Welcome to the GirlScript Summer of Code 2026 mentor guide for FindMyGSoC!
As a mentor, you help maintain contribution quality, review pull requests, guide contributors, and ensure repository standards are followed throughout the program.
Mentors are expected to:
- Review pull requests within 24 hours whenever possible
- Provide clear and actionable review feedback
- Help contributors improve code quality
- Maintain repository standards and architecture consistency
- Detect low-quality, spammy, or meaningless submissions
- Assist contributors respectfully and professionally
- Ensure contributors follow repository contribution rules
This project follows a zero-build, minimal-dependency, static-first, lightweight frontend architecture philosophy.
Mentors should ensure contributions:
- Do not introduce unnecessary dependencies
- Avoid overengineering
- Remain maintainable
- Follow existing repository patterns
Mentors are registered inside:
.github/reviewers/gssoc-mentors.json
The review rotation system dynamically selects active mentors based on review activity, responsiveness, mentor availability, mentor leaderboard activity, and inactivity timeout handling.
Mentor assignments rotate automatically to avoid bottlenecks.
Before reviewing PRs, mentors should understand:
- Vanilla HTML/CSS/JS architecture
- Vercel Edge Functions
- Repository workflow system
- Assignment automation
- PR review pipeline
- Issue labeling system
- Difficulty levels
All PRs follow a 3-stage review system:
| Stage | Reviewer | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| Stage 1 | Automation | PR validation |
| Stage 2 | Mentor Review | Code review |
| Stage 3 | Project Admin | Final approval & merge |
Before a PR reaches mentors, automation checks:
| Check | Purpose |
|---|---|
| DCO Validation | Commit sign-off verification |
| PR Format Validation | PR template & linked issue |
| Duplicate PR Detection | Detects overlapping PRs |
| PR Size Classification | Labels PR size |
| Assignment Validation | Ensures contributor assignment compliance |
| Workflow Validation | CI/workflow compliance |
PRs failing validation may receive labels such as needs-stage-1-fixes, invalid-pr, or missing-linked-issue.
Mentors should avoid reviewing PRs still failing Stage 1.
After Stage 1 passes:
- Active mentors are selected automatically
- Mentors are assigned dynamically
- Mentors receive review notifications
- Review rotation begins
Mentors are expected to respond within 24 hours. Inactive reviewers are automatically rotated out and replaced with other active mentors.
After mentor approval:
pa-review-requiredis applied- The Project Admin performs final review
- Merge decision is made
Project Admin may request additional changes, reject low-quality work, or escalate security concerns. Final merges are handled by @S3DFX-CYBER.
- Read the linked issue
- Verify the PR actually solves the issue
- Review implementation quality
- Check repository consistency
- Approve or request changes
/approve-pr
or
/lgtm
GitHub Review Approval also works normally.
| Label | Meaning |
|---|---|
needs-mentor-review |
Waiting for mentor review |
mentor-review-requested |
Assigned to mentor |
mentor-approved |
Mentor approved |
gssoc-mentor-approved |
GSSoC mentor approval completed |
pa-review-required |
Ready for Project Admin review |
needs-stage-1-fixes |
Validation failed |
Mentors are automatically rotated if inactive. If a mentor does not review, comment, or respond within 24 hours:
- The mentor may be removed
- Another active mentor is assigned automatically
- Review flow continues
This prevents PR stagnation.
| Area | What to Verify |
|---|---|
| Functionality | Does it work correctly? |
| Code Quality | Is code readable & maintainable? |
| Repository Consistency | Matches existing architecture |
| Dependencies | No unnecessary additions |
| Performance | No regressions |
| Accessibility | UI remains accessible |
| Responsiveness | Mobile compatibility |
| Security | No obvious vulnerabilities |
Use when:
- Implementation is correct
- Repository standards are met
- Changes are production-safe
Use when:
- Implementation is incomplete
- Code quality is poor
- Repository rules are violated
- Architecture consistency is broken
Always provide actionable feedback.
Use for suggestions, clarifications, or non-blocking improvements.
- Meaningless changes
- Formatting-only spam
- Unnecessary refactors
- Copied code
- PR farming
- Duplicate work
- Dependency bloat
Mentors should watch for:
- Inconsistent coding style
- Generic implementations
- Unexplained architecture changes
- Code the contributor cannot explain
- Large autogenerated blobs
If suspicious: request an explanation, ask the contributor to justify the implementation, and escalate repeated abuse.
Do not accuse contributors aggressively. Focus on code quality and contributor understanding.
If a PR duplicates existing work, close it politely, reference the original PR or issue, and explain the duplication clearly.
Typical work: UI fixes, docs, accessibility, small bugs.
Mentor approach: educational, supportive, guidance-focused. No assignment restrictions.
Typical work: logic improvements, filtering, APIs, caching.
Mentor approach: stricter review, validate correctness, review edge cases carefully.
Requires: GitHub account age ≥ 30 days for auto-assignment.
Typical work: architecture, security, performance, backend systems.
Mentor approach: strict review, security-aware, architecture-focused.
Requires: at least 1 merged PR in the repository.
- Review within 24 hours
- Be constructive
- Explain requested changes
- Encourage contributors
- Escalate serious concerns
- Maintain consistent standards
- Ignore review requests
- Approve low-quality work
- Merge dependency-heavy PRs
- Be disrespectful
- Encourage PR farming
- Bypass repository workflows
Escalate to the Project Admin when:
- Security issues are discovered
- Contributors become abusive
- Spam patterns emerge
- Architectural decisions are unclear
- Suspicious activity is repeated
Project Admin: @S3DFX-CYBER
| System | Purpose |
|---|---|
| Assignment Queue | Contributor assignment handling |
| Mentor Rotation | Dynamic reviewer reassignment |
| Duplicate Detection | Duplicate issue/PR detection |
| Leaderboards | Contributor & mentor activity |
| Review Pipeline | PR stage tracking |
| Label Sync | Automatic label management |
| Timeout Handling | Reassign inactive reviews |
Mentor activity contributes to the mentor leaderboard. Metrics include:
- Completed reviews
- Approvals
- Merged-review approvals
- Review responsiveness
- Review activity score
Leaderboard updates automatically.
| Action | Expected Time |
|---|---|
| Initial Mentor Response | ~24 hours |
| Re-review After Changes | ~24 hours |
| Maintainer Review | 24–72 hours |
- GSSoC Official Website
- GSSoC Mentor Guidelines
- CONTRIBUTING.md
- Project Discord
Project Admin: @S3DFX-CYBER
This repository prioritizes quality over quantity, meaningful contributions, maintainable code, and fair review practices.
Mentors play a major role in maintaining these standards.
Thank you for mentoring with GSSoC 🚀