I thought it would be perfect to reflect on an incredible journey we've been on together. Over the past 10 weeks, we've introduced a great series and deep-dived into the collaboration patterns of some of the most fascinating open source projects, uncovering insights that have surprised, delighted, and sometimes amazed us.
From Prisma's lightning-fast 15-minute reviews to TensorFlow's 97% community-driven development, we've seen how different projects create their own unique collaboration cultures. Each project has taught us something new about what makes open source development tick.
Let's take a victory lap through all the projects we've explored and celebrate the diversity of approaches that make open source so vibrant!
Prisma - The TypeScript ORM π
Prisma kicked off our series showing us how to balance speed, quality, and community:
- 15 minutes 15 seconds median review time (300Γ faster than competitors)
- 100% review coverage with perfect quality control
- Balanced contributions: 38% core team, 31% community, 31% bots
TanStack Query - The React State Manager βοΈ
01:49
Project of the Week: TanStack Query
Riyana Patel for PullFlow γ» May 9
TanStack Query demonstrated sustainable community-driven development:
- 64% community contributions vs 29% core team
- 58% reviews completed within 24 hours
- Efficient workflows with quarter of PRs merged within 2 hours
HedgeDoc - The Collaborative Editor π
01:35
Project of the Week: HedgeDoc π¦
Riyana Patel for PullFlow γ» May 16
HedgeDoc showed us the power of strategic automation:
- 2 minutes 13 seconds median review time - nearly instant feedback
- 93% of reviews completed within 1 hour (ranked #4 across all analyzed repos)
- 85% bot-generated PRs with smart automation handling routine tasks
Grafana - The Observability Platform π
02:34
Project of the Week: Grafana
Riyana Patel for PullFlow γ» May 23
Grafana demonstrated how to balance community engagement with quality control:
- 75% community contributions - exceptional external participation
- 99% review coverage with 82.5% completed within 24 hours
- Minimal bot reliance (4.9%) keeping development human-centric
Ghost - The Publishing Platform π»
03:04
Project of the Week: Ghost π»
Riyana Patel for PullFlow γ» May 30
Ghost showed us what happens when strong contributor guidelines meet automation:
- 3 minutes 22 seconds median review time - blazing fast feedback
- 15 minutes median merge time - from code to production rapidly
- 47% core team involvement showing strong maintainer presence
TensorFlow - The ML Framework π§
02:21
Project of the Week: TensorFlow
Riyana Patel for PullFlow γ» Jun 5
TensorFlow showed us the ultimate in community-driven development:
- 97% community contributions with 0% core team involvement
- Comprehensive internal validation through Google's copybara system
- All PRs reviewed within 24 hours despite massive scale
MapLibre - The Mapping Library πΊοΈ
02:00
Project of the Week: MapLibre
Riyana Patel for PullFlow γ» Jun 13
MapLibre demonstrated bot-driven development done right:
- 12 minutes 21 seconds median merge time
- 10 minutes 14 seconds overall wait time
- 82% bot-generated PRs with 47.7% of all repo events automated
Windmill - The Developer Platform πͺοΈ
02:22
Project of the Week: Windmill
Riyana Patel for PullFlow γ» Jun 20
Windmill demonstrated how to welcome all contributions while maintaining high standards:
- 100% review coverage (ranked #1 across all analyzed repos)
- 67% community contributions with strong external engagement
- 14% approval rate showing selective quality standards
Deno - The Modern JavaScript Runtime π
03:15
Project of the Week: Deno
Riyana Patel for PullFlow γ» Jun 27
Deno concluded our series with a showcase of what efficiency looks like in practice:
- 3 hours 21 minutes median review time with 82.1% completed within 24 hours
- Perfect review coverage (100%) ensuring consistent quality
- Minimal bot dependency (2%) keeping development human-focused
What We've Learned
After analyzing these 9 incredible projects, several fascinating patterns emerge:
π Speed vs. Quality Isn't Zero-Sum
Projects like Deno, Prisma, and Ghost prove that you can have both lightning-fast reviews and rigorous quality control. The key is having clear processes and strong contributor guidelines.
π€ Automation Amplifies Human Potential
From MapLibre's bot-driven efficiency to HedgeDoc's strategic automation, we've seen how thoughtful automation frees humans to focus on creative, complex work while maintaining exceptional responsiveness.
π Community-Driven Development Works at Scale
TensorFlow's 97% community contributions and Grafana's 75% community involvement show that major projects can successfully transition to community-led development while maintaining enterprise-grade quality.
π Different Models, Same Success
From Windmill's selective approach to TanStack Query's balanced community model, we've seen that there's no single "right" way to structure open source collaboration - success comes from aligning your approach with your project's goals and constraints.
β‘ First Response Time Matters
Every successful project in our series prioritizes fast initial feedback, whether through automated assignment, bot responses, or human reviewers. Quick acknowledgment keeps contributors engaged.
π― Context Over Absolutes
Each project's metrics reflect thoughtful decisions based on their unique goals, team structure, and community needs. The lesson: understand the why behind the numbers, not just the numbers themselves.
Try collab.dev Today! π―
Ready to discover the collaboration patterns in your own projects? collab.dev is your gateway to understanding what makes great projects tick.
We'd love to hear from you:
π‘ What project should we analyze next? Drop suggestions in the comments
π What patterns surprised you most? Share your thoughts on our findings
π How are you applying these insights? Tell us about changes you're making to your own projects
Stay tuned for more deep dives into the collaboration patterns that make open source development so fascinating.
- collab.dev - Explore collaboration metrics for 250+ open source projects
- pullflow.com - Learn more about our team and mission to improve collaboration between cross-functional human+AI teams.
Top comments (2)
Loved seeing real stats on speed and community involvement across so many projects.
Where do you see AI-driven automation and review tooling going next in open source?
Great question! Based on what I've seen from projects, it's very clear that the future of collaboration is going to change and AI and humans will work together as equal entities rather than one leading the other.
The pattern will adjust to have humans take on more of a product management role, essentially guiding AI agents, bots, and models to do more of the work while devs step back to put it all together.
Essentially, co-intelligent collaboration is the future and I can't wait to see how it grows!