Hacktoberfest 2026: start here

Welcome! If you're here for Hacktoberfest, this is the quickest way in. ChatCops is an embeddable chatbot widget with a server package and a docs site.

Find something to work on

Unassigned good first issues are small and well scoped. Good for a first PR.
Unassigned help wanted issues are a bit bigger.
New this week: groundwork for the next release, as small self-contained pieces. Security helpers for the server (Add a function that checks a Cloudflare Turnstile token on the server #228, Add origin matching with wildcard subdomains for the upcoming allowedOrigins option #229, Sign and verify session tokens (HS256) with WebCrypto #230, Add startup checks that catch weak or leaked security settings #231, Require a bearer token for the Express analytics endpoint #232), tool call ids (Use random ids for tool calls instead of a counter #227), a cross-origin browser test (Run a browser test with the chat API on a different origin than the page #233), AI labels on bubbles (Mark assistant messages with data-ai-generated in the widget #234), a smaller widget bundle (Make the widget bundle at least 600 bytes smaller (gzipped) without changing behavior #235), a docs fix (Fix the maxTokens default and the locale prompt line in the docs #236), and pieces of the new stream format and provider setup (Add an openai-compatible provider type and registerProvider() for custom providers #238, Don't load the provider SDKs when @chatcops/core is imported #239, Turn protocol v1 parts into the old stream format, for widgets before 0.6 #240, Add one shared encoder for the server's event stream lines #241, Map protocol error codes to HTTP statuses and build the error body #242). Bigger ones for repeat contributors: a rate limiter and analytics on the new storage interfaces (Build the rate limiter on the new CounterStore, so limits hold across server instances #245, Batch analytics events into an EventSink and compute stats from it #246), and the SQLite, Redis and Cloudflare stores (Create @chatcops/store-sqlite, a store for single-server setups #247, Create @chatcops/store-redis for Upstash and other Redis clients #248, Create @chatcops/store-cloudflare (D1, KV and a Durable Object counter) #249). Some have a "merge by" date because I start rewriting those files after it. Also a docs page for storage (Give storage its own docs page and replace the hand-written Redis and KV stores #275), a good first issue.

How it works

Comment on the issue you want. I'll assign it to you, usually within a day. Please don't start on one that's assigned to someone else.
One issue at a time. Once you've had 3 PRs merged with us, you can hold two.
Branch off dev, open your PR against dev, and put Closes #<issue number> in the description. The PR has to be opened here in codercops/chatcops: one merged inside your own fork never reaches us, so it doesn't count.
If there's no PR or update 5 days after you're assigned, I'll free the issue up for someone else. Comment if you need more time.

Setup
This is a pnpm workspace (npm won't work), and you need to run pnpm -r build before pnpm test. Both are covered in CONTRIBUTING.md. See CONTRIBUTING.md.

What counts
PRs count for Hacktoberfest once they're merged or labeled hacktoberfest-accepted. PRs that aren't linked to an issue, only reformat code, or change things nobody asked for get closed, and spam gets the spam label. Have an idea that isn't an issue yet? Open one first so we can agree on it.

AI tools and spam
AI tools are fine, but say so in the PR (the template has an "AI assistance" line) and be ready to explain every line. Untested generated code, a fix split into several PRs, and PRs for issues that aren't assigned to you are treated as spam. Two spam PRs and you won't be assigned more issues this month, and you're out of the goodies. The full rules are in CONTRIBUTING.md.

Goodies
CODERCOPS October 2026 is our own contributor program for this month. The top 5 contributors get a CODERCOPS T-shirt and stickers. You need at least 5 merged PRs labeled hacktoberfest-accepted across chatcops, ogcops, toolbelt and discord-bot, merged between Oct 1 and Oct 31 (UTC). A review can take a day, and changes add another round, so open your PR by Oct 28 to be safe. We still review PRs opened later, but can't promise they get merged by the 31st. Ties go to whoever got there first. The live leaderboard shows where everyone stands, and everyone on it gets a card to share.

These goodies come from CODERCOPS through our own open source program. They're separate from Hacktoberfest, so anything Hacktoberfest itself gives out is a different thing with its own rules. Only PRs for issues that were assigned to you count, and what counts is the maintainers' call.

Questions about anything? Ask right here, or come chat with other contributors on Discord. Claims still happen here on GitHub.

@anurag629

Hi @anurag629! I've previously contributed to chatcops (PRs #292, #259, #216, #205) and would love to work on another issue. Since all current tasks appear to be assigned or completed, please let me know if any new tasks, groundwork, or unassigned issues open up that I can take on. Thanks!

@Saifjafri212213

Thanks @Saifjafri212213, and thanks again for #292 and the PRs before it. You read it right: everything in chatcops is assigned or done right now, since 0.6 just shipped. When new issues go up, I will mention you on the first one that fits.

@Saifjafri212213

New widget issues are up, as promised:

Keep keyboard focus inside the open popup chat #335 keep focus inside the open popup
Make the welcome bubble a real button #336 make the welcome bubble a real button (good first issue)
One visible focus ring for every widget control (--cc-focus-ring) #337 one focus ring for every control (good first issue)
Announce each reply once instead of every streamed chunk #338 announce each reply once instead of every streamed chunk
Make the full-screen chat work properly on phones #339 make the full-screen chat work properly on phones
Use logical CSS properties in the widget styles #340 logical CSS properties (good first issue)
Set dir and lang on the widget for right-to-left languages #341 dir and lang for right-to-left languages
Show how many replies are unread on the launcher #342 unread count on the launcher (good first issue)
Suggested questions as buttons in an empty chat #343 suggested questions in an empty chat

#55 (translations) is open again too, one language per PR.

Comment on the issue you want and I'll assign it, first come first served. The usual limit applies: one at a time, two once you have three merged PRs. One thing to know up front: the chat panel has about 800 bytes of its size budget left, shared by all of these, so keep changes small and run pnpm size before opening the PR.

@Saifjafri212213, you asked here first, so take your pick.

@anurag629

Hi @anurag629, I'm @Saifjafri212213. All my chatcops PRs are merged and I have no open issue right now. I can see #335 to #343 are all assigned, so if another widget, server or docs issue is on the way, I'd be glad to take one. Thanks again for the earlier ones.

@Saifjafri212213

Thanks, @Saifjafri212213. The next batch is the vector store work: pgvector for store-postgres, sqlite-vec, Cloudflare Vectorize and Upstash Vector, plus a couple of embedders. The interface lands first, and I'll post the issues as soon as it's in. You're first in line, so I'll tag you when they're up.

@anurag629

Thanks @anurag629, that sounds great. I'll watch for the vector store issues.

@Saifjafri212213

The vector store and retrieval work is in (#333, #334), so here's the next batch:

pgvector VectorStore in store-postgres #359 pgvector in store-postgres
sqlite-vec VectorStore in store-sqlite #360 sqlite-vec in store-sqlite
Cloudflare Vectorize VectorStore in store-cloudflare #361 Cloudflare Vectorize in store-cloudflare (the biggest of these)
New package: @chatcops/store-upstash-vector #362 a new @chatcops/store-upstash-vector package
voyageEmbedder for Voyage AI embeddings #363 voyageEmbedder (good first issue)
geminiEmbedder for Gemini embeddings #364 geminiEmbedder (good first issue)
workersAiEmbedder for Cloudflare Workers AI #365 workersAiEmbedder
Make text and FAQ knowledge sources work for Japanese and Chinese #366 make the text and FAQ knowledge sources work for Japanese and Chinese

Same rules as before: comment on the one you want and I'll assign it, first come first served, one at a time (two once you have three merged PRs with us). The store issues all use the conformance suite in @chatcops/core/testing as the spec, so the bar is clear before you start.

@Saifjafri212213, you're first in line, as promised, so take your pick.

Three more are up, now that answers cite their sources (#386):

Show the pages an answer came from under the reply #387 show the cited pages under a reply in the widget
Cohere and Voyage rerankers #388 Cohere and Voyage rerankers
workersAiReranker for Cloudflare Workers AI #389 a Workers AI reranker

Same rules as always: comment on the one you want, first come first served.

One more: #392, a robots.txt parser for the new @chatcops/ingest package (#391). It's about 150 lines against RFC 9309, with a fixture server already in the package's tests to test against. Comment there to take it.

@anurag629

Hi @anurag629, I have #405 open here. I have a free slot for one more issue, so could you assign me another one (or point me at one of #460 or #461 if they are not spoken for)? I'm happy to take whichever suits.

@Saifjafri212213

@Saifjafri212213 #461 is yours. #460 went to @piyusshhjangid, who asked first. GitHub only lets me assign you once you've commented on the issue, so leave a quick comment on #461 and I'll assign it. The pointers are in my comment there.

@anurag629

Thanks for merging #468 and #476, @anurag629. I have no open PRs or assigned issues in chatcops now. Could you open or assign the small follow-up you mentioned on #476 (letting setUser({ token }) take the same UserToken function as userToken)? I'm happy to do it, or any other issue you'd like done.

@Saifjafri212213

@Saifjafri212213 opened it as 482: comment there and I'll assign it to you.

@anurag629

Thanks for merging #491, @anurag629. I have no open PRs or assigned issues now, so I have both slots free. Could you open or assign another issue (or two) in chatcops? I'm happy to take whatever you'd like done, including a bug or a docs fix.

@Saifjafri212213

@Saifjafri212213 two for you, both from the widget plan: 494 (a Stop button while a reply streams) and 495 (keep a message sent while offline and send it when the connection is back). Comment on each and I'll assign them. They both touch the send path in widget.ts, so doing one after the other is easier than both at once.

@anurag629

Thanks for merging #498, @anurag629. #502 (#495) is open for review, so I have one slot free. Could you open or assign another issue in chatcops when you have one? I'm happy to take whatever you'd like done, including a bug or a docs fix.

@Saifjafri212213

@Saifjafri212213 here's one: 507 (simulate in chatcops test, a model playing the visitor). It's bigger than the widget ones. Comment there and I'll assign it.

@anurag629

Thanks for merging #512, @anurag629. I have one free slot (ogcops#362 is in review). If you have another chatcops issue ready, I'm happy to take it, including a bug or a docs fix.

@anurag629

Thanks for merging #535, @anurag629. I have no open PRs or assigned issues now, so both slots are free. If another chatcops issue is ready, I'm happy to take it, including a bug or a docs fix.

@Saifjafri212213

@Saifjafri212213 here's one: #541. autoOpen and the bubble delay set in init() fire at once when they're out of range, the programmatic side of #529. Comment there and I'll assign it.

Hacktoberfest 2026 is over. Thank you, all of you.

In October, 19 contributors got 149 PRs merged into ChatCops. That covered translations, accessibility fixes, the storage packages, eval assertions and reporters, the Stop button, offline sending, the header menu, theme tokens, the CLI's simulated visitors, and a long list of bugs you found and fixed yourselves. A good part of what shipped in 1.0 and 1.1 came from this thread.

What changes from today:

New issues and PRs won't get the hacktoberfest or hacktoberfest-accepted labels. PRs merged in October already have theirs, and nothing about those changes.
Open issues that still had the hacktoberfest label have it removed. If you're assigned one, it's still yours, and nothing else about it changes.

What stays the same: we're carrying on building the product, and contributions are welcome all year. Claiming, the one-issue rule (two after 3 merged PRs), the 5-day rule and the checks all work as before. Merged PRs still get codercops-accepted and count on the CoderCops monthly leaderboard at oss.codercops.com.

From here on, the place to ask for work or find an issue is #546, which is now pinned. I'm closing this one.

@anurag629

Thanks for merging #545, @anurag629. I have one free slot (toolbelt#451 is in review). If another chatcops issue is ready, I'm happy to take it, including a bug or a docs fix.

@Saifjafri212213

@Saifjafri212213 here's one: #554, --contextualize for chatcops ingest (a short model-written context per chunk before embedding). Comment there and I'll assign it. This thread is closed now that Hacktoberfest is over, so ask on #546 from now on.

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