Popular PnP repositories and how to get started contributing

Introduction

In August of 2019, I wrote a post called My GitHub cheat sheet for PnP contributions — an interactive cheat sheet which explains the GitHub commands that I use when I start a contribution. The post is interactive: you just tell it your GitHub username and what repository you want to contribute to, and it customizes the instructions for you.

NOTE: I have since updated the interactive cheat sheet to a Summary Cheat Sheet with all the same interactive steps, but without all the lengthy explanation.

I also wrote another post talking about how impressed I am with David Warner II’s offer to help anyone with their first contribution. I have since joined the Sharing is Caring initiative and proudly co-host all the session with David Warner

After briefly chatting with David I realized that the biggest hurdle for people is that they just don’t know where to get started. In my post, I recommend that you read the contribution guidelines for every repo, but I found that they are often hard to find in each repository.

I also say that most repositories want you to start from the dev branch, but as the Chris Kent pointed out in the August 22nd PnP community call, some repositories prefer you use the master (or, more and more commonly, the main) branch.

So, with David’s help, we compiled a list of the most common PnP repositories to help you get started. We only show the repositories that provide contribution guidelines.

The list contains the following:

Repo: Name of the repository
What is it?: Description of the repository
Getting started: Links to the most likely resource if you want to get started contributing to that repository
Branch: The branch you should target when submitting your pull requests

NOTE: The information in each of the repositories can change and that you should always refer to the repository for the latest information.

Popular repositories

Repo	What is it?	Getting started	Branch
CLI for Microsoft 365 PnP/CLI-Microsoft365	Manage Microsoft 365 and SharePoint Framework projects on any platform https://aka.ms/o365cli NOTE: This repository prefers "one commit per pull request"	– Contribution guidelines – Adding a new command – Submitting a PR	dev
Microsoft 365 Community Docs MicrosoftDocs/microsoft-365-community	Microsoft 365 community contributed documentation https://docs.microsoft.com/microsoft-365/community	Adding content	master
Microsoft Graph .NET Client Library MicrosoftGraph/Microsoft-SDK-DotNet	Microsoft Graph Client Library for .NET! https://graph.microsoft.com/	Contributing to the Microsoft Graph .Net Client Library	dev
Microsoft Graph .NET Core Client Library MicrosoftGraph/Microsoft-SDK-DotNet-Core	The core Microsoft Graph client library for .Net. (Microsoft.Graph.Core) https://graph.microsoft.com/	Contributing to the Microsoft Graph .Net Client Library	dev
Microsoft Graph documentation MicrosoftGraph/Microsoft-Graph-Docs	Documentation for the Microsoft Graph REST API, which feeds the Microsoft Graph Developer Portal. https://docs.microsoft.com/graph	Contribute to Microsoft Graph documentation	master
Microsoft Graph JavaScript Client Library MicrosoftGraph/Microsoft-SDK-JavaScript	The Microsoft Graph JavaScript client library is a lightweight wrapper around the Microsoft Graph API that can be used server-side and in the browser. https://graph.microsoft.com/	Contributing	dev
Microsoft Graph Library for PHP MicrosoftGraph/Microsoft-SDK-PHP	Microsoft Graph Library for PHP https://docs.microsoft.com/graph/toolkit/overview	Contributing to the Microsoft Graph PHP SDK	Documentation changes, use master Otherwise, use dev
Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK MicrosoftGraph/Microsoft-SDK-PowerShell	The Microsoft Graph PowerShell SDK is a collection of PowerShell modules that contain commands for calling Microsoft Graph service.	Contributing	dev
Microsoft Graph SDK for Java MicrosoftGraph/Microsoft-SDK-Java	Get started with the Microsoft Graph SDK for Java by integrating the Microsoft Graph API into your Java application! https://developer.microsoft.com/graph	Contributing to the Microsoft Graph SDK for Java	dev
Microsoft Teams Development Community Samples PnP/teams-dev-samples	Contains community samples that demonstrate different usage patterns for developing on Microsoft Teams as a platform. Samples are generally not production-ready, but are intended to show developers specific patterns and use cases for use in complete applications. http://aka.ms/teams-dev-samples	Contribution guidance	master
Microsoft365DSC Microsoft/Microsoft365DSC	Manages, configures, extracts and monitors Microsoft 365 tenant configurations https://aka.ms/M365DSC	Setting up your environment and contributing to the project	master
Modernization Tools and Solutions PnP/sp-dev-modernization	All modernization tooling and guidance http://aka.ms/sppnp-modernize	The modernization repository	dev
PnP Framework PnP/PnPFramework	PnP Framework is a .Net Standard library targeting Microsoft 365 containing the PnP Provisioning engine and a ton of other useful extensions		dev
PnP Modern Search Microsoft-Search/PnP-Modern-Search	Home of PnP Modern Search solutions, helping you move from classic to modern SharePoint and beyond		develop
PnP PowerShell PnP/PnP-PowerShell	SharePoint PnP PowerShell CmdLets https://aka.ms/sppnp-powershell	Contribution guidance	dev
PnP Sites Core Library PnP/PnP-sites-core	Office 365 Dev PnP Core component (.NET) targeted for increasing developer productivity with CSOM based solutions. NOTE: Will only be maintained until end of 2020	Contribution guidance	dev
PnP Starter Kit PnP/sp-starter-kit	Modern SharePoint Starter Kit – End-to-end showcase solution to get started with modern experiences.		dev
PnPJs pnp/pnpjs	SharePoint Patterns and Practices Reusable Client-side Libraries https://pnp.github.io/pnpjs	Contribution guide	dev
SharePoint Developer Documentation SharePoint/sp-dev-docs	SharePoint Developer Documentation https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sharepoint/dev/	Contribute to SharePoint developer documentation	master
SharePoint Framework Client-Side Web Part Samples & Tutorial Materials PnP/sp-dev-fx-webparts	Code samples and developer content targeted towards SharePoint Framework client-side web parts. Maintained by the nicest guy 😁. http://aka.ms/spfx-webparts	Contribution guidelines	master
SharePoint Framework Extensions Samples & Tutorial Materials PnP/sp-dev-fx-extensions	Code samples and developer content targeted towards SharePoint Framework client-side extensions — maintained by yours truly. https://aka.ms/spfx-extensions	Contribution guidance	master
SharePoint Framework Library Component Samples & Tutorial Materials PnP/sp-dev-fx-library-components	Samples that demonstrate different usage patterns for the SharePoint Framework library component.	Contribution guidance	Create from: master Submit to: dev
SharePoint Framework React Controls PnP/sp-dev-fx-controls-react	Reusable React controls for SPFx solutions https://pnp.github.io/sp-dev-fx-controls-react/	– Contribution guidelines – Submitting a PR	dev
SharePoint Framework React Property Controls PnP/sp-dev-fx-property-controls	Reusable SPFx property pane controls – Open source initiative https://pnp.github.io/sp-dev-fx-controls-react/	– Contribution guidelines – Submitting a PR	dev
SharePoint List Formatting Samples PnP/sp-dev-list-formatting	SharePoint List Formatting Samples https://pnp.github.io/sp-dev-list-formatting/	Contribution guidelines	master

Conclusion

Let’s keep this list up to date! If you find that we forgot a repository, or that something is wrong, let us know in the comments of via Twitter and we’ll get it updated!

Thanks to David Warner II with putting together this list, and for always making yourself available to help people in this community.

This list wouldn’t be possible without the hard work of all of those who contributed (and continue to contribute) to the above repositories. Thank you for your contributions!

Photo credit

Image by StockSnap from Pixabay

Updates

October 18, 2020: There was so much interest around the Microsoft Graph Toolkit repo that I also added the Microsoft Graph repos. Thanks Jeremy Thake for giving me a list of repos.
October 15, 2020: Microsoft Graph Toolkit accepts contributions now! Woo hoo!
October 13, 2020: Thanks to Nanddeep Nachan for pointing out I had forgotten to list the PnP/Teams-dev-samples!
October 12, 2020: The Office 365 CLI is now called the CLI for Microsoft 365. Added Microsoft365DSC as per Dean Gross‘s suggestion.
July 27, 2020: Updated repos within PnP organization.
April 03, 2020: Yes, both the SPFx extensions and web parts samples repositories now ask you to submit to the master branch. This article was updated accordingly.
March 03, 2020: This repository is getting a lot of traffic these days, so I figured I’d update it and add the super-useful microsoft-365-community repo
November 22, 2019: I’m incredibly proud to be part of the Sharing is Caring initiative, where we walk people through the process of contributing to open-source repositories and show people how to create their first pull request! If you haven’t done so yet, sign up.
September 25, 2019: David Warner II has launched a new initiative to help anyone who wants to create their first PnP contribution. It is called Sharing Is Caring and you can register to attend a live online hands-on session where he walks you through step-by-step instructions to create your first pull request.
August 25, 2019: Thanks to Bert Jansen for providing us with details for the SharePoint/sp-dev-modernization repository.
August 23, 2019: Erwin van Hunen Tweeted to remind us about SharePoint/PnP-Sites-Core. It is so foundational to other components, I don’t know how we missed it. Urgh! I hate to disappoint someone I hold in such high regard! Sorry!
August 23, 2019: Waldek Mastykarz rightly pointed out that we forgot the PnPjs repository.