nodejs/GOVERNANCE.md

Node.js Project Governance

• Collaborators
  • Collaborator Activities
• Technical Steering Committee
  • TSC Meetings
• Collaborator Nominations
  • Onboarding
• Consensus Seeking Process

Collaborators

Node.js Core Collaborators maintain the nodejs/node GitHub repository. The GitHub team for Node.js Core Collaborators is @nodejs/collaborators. Their privileges include but are not limited to:

• Commit access to the nodejs/node repository
• Access to the Node.js continuous integration (CI) jobs

Both Collaborators and non-Collaborators may propose changes to the Node.js source code. The mechanism to propose such a change is a GitHub pull request. Collaborators are responsible for reviewing and merging (landing) pull requests.

At least two Collaborators must approve a pull request before the pull request can land. (One Collaborator approval is enough if the pull request has been open for more than 7 days.) Approving a pull request indicates that the Collaborator accepts responsibility for the change. Approval must be from Collaborators who are not authors of the change.

If a Collaborator opposes a proposed change, then the change cannot land. The exception is if the TSC votes to approve the change despite the opposition. Usually, involving the TSC is unnecessary. Often, discussions or further changes result in Collaborators removing their opposition.

See:

• Current list of Collaborators
• A guide for Collaborators

Collaborator Activities

Typical activities of a Collaborator include:

• Helping users and novice contributors
• Contributing code and documentation changes that improve the project
• Reviewing and commenting on issues and pull requests
• Participation in working groups
• Merging pull requests

The TSC can remove inactive Collaborators or provide them with Emeritus status. Emeriti may request that the TSC restore them to active status.

Technical Steering Committee

A subset of the Collaborators forms the Technical Steering Committee (TSC). The TSC has final authority over this project, including:

• Technical direction
• Project governance and process (including this policy)
• Contribution policy
• GitHub repository hosting
• Conduct guidelines
• Maintaining the list of Collaborators

The current list of TSC members is in the project README.

The TSC Charter governs the operations of the TSC. All changes to the Charter need approval by the Node.js Board of Directors.

TSC Meetings

The TSC meets in a voice conference call. Each year, the TSC elects a chair to run the meetings. The TSC streams its meetings for public viewing on YouTube or a similar service.

The TSC agenda includes issues that are at an impasse. The intention of the agenda is not to review or approve all patches. Collaborators review and approve patches on GitHub.

Any community member can create a GitHub issue asking that the TSC review something. If consensus-seeking fails for an issue, a Collaborator may apply the tsc-agenda label. That will add it to the TSC meeting agenda.

Before each TSC meeting, the meeting chair will share the agenda with members of the TSC. TSC members can also add items to the agenda at the beginning of each meeting. The meeting chair and the TSC cannot veto or remove items.

The TSC may invite people to take part in a non-voting capacity.

During the meeting, the TSC chair ensures that someone takes minutes. After the meeting, the TSC chair ensures that someone opens a pull request with the minutes.

The TSC seeks to resolve as many issues as possible outside meetings using the TSC issue tracker. The process in the issue tracker is:

• A TSC member opens an issue explaining the proposal/issue and @-mentions @nodejs/tsc.
• The proposal passes if, after 72 hours, there are two or more TSC approvals and no TSC opposition.
• If there is an extended impasse, a TSC member may make a motion for a vote.

Collaborator Nominations

Existing Collaborators can nominate someone to become a Collaborator. Nominees should have significant and valuable contributions across the Node.js organization.

To nominate a new Collaborator, open an issue in the nodejs/node repository. Provide a summary of the nominee's contributions. For example:

• Commits in the nodejs/node repository.
  • Use the link https://github.com/nodejs/node/commits?author=GITHUB_ID
• Pull requests and issues opened in the nodejs/node repository.
  • Use the link https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues?q=author:GITHUB_ID
• Comments on pull requests and issues in the nodejs/node repository
  • Use the link https://github.com/nodejs/node/issues?q=commenter:GITHUB_ID
• Reviews on pull requests in the nodejs/node repository
  • Use the link https://github.com/nodejs/node/pulls?q=reviewed-by:GITHUB_ID
• Help provided to end users and novice contributors
• Pull requests and issues opened throughout the Node.js organization
  • Use the link https://github.com/search?q=author:GITHUB_ID+org:nodejs
• Comments on pull requests and issues throughout the Node.js organization
  • Use the link https://github.com/search?q=commenter:GITHUB_ID+org:nodejs
• Participation in other projects, teams, and working groups of the Node.js organization
• Other participation in the wider Node.js community

Mention @nodejs/collaborators in the issue to notify other Collaborators about the nomination.

The nomination passes if no Collaborators oppose it after one week. Otherwise, the nomination fails.

There are steps a nominator can take in advance to make a nomination as frictionless as possible. Use the Collaborators discussion page to request feedback from other Collaborators in private. A nominator may also work with the nominee to improve their contribution profile.

It is possible that Collaborators will overlook someone with valuable contributions. In that case, the contributor may open an issue or contact a Collaborator to request a nomination.

Onboarding

After the nomination passes, a TSC member onboards the new Collaborator. See the onboarding guide on details of the onboarding process. In general, the onboarding should occur within a month after the nomination passes.

Consensus Seeking Process

The TSC follows a Consensus Seeking decision-making model per the TSC Charter.