[HN Gopher] How to Attract AI Bots to Your Open Source Project
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       How to Attract AI Bots to Your Open Source Project
        
       Author : zdw
       Score  : 41 points
       Date   : 2026-03-21 20:58 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (nesbitt.io)
 (TXT) w3m dump (nesbitt.io)
        
       | gardnr wrote:
       | The first three recommendations seemed weird but alright. Then,
       | it just gets more hilarious and bizarre as it goes on:
       | 
       | - Disable branch protection
       | 
       | - Remove type annotations and tests
       | 
       | - Include a node_modules directory
       | 
       | Then, I went back to read the preamble. I can be a bit slow on
       | the uptake.
        
         | herpdyderp wrote:
         | Tbf I read the preamble first and I'm still convinced the
         | recommendations are serious.
        
       | sharpshadow wrote:
       | Interesting concept on harvesting free computation. I wonder how
       | far this can be taken. To append the list communication on social
       | platforms towards the bots could leave some leads.
        
       | TZubiri wrote:
       | >Committing node_modules to your repository increases the surface
       | area available for automated improvement by several orders of
       | magnitude. A typical Express application vendors around 30,000
       | files. Each of these is a potential target for typo fixes
       | 
       | I'm not sure what layer of irony I'm in, but goddamn committing
       | node_modules sounds awful regardless of AI.
        
         | vsgherzi wrote:
         | Some projects like to vendor their dependencies so they don't
         | have to rely on the supply chain staying up and can create
         | hermetic builds. Of course this prevents you from getting
         | security updates and bug fixes but that's the trade off.
         | 
         | I know someone's going to say "you can lock the dependencies "
         | but this does not make it for sure that you'll get a 1 for 1
         | copy of the dependencies again. Some node modules npm I
         | internally or do other build procedures
        
       | travisdrake wrote:
       | This should be a badge on GH that get passed around like a curse.
        
       | reconnecting wrote:
       | Somehow I start reading after <hr> and bypass the annotation.
       | 
       |  _responded by using Claude to write this post and opening a pull
       | request to add it to my blog_
       | 
       | Ahh, okay.
        
       | sobrey wrote:
       | I missed the satire tag at the start and the first few paragraph
       | seemed genuine. But it gets better as it goes.
        
       | skyberrys wrote:
       | I think it's a well written bit of knowledge, even though it is
       | written by an AI and posted by a human as intended satire. It's
       | full of ideas, I hope the author does check back in and reports
       | on how many AI PR's come out of it.
        
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       (page generated 2026-03-22 23:00 UTC)