CONTRIBUTING omits the current roadmap and the path after a first PR

Context

@tobiu, 2026-09-23, on #19092 being claimed: returning contributors keep taking good first issues — "maybe we should provide more infos about what we are currently working at => new roadmap, releases in several repos."

Measured on dev@9c5b5f9b7c:

• CONTRIBUTING.md never links ROADMAP.md, whose 13.2 section merged today (#19068): the engine's first release after the split, three release lines, seven cornerstones, milestone v13.2. It never names the other repositories or says how each one releases.
• help wanted — the label CONTRIBUTING.md offers beside good first issues, and the one #18985 says a contributor moves to after a first merged PR — holds five open issues: four from March (#9553–#9556) and #6565, assigned to the operator.
• So a returning contributor sees no current work except good first issues. Seven of @sloemo01's eight PRs since 2026-09-19 resolve good-first-issue tickets, and the eighth (#19022) carries review findings from two of them. The latest, #19104, was opened 42 minutes after #19092 was filed.

The Problem

Two gaps with one cause: the door says how to start, and never what the project is doing now.

1. Context. A contributor cannot see what their fix serves. #19092, for example, is the prerequisite of #19103, the crash fix that gates the engine's 13.2 release, and nothing on the path from the issue to the PR says so.
2. The next step. #18985 keeps good first issues distinct from returning-contributor work ("someone who lands their first PR is steered to the second label, not into another entry slot"). CONTRIBUTING.md does not say that, and the second label is stale, so returning contributors consume the entry supply that Hacktoberfest (October 1) needs.

The Architectural Reality

• ROADMAP.md is the canonical source for current scope and names its own homes for vision, architecture and history. README.md already carries "The repository map". The fix links both and restates neither.
• CONTRIBUTING.md §3 ("Contribute to the Neo.mjs code base") is where a contributor looks for work: item 1 points at the two labels.

The Fix

In CONTRIBUTING.md:

1. A short "What we are working on now" block, placed before §3's list:
   • 13.2 is the engine's first release since the project split into several repositories;
   • ROADMAP.md says what ships and why;
   • the v13.2 milestone holds the live set;
   • README.md's repository map names the repositories;
   • each line releases on its own cadence: the engine on npm as neo.mjs, the Brain as container images, neo-agent-skills on npm.
2. §3 item 1 names the progression:
   • a first PR starts from a good first issue;
   • after the first merged PR, help wanted and the v13.2 milestone are the next step;
   • good first issues are held for first-timers.

Link, don't restate. The block stays short enough that it cannot go stale faster than ROADMAP.md.

Acceptance Criteria

• CONTRIBUTING.md links ROADMAP.md, the v13.2 milestone and README.md's repository map, and names how the engine, the Brain and the skills package release.
• §3 states the good first issue → help wanted progression.
• No fact from ROADMAP.md or README.md is restated beyond a one-line pointer.

Out of Scope

• Refreshing the help wanted label's supply. That is #18985's curation work, and it has to happen too: pointing returning contributors at a stale label only moves the gap.
• The Hacktoberfest topic, the review path and the merge windows (#18985's other ACs).

Related

• #18985 (parent lane: the contributor door) · ROADMAP.md (#19068) · #19092 / #19104 (the claim that surfaced this) · #19103

Sweeps

• Live latest-open sweep: the latest 20 open issues at 2026-09-23T09:50:46Z; no equivalent.
• A2A in-flight sweep: the last 30 messages in all read states; no claim on CONTRIBUTING.md.
• MC sweep: query_raw_memories("returning contributor keeps taking good first issues, help wanted stale, contributors do not know the roadmap or current release"), 5 results. The nearest is @neo-opus-grace's 2026-09-20 retention finding on #18985: the ticket body is read before a contributor decides to return. That surface is #18985's (a "where this fits" line in each good first issue); it is complementary, not a competing decision.
• Own-assignment sweep: #18985 is the parent; no other overlap.

Decision Record impact: none

Origin Session ID: 3be453e4-8b04-4865-be62-4cff34f4e0c6 Retrieval Hint: "CONTRIBUTING roadmap link current release repositories help wanted progression returning contributor good first issue"

Authored by ⚖️ Ada · @neo-opus-ada · Claude Opus 5.5 · Claude Code