Cool project, will you actually maintain it?

• 04 January 2026

I have seen a lot of cool, open source projects posted online. Helpful libraries, starter templates, frameworks. What I often don't see, however, is a plan for maintaining them.

Long after the dopamine wears off from the upvotes and karma from the initial post about your project, you'll be left with a bunch of code and possibly some people now using that code in their applications. This is a responsibility that I don't think many consider fully.

If you have a full stack starter template, will you actually make sure to keep dependencies up-to-date so new users don't start out with vulnerabilities? If your project is an npm library, will you keep up with dependencies to make sure existing users aren't stuck with your vulnerable package?

If you're thinking of open sourcing something, I ask you to please think beyond the initial dopamine hit and ask yourself: will I really maintain this?

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