DAY 5: Ask, Suggest, Collaborate — How to Open an Issue on GitHub 📂

[ghostinhershell]

Welcome to Day 5 of 7 Days of GitHub — our guided path from “just signed up” to “just contributed”.

Today’s focus is simple but powerful: how to ask a question, report a bug, or suggest an idea using a GitHub feature called Issues.

You don’t need to be a maintainer or expert to open one. If you’ve ever spotted a typo, had a question about a project, or wanted to offer feedback, that’s exactly what Issues are for.

✅ Goal of the Day:

Learn how to open an issue on a repository to ask a question, report a bug, or make a suggestion.

🧠 Why It Matters

GitHub isn’t just a place to write code, it’s where people have conversations about code. That includes asking questions, suggesting improvements, and reporting bugs.

The Issues tab on a repository is where that happens.

You can use Issues to:

• Ask for help or clarification
• Suggest a new feature
• Share something that’s not working
• Point out a typo or broken link
• Start a thoughtful conversation

And when you open an Issue, you’re not just participating, you’re collaborating. This is a big step toward contributing to open source, no matter your experience level.

🧑‍💻 Real-World Example: Why Issues Matter

Imagine you’re exploring a project’s README and you find a broken link. You don’t need to know how to fix it — just pointing it out is helpful.

By opening an issue, you:

• Help improve the project
• Signal that people are paying attention
• Start contributing in a low-pressure, collaborative way

Issues are also how many contributors get involved before they ever touch the code.

🛠️ Try This: Open Your First Issue

Let’s walk through it together.

Step 1: Find a repo you’d like to explore

Try one of these:

• A personal repo you created earlier in this series
• A public project you starred or forked on Day 3
• This example repo made for practice: first-contributions

Step 2: Browse the README and project files

Once you’ve picked a project:

• Read the README and look for anything confusing, broken, or outdated
• Check for:
  • Broken links
  • Typos or grammar issues
  • Incomplete setup instructions
  • Screenshots that don’t match the current version
  • Anything that made you pause or ask, “Wait… how do I do that?”

Don’t overthink it! If something wasn’t clear to you, that’s worth flagging.

Tip

This is also a great way to help maintainers improve their onboarding for future contributors like you!

Step 3: Click the Issues tab

You’ll see a list of open issues (or maybe none — that’s okay!).

Step 4: Click New Issue

Write a simple and clear message. Here’s an example of a general issue you could submit for practice:

## 🐛 What Happened?
Briefly describe what you noticed; was something broken, confusing, or unexpected?

## 📋 Steps to Reproduce (If applicable)
1. What did you do?
2. What did you expect to happen?
3. What actually happened?

## 💡 Suggested Fix or Question (Optional)
If you have an idea for a fix, or if you're simply asking for clarification, add it here.

---
🙋🏽‍♀️ I’m new to GitHub and just exploring. Thanks for maintaining this project!

Tip

Some projects will show an Issue template — just follow the prompts!

✅ Step 5: Submit!

Click the green Create button and give yourself a high-five. This is real, valuable open source contribution!

💬 Community Prompt:

Have you ever opened a GitHub issue before?
If today was your first time, how did it feel? Drop your issue link below if you’d like to share!

🔗 Want to Go Deeper?

• About Issues
• First Contributions Repo
• How to Write a Good Issue: Tips for Effective Communication in Open Source

---

🎉 Nicely done! You’ve now explored your profile, followed a project, written your first README, and opened an issue. Tomorrow, we’re taking things even further: making your first commit.

You’re doing amazing — see you on Day 6!

[mso-docs]

I haven't opened an issue before! I had no idea what the Issues tab was for prior to this course.

Today was my first issue submission! I submitted it for a personal project I'm working on, to remind myself of functionality I would like to add in the future. In my opinion, this helps me to keep better track of what to add in the future. It also helps other members of the project see any ideas/questions/concerns I have.

Thanks for another great lesson! 😃

[ghostinhershell]

These are the results that I love to hear about! Cheers to your and your progress @mso-docs! 🚀 ⭐

[mso-docs]

Thank you for your support, @ghostinhershell !

[ghostinhershell]

Thanks for commenting!

[ghostinhershell]

🛠️ Day 6 of 7 Days of GitHub is now live!

Today’s focus: Making Your First Commit — a small but meaningful step toward working with code on GitHub ⭐ .

Whether you're editing a README, fixing a typo, or adding your name to a list, this is where real contributions begin.

Take the next step in your journey — we’re cheering you on! ✨

Read the post here: DAY 6: Your First Commit — Save Your Progress, Share Your Work 💾

[DhruvJohri]

Done 🙌🙌

[angeloLib]

Just posted an issue!
🔗 #101498

It’s been fun doing these daily exercises and learning how to engage more with the GitHub community.
Thanks for putting this challenge together — great job, everyone! 👏🚀

[ghostinhershell]

Thank you for participating @angeloLib! Your participation is what made this campaign a great one! I took a look at your issue and localization is something that I feel pretty strongly about. Thanks so much for contributing to making open source more accessibile!

[r0b14]

I contributed to a public repository that focuses on learning and collaboration.
🔗updates to insert a new taxpayer. #464

It was great to be able to do this with repositories that are public and focused on mutual contributions between people. Ultimately, I believe contributions and connections are worth much more than the code itself—people.

[bapidehuri88-oss]

DAY 5: Ask, Suggest, Collaborate — How to Open an Issue on GitHub 📂 #168415