build // Open Source · Infrastructure

Good First Issue Radar

Crawl labeled issues across Bitcoin/Lightning orgs, score by language match and freshness, and export a weekly shortlist.

Intermediate1 week

./open-lesson ls ./roadmap

Overview

Crawl labeled issues across Bitcoin/Lightning orgs, score by language match and freshness, and export a weekly shortlist.

This is a intermediate Pull project on the bitcoin track. Treat it as a portfolio piece: specific acceptance criteria beat vague demos.

Suggested milestones

Reproduce the problem space on a local lab (regtest / testnet / Polar)
Implement the happy path end to end
Add failure cases and README recovery notes
Polish UX or CLI ergonomics for a teammate who has never seen your code

Open the linked lesson when you need protocol context: /roadmaps/bitcoin/lessons/oss-discovery.

Learning objectives

Ship a working Good First Issue Radar that matches the description
Cover the core skills: GitHub API, Ranking heuristics, CLI or web UI

Document setup, demo steps, and known limitations in the README

Prerequisites

Finding Good First Issues
Git & Open Source Workflow

Required skills

GitHub APIRanking heuristicsCLI or web UI

Part of the bitcoin roadmap.

Architecture diagram

app/          primary interface (CLI, API, or UI)
domain/       protocol and business logic
adapters/     Bitcoin Core, Lightning node, or indexer clients
tests/        smoke and regression coverage

Requirements

Implements the stated goal: Crawl labeled issues across Bitcoin/Lightning orgs, score by language match and freshness, and export a weekly shortlist.
Runs against regtest, signet, or documented testnet endpoints (never assume mainnet funds)
Includes a README with install, run, and demo instructions
Has at least one automated test or scripted smoke check
Fails safely with clear errors when dependencies are offline

Stretch goals

Add a short architecture diagram to the README
Publish a demo recording or asciinema session
Compare two implementation approaches and note tradeoffs
Add CI that runs the smoke test on every push

Recommended resources

Example repositories

bitcoin/bitcoin
Reference implementation and contribution culture.
lightningnetwork/lnd
Production Lightning implementation with active issues.

Submission instructions

Public GitHub repository with a clear README
Setup steps for local dependencies (regtest, Polar, Docker, etc.)
Demo evidence (commands, screenshots, or short recording)
Lab evidence pack: happy-path transcript + one intentional failure case + what error you saw
Note difficulty assumptions and what you deliberately left out