Contributing to Grafana: Open Source Lessons

Grafana is one of the most active open-source projects on GitHub. Contributing to it taught me more than any course ever could.

> Getting Started

The first challenge is just finding something to work on. I started with "good first issue" labels and moved to bug fixes once I understood the codebase.

git clone https://github.com/grafana/grafana
cd grafana
make deps
make run

> Navigating a Large Codebase

Grafana has both a Go backend and a TypeScript/React frontend. Key tips:

1. **Read the contributing guide first** — seriously.
2. **Run existing tests** before touching anything.
3. **Use grep/ripgrep** to trace data flow across packages.

> Writing Good PRs

A good PR in a large project has:

• A clear description of the problem being solved
• Minimal diff — touch only what is necessary
• Tests that prove the fix works
• Screenshots for UI changes

> The Culture

Maintainers are friendly but busy. Be patient, responsive to feedback, and don't take rejections personally. Every rejected PR is a learning opportunity.

> Impact

My contributions improved panel rendering performance and fixed edge cases in the query editor. Seeing your name in the contributors list is genuinely satisfying.