What are the most active open-source Ethereum blockchain projects suitable for beginner-level contributors?

Question

I'm looking to get involved in the open-source Ethereum blockchain community and would love to contribute to active projects. As a beginner, I'm seeking projects that are not only welcoming to new contributors but also provide guidance and support to help me get started.

Could you recommend some active open-source Ethereum blockchain projects that are suitable for beginners? It would be great if these projects have well-documented codebases, active maintainers, and issues labeled for first-time contributors.

Additionally, any advice on how to approach contributing to these projects and what skills I should focus on developing would be highly appreciated.

Thank you!

Answer 1

Sure, the question you are aksing, however, is quite open-ended and there are tons of answer for this.

Any true web3 protocol ( especially in an open-source environment like Ethereum ) is open and welcoming to anyone who wishes to contribute. And if your contributions are valuable, the support and guidance automatically follows.

I entered the space by contributing and got job offers based on my contributions - so you are in the right direction.

However, you must spend some more time to be a bit more specific on your skill and capabilities of contributing at this point. Good documentation of projects or active maintainers...everything else is secondary.

Here is what I mean by being a bit more specific:

1. if you are complete beginner, focus more on getting your base strong and then contribute later
2. If you have worked on smart contracts and can build, test, upgrade, deploy them and understand solidity well, you are good to start contributing but you must choose the kind of projects you can contribute to or have more interest in Listed below are some examples but there are more:

Account Abstraction

• Projects:
  • Argent: A smart wallet that focuses on account abstraction.
    • Repo: Argent Smart Contracts
  • Gnosis Safe: Multi-signature wallet with account abstraction features.
    • Repo: Gnosis Safe

Communication/Notification

• Focus: Decentralized communication, notifications, and messaging.
• Projects:
  • Push Protocol (formerly EPNS): Decentralized notification protocol.
    • Repo: Push Protocol

. Cross-Chain Protocols

• Focus: Enabling interoperability between different blockchain networks.
• Projects:
  • Polkadot: A multi-chain network enabling interoperability.
    • Repo: Polkadot
  • Cosmos: Network of interoperable blockchains.
    • Repo: Cosmos SDK
  • Wormhole: A cross-chain messaging protocol.
    • Repo: Wormhole

DeFi (Decentralized Finance)

• Focus: Financial services like lending, borrowing, and trading on the blockchain.
• Projects:
  • Uniswap: A decentralized exchange protocol.
    • Repo: Uniswap V3
  • Aave: A decentralized lending protocol.
    • Repo: Aave Protocol
  • Compound: A decentralized money market protocol.
    • Repo: Compound

Security Audits

• Projects:
  • OpenZeppelin: Known for their security audits and libraries.
    • Repo: OpenZeppelin Contracts
  • Trail of Bits: Offers security reviews and open-source tools.
    • Repo: Crytic
  • ConsenSys Diligence: Provides detailed security audits.
    • Repo: Mythril

Layer 2 Scaling Solutions

• Focus: Improving the scalability and efficiency of Ethereum.
• Projects:
  • Polygon: A framework for building and connecting Ethereum-compatible blockchain networks.
    • Repo: Polygon SDK
  • Optimism: An Ethereum layer 2 scaling solution.
    • Repo: Optimism
  • Arbitrum: A layer 2 scaling solution using rollups.
    • Repo: Arbitrum

Hope this helps, all the best keep learning.