Minimal CONTRIBUTING.md Guide
Create a minimal CONTRIBUTING.md for small projects. Covers bug reporting, feature requests, and basic code contribution steps without overwhelming new contributors.
Detailed Explanation
When a Minimal Guide is Enough
Not every project needs a 20-page contributing handbook. For personal projects, small libraries, or early-stage open source efforts, a minimal CONTRIBUTING.md sets expectations without creating barriers.
What to Include
A minimal guide should cover three essentials:
How to report bugs -- Tell people what information you need (steps to reproduce, expected vs actual behavior, environment details).
How to suggest features -- A sentence or two about opening an issue first is usually enough.
How to submit code -- Fork, branch, commit, PR. Four bullet points cover the workflow.
# Contributing
1. Fork the repo and create a branch from `main`.
2. Make your changes.
3. Open a pull request with a clear description.
What to Leave Out
Skip sections on commit message formats, branch naming conventions, CLA requirements, and detailed code style guides. You can always add these later as the project grows.
When to Upgrade
Consider expanding your guide when you start receiving contributions from people outside your immediate circle, when the project gains more than a handful of regular contributors, or when you find yourself repeating the same feedback in pull request reviews.
Use Case
A developer publishing their first open source library on GitHub who wants to welcome contributions without spending hours writing documentation. The minimal template provides just enough structure to guide first-time contributors.