Contributor Path¶
The Pony project has three tiers of involvement: Contributor, Committer, and Core team. Each comes with more access and more responsibility. Invitations to each tier come from existing core team members after internal discussion. There’s no application process. We notice when someone is doing good work and extend an invitation.
For the formal structure, see Governance.
Contributor¶
Contributors have triage-level access to all Pony repositories. That means you can manage labels, close issues, and help organize work, but you can’t merge pull requests.
This is the easiest tier to reach. If you’re actively helping with triage, documentation, or other organizational work, you’re a candidate.
Committer¶
Committers have maintainer-level access. They can merge pull requests and manage branches across all projects. Most day-to-day maintenance is done by committers.
The bar is higher here. Commit access requires a track record of good judgment and familiarity with the project’s standards. It takes longer to earn than contributor access.
Core¶
Core team members have owner-level access. They make final decisions on project direction and handle administrative tasks.
Suggested Progression¶
There’s no single path, but a common one looks like this:
- Documentation. Fix typos, improve explanations, fill gaps. It’s a great way to learn the codebase and the project’s standards. See Project Documentation.
- Good first issues. Pick up well-defined issues that don’t require deep domain knowledge. See Good First Issues.
- Triage. Help organize incoming issues: reproduce bugs, request information, find duplicates. See Triaging Issues. Active triagers are strong candidates for contributor access.
- Regular contributions. Sustained, high-quality work across the project is what leads to committer access.