Welcome to Maintainer Month: Events, exclusive discounts, and a new security challenge

Open source software (OSS) is everywhere—it’s the lifeblood of the modern software ecosystem. Ninety percent of companies use open source¹, 97% of codebases contain open source², 70-90% of the code within commercial tools comes from open source³, and the value of OSS globally is estimated to be $8.8 trillion⁴. At GitHub, we love open source—and we’re so honored to host so much open source code that we famously preserved it in the Arctic.

But in the same way that your office microwave doesn’t just magically get clean and your favorite park doesn’t have self-mowing grass, open source software doesn’t just happen.  

We’re surrounded by human-maintained infrastructure and resources that, in our busy lives, can be easy to take for granted. This is why we started Maintainer Month—a time to thank the open source software maintainers that keep projects healthy. This May marks the fifth annual Maintainer Month, and there are lots of treats in store: new badges, special discounts, events with experts, and more. In addition to the fact that the device you’re reading this on functions–thanks, open source maintainers!

Maintainer Month events and livestreams

There are over 25 events and livestreams scheduled during Maintainer Month, so head on over to the schedule to see them all or add your own!

Everyone is welcome at these events—whether or not you’re ready to call yourself a software maintainer. Here are a couple of our favorites, since they tackle thorny issues: 

• What maintainers need to know about open source licensing, SBOMs and security: May 6, 2025
  Join our colleague Jeff Luszcz from the GitHub Open Source Programs Office as he reviews what every maintainer should know about these topics in the ever-evolving landscape of 2025. We get so many questions about this, and Jeff is the expert!
• The CRA and Open Source: What Maintainers Really Need to Know: May 27, 2025
  Feeling stressed about the European Union’s new Cyber Resilience Act (CRA) regulations? We can help! Come to this stream with the Eclipse Foundation’s Cyber Resilience Working Group, where they’ll talk about resources and practical information for maintainers navigating these changes.

🎁 Meet the 2025 Partner Pack

This year, we’re launching the new Maintainer Month Partner Pack—a bundle of perks, tools, and resources from organizations that truly believe in open source. Think of it as a care package for the folks behind our digital infrastructure.

Here’s just a taste of what’s inside (and it’s available to all maintainers):

• Arachne Digital: Free tailored threat report with steps to defend your project
• Boot.dev: One month of free premium access to backend dev courses
• CNCF: Discounts on select cloud native training (Kubernetes included!)
• DevCycle: A full year of the Developer plan, free for maintainers
• JSConf North America: Special discounted tickets for Maintainer Month
• Linux Foundation Education: 25% off the full course catalog
• Mockoon: Free Mockoon Cloud account to build, test, and mock APIs faster
• Sentry: Access to their open source plan for monitoring and performance
• TODO Group: 20% off the CODE certification for enterprise open source
• Web Summit: Discounted tickets to Vancouver & Lisbon for OSS contributors

…and we’ll be adding more throughout May. 

👉 See all current offers and partners here.

Some partners are offering extra perks for members of our private Maintainer Community—a vetted space to connect, share, and support each other. If you maintain an open source project, you can request to join our Maintainer Community.

Security: a new challenge

Security is kind of a big deal, which is why you hear about it all the time. This is why we’re excited to launch new security guidance on opensource.guide to help maintainers strengthen the trust and resilience of their open source projects. We’ve pulled together practical advice and tools you can start using right away to make your project safer for everyone who relies on it. Because building great open source software isn’t just about what your project does—it’s about how you protect the people who use it.

The new Open Source Guide on Security Best Practices for Your Project will walk you through the basic considerations for software security, including how to:

• Secure your code as part of your development workflow
• Avoid unwanted changes with protected branches
• Set up an intake mechanism for vulnerability reporting

🔒 Security Challenge: Level up during Maintainer Month

Ready to boost your project’s defenses—and your own skills?

This May, take the Maintainer Month Security Challenge, which features three hands-on GitHub security skills while allowing you to snag a voucher for GitHub Advanced Security certification (hello, career boost!).

In just a few hours, you’ll pick up real techniques to protect your project—and show the world you’re serious about security. Let’s build a safer open source together.

Join the Security Challenge >

🔧 How to get involved throughout May and beyond

• Explore the Partner Pack: maintainermonth.github.com
• Join the Maintainer Community: maintainers.github.com
• Want to contribute an offer? Email us at maintainermonth@github.com
• Share your story: Tag #MaintainerMonth on social media to help us celebrate the humans behind the code!

Written by

Kara Sowles

@karasowles

Kara Sowles is on the Open Source Programs team at GitHub, advocating for and supporting the open source software maintainers who keep our world running.

Abigail Cabunoc Mayes

@abbycabs

Abigail Cabunoc Mayes works at GitHub to help the open source ecosystem thrive — now and in the future.