Your GSoC 2026 Guide

Google Summer of Code (GSoC) is a dream for many developers, but the journey to acceptance is often riddled with uncertainty, late nights, and moments of self-doubt. I know this firsthand. As someone who navigated the process successfully, I want to share my story, struggles, and actionable advice to help you turn your GSoC dream into reality.

But first, let’s address the elephant in the room: contributions. Not just code, but contributions to the community. These two factors are the only non-negotiable keys to unlocking GSoC. Let me explain how I learned this the hard way.

Step 1: Choosing the Right Organization — The Make-or-Break Decision Your GSoC journey begins with selecting an organization. This step is so critical that I spent weeks researching, experimenting, and even pivoting between orgs. Here’s how I did it:

Start with the GSoC Organizations List The official GSoC website lists all participating organizations. I filtered them by tech stack (JavaScript/React), project size, and past acceptance rates. Organizations like Rocket.Chat and Learning Equality caught my eye initially. 2. Dig into Past Proposals and Stats Many orgs publish past accepted proposals and yearly participation stats. I Checked out GSoC organizations statistics and i highly recommend you do too. I studied their GitHub repositories, issue trackers, and Slack channels to gauge activity levels.

1. Pivot When Necessary I first contributed to Rocket.Chat but struggled to find impactful tasks. Next, Learning Equality’s projects felt too niche for my skills. Finally, Open Science Labs struck the perfect balance: active mentorship and projects aligned with my interests.

Pro Tip: Join an org’s communication channels early (Slack, Discord, or forums). Lurking here helped me understand their culture and priorities.*

Step 2: Contributions — Start Small, Think Big Contributions are your golden ticket. But how do you start when the codebase feels like a maze?

1. Familiarize Yourself with the Codebase I cloned Open Science Labs’ repositories, ran the projects locally, and studied documentation. Even fixing a typo in the docs counts as a contribution! For learning how to contribute you can check out this video by Harkirat Singh.

2. Tackle “Good First Issues My first contribution? Adding a dark mode toggle to a minor page. It seemed trivial, but it taught me the org’s workflow: PR guidelines, testing, and code reviews.

3. Embrace Feedback When my PRs were rejected (and they were!), I didn’t sulk. Instead, I asked mentors like Daniel for detailed feedback. Then, I implemented changes immediately and resubmitted. This showed I was coachable and committed.

4. Scale Up Gradually After 3–4 small fixes, I tackled a much more major feature addition which required much more code than my previous contributions. In the process you can seek for help from community members or your mentors.

Lesson Learned: Consistency > Genius. Regular contributions, even minor ones, build trust.

Step 3: Writing the Proposal — Your Blueprint for Success The proposal is your chance to prove you’ve done your homework. Here’s how I structured mine: A. Follow the Org’s Template (or Create Your Own) Some orgs provide templates (stick to them!). Others don’t — here’s what worked for me:

Synopsis (The Hook) This is the paragraph that will decide how the reader reads the rest of your proposal. Example: “What good is a revolutionary learning platform if teachers still have to juggle Zoom, docs, and third-party whiteboards just to conduct a class? After working on Alpha One Labs for long, building new features everyday, I’ve realised that with all the current components like courses, videos, blogs, quizzes…. The one component that is missing is indeed the most important one — A Virtual Classroom. (and what if this virtual classroom becomes a 2D user controlled experience?)”

1. About Me (Sell Yourself) Highlight relevant coursework, past projects, and community contributions. I mentioned my hackathon wins and my places of expertise.

2. Technical Documentation — Tech Stack: Why React over Vue? Why Three.js? Justify every choice. Your tech stack should make it evident that you know what you are talking about. — Pseudo Code & Sketches: I included wireframes and a flowchart of the game’s architecture.

— Lo-Fi Prototype: I built a basic version lofi version of my final output (see screenshot below) to demonstrate feasibility.

1. Deliverables — Minimum: Core gameplay, multiplayer support. — Stretch Goals: Leaderboards, analytics dashboard.

2. Timeline (Be Specific!) Example: — Weeks 1–2: Building detailed maps and elements of the game customized to alpha one labs. Adding collision properties to maps, and layers accordingly

3. Why You? Link your skills to the project. I emphasized my experience with real-time apps and prior mentorship roles.

B. Iterate Ruthlessly My proposal went through 8 drafts. Mentors like Daniel pushed me to think creatively — for instance, adding a “teacher dashboard” to my game idea.

Key Insight: Treat your proposal like a startup pitch. Clarity, visuals, and measurable outcomes matter.

Step 4: Surviving the Wait — Community & Mentorship While waiting for results, I stayed active in Open Science Labs’ community: - Reviewed others’ PRs. - Shared progress on my prototype. This kept me visible and reinforced my commitment.

Not just pr’s. i saw my mentor mentioning their reach as their next goal, so i went on and connected them with my college professors to get their review on the website, and the features that were being planned to add on.

Conclusion: GSoC Isn’t Magic — It’s Persistence When the acceptance email finally arrived, I realized GSoC wasn’t about brilliance. It was about showing up: contributing consistently, embracing feedback, and proving I could collaborate.

To future applicants: 1. Start early. 2. Choose your org like you’d choose a co-founder. 3. Treat every PR as an audition.

And remember — you don’t need to be perfect. You just need to be persistent.

Ready to Start Your Journey? - GSoC Organizations List - Sample Proposal Structure

Have questions? Drop them in the comments! And if this helped you, share it with someone who’s chasing their GSoC dream. 🚀

Ishaan Arora is a computer science student and open-source enthusiast who recently completed Google Summer of Code with Open Science Labs. When not coding, they enjoy dancing, acting and writing blogs. Connect with them on Linkedin.