminal and my main Editor(VS Code). So I decided to create an extension for my main Editor that would help me avoid switching between them and keep everything in one tool.

Requirements

Git version: 2.34.1

Supported operations

git worktree add [new-branch] [remote-branch]

Create a new worktree

Behavior
- If you do not select a remote branch(ESC), you will create a new worktree with the new branch you typed. This was made for convenience, instead of having git worktree add master master, you can just run git worktree add master.
git worktree list

Display all worktrees and switch between them
git worktree remove [worktree-name]

Remove a worktree

Behavior
- If you have untracked or modified files a Popup will be shown at the bottom left of the screen.
  - If you want to force delete the worktree with the untracked or modified files, just click Force delete on the Popup
Restrictions
- You cannot delete the same Worktree as the one you are currently working on

Getting started

Steps:

Install Git Worktree VS Code extension
Open the palette: CTRL + SHIFT + P
Search for any available operations
- Prefix: Git Worktree:

Features/Operations/Error

If you are not able to see the GIFs in the post, take a look at GitHub README and open each GIF in a new tab.

Worktree Add (Create)

Worktree List (Switch)

Worktree Remove

Error

If anything goes wrong a Popup will be shown at the bottom left of the screen

If you see anything weird, please open an issue

Properties

Property	Type	Default value	Description
vsCodeGitWorktrees.remove.stalledBranches	boolean	false	Removes local(stalled) branches that do not exist on remote

Contribution

Reporting a bug
Improving this documentation
Writing tests
Sharing this project and recommending it to your friends
Giving a star on this repository
TODO

Run the Extension locally

# install dependencies
yarn
# compile code and watch input files
yarn watch
# Then, inside the editor, press F5. This will
# compile and run the extension in a new Extension
# Development Host window.

DEV Community: Alexis Zamanidis

Handling Incomplete GitHub Issues in Your Open Source Project

Why this happens

Your solution: GitHub Issue Templates

How it looks when a contributor creates a new issue

My experience as a maintainer

Takeaway

Bonus: How to add an issue template on GitHub

VS Code Git Worktrees

VS Code Git Worktrees

Links

Purpose of the extension

Requirements

Supported operations

Getting started

Features/Operations/Error

Properties

Contribution

License