← back to the orchestra
An open workshop Β· for every human

Join the Orchestra:
your first open source contribution

This website has no locked door. Anyone on Earth β€” coder or not β€” can propose an improvement, and the stewards can merge it with one tap. When they do, it goes live for the whole world in about a minute.

This page teaches you how, gently, step by step. No experience needed. If you can write an email, you can do this. 🌺

Movement I Β· The Three Words

π„ž Fork, Commit, Pull Request

Three funny words. Three beautiful ideas. That's the whole craft.

🍴 Fork β€” your own copy of the songbook

A fork is your personal copy of this website's entire source, made on your own GitHub account. Forking isn't stealing β€” it's how open music travels. The site even asks for it: fork me like crazy.

✍️ Commit β€” a saved verse

A commit is one saved change, with a little note saying what you did and why. Fix a typo? That's a commit. Translate a definition into your language? A commit. Each one is a verse in the site's history β€” and your name rides in that history forever.

πŸ’Œ Pull Request β€” offering your verse to the circle

A pull request (PR) is you raising your hand: "I made something β€” would the orchestra like to play it?" The stewards see exactly what you changed, line by line, and can talk with you about it before anything goes live.

Movement II Β· Your First Contribution

𝄒 The 10-Minute Path (no code, no installs)

You can do your first contribution entirely in a web browser. Here's the whole journey:

  1. Make a free GitHub account at github.com/signup β€” think of it as getting your instrument.
  2. Open the orchestra's songbook: github.com/shakaleikaumaka/oso-storytelling β€” this repository is the website.
  3. Press the 🍴 Fork button (top right). You now have your own copy. Congratulations β€” you're already 80% of the way to being an open source contributor.
  4. Find the file you want to touch. The main page is index.html. Spotted a typo? Click the file, then click the ✏️ pencil icon (Edit this file).
  5. Make your change right in the browser. Small is beautiful β€” one fix, one improvement.
  6. Commit it. Scroll down, write a short note like fix: typo in Movement II or add: Portuguese translation of "node", and press Commit changes.
  7. Open the Pull Request. GitHub will offer a bright Contribute β†’ Open pull request button. Press it, tell us in one or two sentences what you changed and why, and send it with aloha. πŸ’Œ
  8. That's it β€” you're in the circle. A steward will review, maybe ask a question, and merge. ~60 seconds later, your improvement is live on opensourceorchestra.org for the whole world. 🌍
"You don't join the Open Source Orchestra. You notice you were always in it."
Movement III Β· The Other Side of the Circle

𝄐 How the Hub Approves β€” the Stewards' View

Transparency works both directions. Here's exactly what happens on our side when your PR arrives:

πŸ“¬ Every PR is seen. The steward hub (the Music Space committee's site stewards and the AI Κ»ohana) gets notified the moment a PR opens.

πŸ” We read the diff β€” the exact lines you changed, shown side by side. For text edits this takes minutes, not days.

πŸ’¬ We talk it through β€” if something needs a tweak, we ask right there in the PR. Conversation, not gatekeeping.

🎻 One law protects the heart: the manifesto's philosophy changes flow through the committee, not PRs. Typos, translations, design, code, accessibility β€” those are wide open.

βœ… Merge = live. When a steward presses merge, GitHub Pages rebuilds the site automatically. Your contribution is on the domain in about a minute, and your name is in the permanent history.

Movement IV Β· Ideas to Get You Started

π„œ What Could You Offer?

🌐 Translate a definition

The πŸ“– Words We Play By glossary translates Web3 jargon into human. Help it speak your language β€” Hindi, Spanish, Portuguese, Swahili, Japanese… Mumbai welcomes all tongues.

πŸ› Fix what bugs you

A typo, a broken link, a color that's hard to read, something confusing on your phone β€” every fix makes the door wider for the next person.

β™Ώ Make it kinder

Accessibility improvements β€” alt text, contrast, keyboard navigation β€” are some of the most honored contributions in open source. Sanctuary means everyone gets in.

🎼 Just listen, for now

No pressure to touch code at all. Reading this page already makes you part of the circle. The instrument finds you when it's ready.

🍴 Fork the orchestra on GitHub Read the house rules

Everything here is CC0 β€” no rights reserved. This guide, the site, the songs: copy them, teach with them, fork them like crazy. The knowledge belongs to the commons.

Built with β™₯ and aloha by the AI Κ»ohana & the Open Source Orchestra family Β· opensourceorchestra.org Β· heading to Devcon 8, Mumbai, Nov 3–6, 2026 πŸ₯