The Rules of the Game
ECSoC is a structured open-source cohort. Points are calculated and logged automatically by the ECSoC Sentinel GitHub bot to eliminate manual audits and ensure a fair public leaderboard.
Max 5 merged PRs per project per contributor each day. Extra merges won't yield XP.
Credited to all roles immediately upon profile registration and approval.
Awarded to mentors for each valid code review log submitted on the workspace.
How to Contribute
- Fill in developer stack, GitHub profile, and optional referral fields.
- Coordinate with admins for review; receive 20 base XP on approval.
- Unlock personal dashboard workspace and contribution history tracker.
- Inspect technical requirement lists, repository specifications, and community links.
- Fork the repository, configure the project locally, and confirm tests pass.
- Join specific Discord/WhatsApp channels linked to coordinate with project admins.
- Comment on the GitHub issue to state your intent and wait for maintainer assignment.
- Create a local feature branch named according to the ticket (e.g., feature/issue-12).
- Avoid duplicate work by checking pull request queues before starting coding.
- Ensure code matches styling conventions (lint rules, typescript schemas).
- Verify build locally using 'npm run build' or equivalent commands before pushing.
- Commit code cleanly with explanatory commit messages.
- Explain changes, tests run, and link the corresponding issue.
- Ensure the exact label 'ECSoC26' is applied to the PR before or during merge.
- Do not use brackets or typos; the scoring engine checks for the exact text label 'ECSoC26'.
- Sentinel validates the label, parses complexity parameters, and runs anti-fraud rules.
- XP is credited: 5 XP (L1), 10 XP (L2), or 15 XP (L3) based on difficulty.
- Your rank is resolved on the public leaderboard within 5 minutes of merge.
Strict Daily Limit: 5 PRs per Project
You can submit up to 5 merged pull requests per project per day. This threshold operates independently across repositories.
Scoring Engine Mechanics
Once a PR carrying the ECSoC26 label is merged:
| Difficulty Grade | Sentinel Action Label | XP Scored |
|---|---|---|
| L1 (Easy) | ECSoC26-L1 | 5 XP |
| L2 (Medium) | ECSoC26-L2 | 10 XP |
| L3 (Difficult) | ECSoC26-L3 | 15 XP |
Bonus Endorsements
Project Admins (PAs) can award additional Bonus XP by applying one of these extra labels to your merged PR:
| Bonus Metric | GitHub Label | XP Increment |
|---|---|---|
| Outstanding Issue Scope | good-issue | +10 XP |
| Exceptional PR Execution / Code Refactor | good-pr | +15 XP |
| Stunning UI/UX Design & Execution | good-ui | +25 XP |
| Complex Backend, Indexes or Database Schema Changes | good-backend | +50 XP |
Note: Bonus labels can only be assigned by Project Admins (PAs) for contributions that exceed the base parameters of a pull request.
Code of Conduct: Anti-Cheat & Fair Play
Academic and engineering honesty is vital for ECSoC. Attempts to manipulate scores will lead to immediate disqualification, complete points forfeit, and a permanent block across all future cohort cycles.
• Discussing architecture blueprints and optimization strategies.
• Co-debugging setup issues or sharing environment parameters.
• Referencing public document structures and API schemas.
• Copy-pasting other candidates' active PR codebase changes.
• Bypassing daily limits by creating duplicate user log profiles or fake git handles.
• Collaborating to merge empty or trivial commits to game leaderboard positions.