# Hacktoberfest 2025: How to Participate

DevFeed: [Hacktoberfest 2025: How to Participate](<https://devfeed.tech/articles/hacktoberfest-2025-how-to-participate-19887.md>)

Original publisher: [Read original article](<https://www.digitalocean.com/blog/how-to-participate-hacktoberfest-2025>)

Author: Haimantika Mitra

Published: 2025-09-29T07:06:22Z

Content type: tutorial

Language: en

Sources: [DigitalOcean](<https://devfeed.tech/sources/digitalocean.md>)

Topics: [Hacktoberfest](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/hacktoberfest.md>), [Open Source](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/open-source.md>), [pull-requests](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/pull-requests.md>), [GitHub](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/github.md>), [GitLab](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/gitlab.md>), [Maintainers](<https://devfeed.tech/topics/maintainers.md>)

Tags: [also](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/also.md>), [community](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/community.md>), [contribute](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/contribute.md>), [contributions](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/contributions.md>), [github](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/github.md>), [gitlab](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/gitlab.md>), [hacktoberfest](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/hacktoberfest.md>), [maintainers](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/maintainers.md>), [open-source](<https://devfeed.tech/tags/open-source.md>)

## AI overview

A guide to participating in Hacktoberfest 2025, covering registration, contribution requirements, rewards, code contributions, and ways maintainers can prepare open-source projects.

## Source excerpt

Hacktoberfest 2025: How to Participate Hacktoberfest registrations are live, and we're just a few days away from kicking off the month-long celebration of open source. Every October, developers from all over the world come together to contribute their skills, big and small, to open-source projects. Code is the most common way people participate, but that's not the only way you can help. Open source thrives on more than just commits. It needs documentation, testing, design, writing, and so much more. Before we get into the how, let's cover the basics. First, the rules of Hacktoberfest: Register anytime before October 31. Contribute to projects on GitHub or GitLab that have the hacktoberfest topic. Submit at least 6 high-quality pull/merge requests between October 1 and October 31. These need to be accepted by project maintainers to count. Rewards: Everyone who signs up and gets at least one PR merged, gets a digital badge from Holopin (you can get up to 4 badges). If you're among the first 10,000 people to complete 6 merged PRs/MRs, you'll also get a limited edition Hactoberfest 2025 t-shirt. That's it! You're ready to dive in. Ways to contribute: 1. Code Contributions This is what the majority of Hacktoberfest contributions consist of. Most participants jump in by submitting code to projects they care about. Maintainers, many of whom run projects purely out of passion, appreciate thoughtful, quality code more than anything. Whether this is your 12th Hacktoberfest or your very first pull request, now's the time to fire up GitHub or GitLab and get started. Helpful resources: Introduction to GitHub and Open-Source Projects How to use Git 5 things for your first time contributing 2. Maintaining a project Hacktoberfest isn't only for contributors. It's for maintainers too. If you've got a project idea that could help the community, you can launch it now and take part as a maintainer. If you're already maintaining an open-source project, here's how to prepare it for Hackt