docs: add new contributors section to contribution guidelines
What the developer wrote
Authored by saubyk
docs: add new contributors section to contribution guidelines
Advise new contributors to build a PR review track record before
submitting code, or to open a detailed issue when they spot a bug.
What changed, and why it matters
This commit only updates the project's written guidelines for new contributors. It adds a section explaining that first-time contributors are encouraged to start by reviewing issues and other people's pull requests rather than submitting new code, partly because AI-generated code submissions have become common. There is no software code change and no security fix or vulnerability introduced.
No security action needed. Treat as a normal documentation/process policy update.
Security signals we found
No strong security signals were identified.
Evidence from the diff
The diff modifies docs/code_contribution_guidelines.md: it renumbers the table of contents and inserts a new ‘New Contributors’ section. The new text states that pull requests from new contributors are deprioritized due to widespread LLM coding tools, recommends issue triage and PR reviews as a starting point, and suggests opening detailed issues instead of code PRs when a bug is spotted. No source code, build scripts, tests, or configuration files are touched.
Changed components
docs/code_contribution_guidelines.mdInspect captured patch +17 / −3
diff --git a/docs/code_contribution_guidelines.md b/docs/code_contribution_guidelines.md
index dab291b..7291ac8 100644
--- a/docs/code_contribution_guidelines.md
+++ b/docs/code_contribution_guidelines.md
@@ -3,16 +3,17 @@
2. [Minimum Recommended Skillset](#minimum-recommended-skillset)
3. [Required Reading](#required-reading)
4. [Substantial contributions only](#substantial-contributions-only)
-5. [Development Practices](#development-practices)
+5. [New Contributors](#new-contributors)
+6. [Development Practices](#development-practices)
1. [Share Early, Share Often](#share-early-share-often)
1. [Development Guidelines](#development-guidelines)
-5. [Code Approval Process](#code-approval-process)
+7. [Code Approval Process](#code-approval-process)
1. [Code Review](#code-review)
1. [Rework Code (if needed)](#rework-code-if-needed)
1. [Acceptance](#acceptance)
1. [Backporting Changes](#backporting-changes)
1. [Review Bot](#review-bot)
-7. [Contribution Standards](#contribution-standards)
+8. [Contribution Standards](#contribution-standards)
1. [Contribution Checklist](#contribution-checklist)
1. [Licensing of Contributions](#licensing-of-contributions)
@@ -114,6 +115,19 @@ Also, consider increasing the test coverage of the code by writing more unit
tests first, which is also a very valuable way to contribute and learn more
about the code base.
+# New Contributors
+Due to the ubiquity of LLM coding tools, pull requests
+from new contributors are not prioritized for review. If you're a
+new contributor with aspirations to contribute to LND, we recommend starting
+with issue triage and PR reviews. These are a better avenue to demonstrate
+your knowledge and desire to contribute to open source than new code in this
+era of easy AI-assisted code generation. This should also help build a track
+record that makes your future PRs easier to prioritize.
+
+If you spot a glaring issue, we may still merge the fix or take it over
+ourselves. And if you're a new developer who notices an issue with the code,
+consider opening a detailed issue instead of a PR.
+
# Development Practices
Developers are expected to work in their own trees and submit pull requests when
Why this scored 15/100
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