Sharing what we learn scaling InnerSource at IBM.
We're the IBM InnerSource team. InnerSource borrows the collaboration model of open source, but it isn't open source. IBM's InnerSource projects live inside the company on IBM GitHub Enterprise, with their own access controls, governance, Trusted Committers, and contribution requirements shaped by IBM's business needs. We help IBMers discover, reuse, and contribute to those projects across the company.
This organization is the public side of that work. When we build something useful beyond IBM's walls, like our Hacktoberfest skill, we share it here so other maintainers and InnerSource programs can reuse it.
Every October, IBM runs IBM Hacktoberfest, a company-wide program that brings IBMers together to contribute to InnerSource and open source projects. This year we're also proud to sponsor the worldwide Hacktoberfest, powered by MLH and DEV and presented by DigitalOcean, with a 2026 focus on building with open source AI and open-weight models.
We built an AI agent skill that does the tedious prep work of getting a repository ready for contributors. It's open to everyone: any maintainer can use it on any GitHub project for the worldwide Hacktoberfest. We also run an internal copy to support IBM Hacktoberfest, where IBMers contribute to IBM's InnerSource and open source projects.
| Repository | What it does |
|---|---|
| hacktoberfest-skill | An AI agent skill that gets any GitHub repository Hacktoberfest-ready: checks and adds the hacktoberfest topic, triages open issues, and labels the good ones, with your approval at every step. Works with IBM Bob (free trial), Claude Code, or your agent of choice. |
MLH x DigitalOcean @ AI Engineer NYC, hosted by IBM Wednesday, October 14, 2026 · 6:00 to 9:00 PM ET IBM One Madison Avenue, New York, NY
Join Major League Hacking and DigitalOcean for a happy hour after AI Engineer NYC. IBM open source teams will share intros to their projects, and we'll be around all evening to demo the Hacktoberfest skill and talk InnerSource.
- Use our tools. Fork them, adapt them, and run them on your own repositories.
- Contribute back. Found a bug or have an idea? Open an issue or a pull request in any of our repos.
- Learn more about InnerSource. InnerSource Commons is the global community for InnerSource practitioners, with free patterns, learning paths, and events.
- Explore IBM open source. See what else IBM builds in the open at github.com/IBM and ibm.com/opensource.
Made with 🧡 by the IBM InnerSource Program Office.
