{
  "id": 11989535,
  "title": "I built a triage tool so my busy friend stops wasting evenings on claimed issues",
  "url": "https://urgent.news/2026/10/04/i-built-a-triage-tool-so-my-busy-friend-stops-wasting-evenings-on",
  "topic": "tech",
  "section": "Tech",
  "published": "2026-10-04T19:10:00.000Z",
  "source": {
    "name": "Dev.to",
    "slug": "dev-to",
    "url": "https://dev.to/mauujo/i-built-a-triage-tool-so-my-busy-friend-stops-wasting-evenings-on-claimed-issues-428b"
  },
  "original_language": "en",
  "account": "This submission for the Hacktoberfest Weekend Challenge introduces a tool called Worth My Time. The tool is designed to help beginners determine if a good first issue on GitHub is worth spending time on. By building the tool for his friend Akash, who works full-time and wants to contribute to open source, the developer solved a common pain point that Akash faced.\n\nWhen Akash began working on open source projects, he repeatedly encountered issues that were already claimed or had not been updated for months, leaving him with no time to contribute. To solve this issue, the tool searches for open GitHub issues labeled as \"good first issue\" and filters them based on several criteria such as whether the issue has already been claimed, if there's already an open PR for it, if the repository is dead or inactive, the repository's newcomer merge rate, and the presence of a CONTRIBUTING guide.\n\nThe app presents up to 15 candidates, each labeled as \"Go,\" \"Risky,\" or \"Skip,\" along with a reason summary. Additionally, if the local Ollama model is available, the tool can generate a short beginner brief for the selected issue, providing a summary of the issue and a checklist of steps to take for the first contribution. The scoring system uses simple, deterministic Python rules that are transparent, testable, and modifiable, allowing users to understand and adjust the heuristics as needed.\n\nThe project utilizes Python, Gradio, the GitHub REST API, Ollama with the Gemma model, and pytest for testing. The outcome of the tool was validated by checking the listed issues against the results, and all issues received the correct verdict on whether to proceed or skip. This beginner-focused application is open innovation at its core, providing a cost-effective solution for new contributors without requiring an API key or any other charges. With a transparent scoring system and the ability to swap models, the tool can be customized to meet individual needs.",
  "summary": "This is a submission for the Hacktoberfest Weekend Challenge: Build for a Friend What I Built Worth My Time is a tool that tells a beginner whether a \"good first issue\" is actually worth picking up before they spend an evening on it. I built it for my friend Akash , who works a full-time job and wants to make his first open source contributions this Hacktoberfest. He kept running into the same…",
  "key_points": [],
  "editors_take": null,
  "illustration": null,
  "coverage": {
    "outlets": 1,
    "also_reported_by": []
  },
  "ai_generated": true,
  "disclaimer": "Summaries, key points and the editor’s take are written by software from other outlets’ reporting and may contain errors — always check the linked original."
}