The latest articles on DEV Community by John Ebenezer (@johngit7). https://dev.to/johngit7 https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F4149026%2Fafed2f83-7af0-4c54-8f04-cb4e077af125.png https://dev.to/johngit7 en John Ebenezer Tue, 29 Sep 2026 08:15:07 +0000 https://dev.to/johngit7/my-first-open-source-contribution-a-small-fix-in-devlinks-2iji https://dev.to/johngit7/my-first-open-source-contribution-a-small-fix-in-devlinks-2iji <p>Making my first contribution to an open-source project was a different experience from working on my own projects.</p> <p>My first contribution was to <strong>DevLinks</strong>, a project maintained by the Kalvium community. I worked on <strong>Issue #19</strong>, which was about removing a leftover <code>console.log</code> from the project.</p> <p>At first, the issue looked very simple. However, because this was my first time contributing to an open-source repository, I had to understand the project before changing anything. I did not want to randomly edit files without knowing how the repository was organized.</p> <p>I used AI to help me understand the repository and get an idea of how the project was structured. AI was useful for getting started because I was unfamiliar with the codebase. But I did not completely depend on its suggestions. I manually searched through the repository for the leftover <code>console.log</code> statements and checked the actual code myself to find the relevant one.</p> <p>After identifying the code related to the issue, I made the change on my own branch:</p> <p><code>fix/19-remove-console-log</code></p> <p>I then committed the change and created my first pull request:</p> <p><strong>PR #33 — Remove leftover console.log</strong></p> <p><a href="https://github.com/kalviumcommunity/devlinks-04/pull/33" rel="noopener noreferrer">View my pull request</a></p> <p>The most interesting part of this experience was realizing that open-source contribution is not only about writing code. Before making a change, I had to understand an unfamiliar repository, identify the correct place to make the change, follow the project's workflow, and submit my work through a pull request.</p> <p>I also learned an important lesson about using AI while coding. AI can help me understand an unfamiliar codebase faster, but I still need to verify its suggestions myself. In this contribution, I used AI for understanding the repository, while I manually searched the code and verified the relevant <code>console.log</code> before making the change.</p> <p>This was a small change, but it was my first step into open source. It gave me more confidence in reading repositories that I did not create myself, and I now have a better understanding of how a real contribution moves from an issue to a pull request.</p> <p>For my next contribution, I want to take on a slightly more challenging issue and become more comfortable navigating an unfamiliar codebase.</p> opensource github beginners webdev