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doc: document open pull request limit - #65250

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mcollina:doc/limit-open-pull-requests

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@mcollina

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I previously set the maximum number of open pull requests for non-Collaborators to 30 to prevent excessive AI contributions and maintainer burnout. I want to reduce that limit to 10, and this change documents the new limit in the contribution guides.

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Review requested:

  • @nodejs/tsc

@nodejs-github-bot nodejs-github-bot added the doc Issues and PRs related to the documentations. label Aug 12, 2026

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Can the number be put in CONTRIBUTING.md only, so that we don't need updating 3 places if the number changes?

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What's the process for users currently with more than 10 PRs, should their overflow be closed, or grandfathered in?

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What's the process for users currently with more than 10 PRs, should their overflow be closed, or grandfathered in?

GH will not close them, the user is just prevented from opening more until the total drops to <10.

@Renegade334 Renegade334 added the meta Issues and PRs related to the general management of the project. label Aug 12, 2026

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lgtm

@aduh95

aduh95 commented Aug 13, 2026

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What's the process for users currently with more than 10 PRs, should their overflow be closed, or grandfathered in?

GH will not close them, the user is just prevented from opening more until the total drops to <10.

IIUC GitHub would let them open more than 30, but won't let them mark as Ready for Reviews more than 30 at a time:

@aduh95

aduh95 commented Aug 13, 2026

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I suggest we revert the 30-PR limit and close this PR in favor of nodejs/admin#1087. The absolute number of non-draft PRs is not saying much about the quality of a contribution, the rate the PRs are open does. The fact that GH UI indicates the limit so prominently can give users the impression that having up to 30 open PRs is OK, so IMO it's only making things worse. I'd rather have them open 50+ PRs at once so we can block them.

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I suggest we revert the 30-PR limit and close this PR in favor of nodejs/admin#1087.

Approving this since I'd personally lean more towards the approach here approach since making the change, which as we've seen today appears in the github messaging, will be kinder to new contributors than a message which only exists in the moderation document which users are less likely to have seen until they trip over it.

@MikeMcC399

MikeMcC399 commented Aug 13, 2026

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Unfortunately, when a limit is set, it appears on https://github.com/nodejs/node/pulls whether or not a user has any pull requests open or not. It doesn't just appear as a message when a user gets close to the limit or exceeds it.

image

That has been interpreted as an invitation to open lots of PRs up to that limit.

That may look different if the limit is 5 - 10, but the cosmetics of the message also need to be considered.

Edit: I've suggested to GH program management that they consider making the appearance of that message optional / configurable. If I get any response, I'll relay it here. Comparing it to disk quotas, you'd only expect to get warned if you were running out of space.

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I want this to be lower. 3 or 5. Especially for first-time contributors. But I will not block if others believe 10 is sufficient.

Signed-off-by: Matteo Collina <hello@matteocollina.com>
@mcollina
mcollina force-pushed the doc/limit-open-pull-requests branch from 885b4b5 to 4048275 Compare August 13, 2026 13:57
@mcollina mcollina added the commit-queue Add this label to land a pull request using GitHub Actions. label Aug 13, 2026
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Let's land this, then lower it down further to 5.

Comment thread CONTRIBUTING.md
Comment on lines +50 to +51
Contributors who are not Collaborators may have no more than 10 pull requests
open at a time.

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Suggested change
Contributors who are not Collaborators may have no more than 10 pull requests
open at a time.
Contributors who are not Collaborators may have no more than 10 pull requests
open at a time. This is a limit. Not a goal. It is not an invitation to open as many pull requests as possible up to the limit.

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You may also like to add an explanation.

"Too many pull requests from one submitter can quickly overload available capacity to review. Limiting the number helps submitters and reviewers prioritize."

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