contribOS

Open-source contribution, AI era

Read the house rules before you open the PR.

Your agent reads the code. ContribOS reads the rules.

It reads a repository's contributing guide, PR template, AI policy and history, and tells you and your coding agent what the maintainers expect. Every rule cites the file and line it came from.

See real output View on GitHub

It never opens pull requests, posts comments or claims issues for you. It points, and you decide. Python 3.10+, zero dependencies, MIT.

How it works

Read the rules before you code. Check your branch before you push.

Projects now spell out what they accept: disclose AI use, no unattended agents, claim the issue first, tests and changelog entries. ContribOS finds those rules and checks your work against them. Read the README ›

Before you code

contribos policy

Finds the AI policy, disclosure format, claim-first, tests and changelog rules, and quotes each one with its file and line.

Real output, v0.2.3, trimmed 

            
          

          
  • every rule cites file:line
  • links open the exact commit
  • repos cloned once, then cached

        

        

          
Before you push

          
contribos check

          
Reviews your branch against what the maintainers asked for: scope compared with past changes, tests, changelog, sign-off and AI-disclosure trailers.

          

            
Example branch

            
Scopesimilar to past merged PRsPass

            
Tests changedrepo expects testsPass

            
Changelog entryCHANGES.rstMissing

            
AI disclosurePR templateRequired

          

          
Starting on an issue? contribos brief <issue-url> lists the files to read, similar merged PRs and the questions a reviewer will likely ask.

          
  • 0 runtime dependencies
  • 85 tests in CI
  • 9 tools for MCP agents
  • never posts for you

        

      

    

  


  

    

      

        

          

            
AI policies, checked by hand

            

              
What 11 popular repos say about AI contributions

              
We ran ContribOS on each repo, then read every cited file ourselves. Each source link opens the exact lines at the commit we read.

            

          

          

            
9 of 11have written AI rules

            
4reject "pure agent" PRs

            
1takes no outside PRs

          

        

        

          
          

          
Drag to turn. Pins: where four of these projects are based. Imagery: NASA Blue Marble.

        

      

      

        
        
        
        
        
        
      

      

        

          
RepositoryStanceWhat the rules saySource

          
        

      

      

        
        Snapshot: 11 Oct 2026. Rules change, so check the repo before contributing.
        Full table as a gist
      

    

  


  

    

      

        
FAQ

        
Questions, answered.

      

      

        

          Does it open pull requests or post comments for me?
          
No. It never opens PRs, posts comments or claims issues. It reads and points; you decide and act. The hooks that agent-rules writes exist to stop an agent doing those things on its own.

        

        

          Does it send my code anywhere?
          
ContribOS has no server of its own. It clones public repos from GitHub and caches them on your machine, and some commands read issue data from the GitHub API. Your own code stays local.

        

        

          How accurate is it?
          
It reads rules with text patterns, so unusual wording can slip past it. That is why every rule links to its source. In our 11-repo check, version 0.2.3 gets 10 right; uv's org-wide policy, which lives in a separate repo, is still open as issue #10.

        

      

      
More in the README. Want to help? Open issues are welcome.