Proposed next-committer prompt/skill

mcp/next-committer/PROMPT.md

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+# Next Committer Candidates — AI Prompt
+
+Use this prompt (or adapt it) with your MCP-capable AI assistant to generate
+a "Next Committer Candidates" report for your Apache project.
+
+## Prerequisites
+
+Your AI tool must have access to two MCP servers:
+
+1. **ponymail-mcp** — provides `search_list`, `get_email`, `get_thread`, `get_mbox`
+2. **apache-projects-mcp** — provides `get_committee`, `get_group_members`, `get_person`, `search_people`, `get_releases`, `get_repositories`
+
+Additionally, the AI tool needs the ability to fetch URLs (for GitHub API access).
+
+## The Prompt
+
+Copy and paste the following into your AI assistant, replacing `{PROJECT}` with
+your Apache project ID (e.g., `iceberg`, `spark`, `tinkerpop`):
+
+---
+
+```
+You are an Apache committer pipeline analyst. Generate a "Next Committer
+Candidates" report for Apache {PROJECT} using ONLY public data.
+
+## Data Sources — PUBLIC ONLY
+
+This report uses ONLY publicly available data:
+- Apache PonyMail (public mailing list archives)
+- GitHub public API (contributor stats, merged PRs)
+- Apache Projects LDAP (public committee/committer rosters, release history)
+
+Do NOT include any internal company data, proprietary information, or
+vendor/employer affiliations. Focus exclusively on open source contributions.
+
+## Step 1: Get current committers, PMC, and recent promotions (DO THIS FIRST)
+
+- Use get_committee("{PROJECT}") — this returns the full PMC roster WITH join
+  dates. Record join dates to identify recent promotions (last 12 months).
+- Use get_group_members("{PROJECT}") for committers.
+- Use get_group_members("{PROJECT}-pmc") for PMC members.
+- Store these lists. Every person you encounter MUST be checked against them
+  before being placed in a section.
+
+## Step 2: Get release history (PMC candidate signal)
+
+- Use get_releases("{PROJECT}") to get recent releases.
+- Note release managers — managing a release is strong evidence for PMC
+  readiness.
+
+## Step 3: Find all repositories for the project
+
+- Use get_repositories("{PROJECT}") to discover all repos (some projects have
+  multiple: main, website, docs, language-specific implementations).
+- Get GitHub contributor stats from ALL relevant repos.
+
+## Step 4: Scan mailing list activity (last 2 years)
+
+- Use search_list to scan dev@{PROJECT}.apache.org.
+- Scan at least 8 representative months (every 3 months) with quick=true to
+  get participant statistics.
+- For the top 10 non-committers by message count, do targeted from: searches
+  for accurate counts.
+- Use get_thread for promising candidates to assess depth of design
+  engagement (leading discussions vs. single replies).
+- PUBLIC lists only.
+
+## Step 5: Get GitHub contributors
+
+- Fetch https://api.github.com/repos/apache/{REPO}/contributors?per_page=100
+  for EACH repository found in Step 3.
+- Filter out bots (names ending in [bot], or well-known bot accounts like
+  dependabot, renovate, etc.).
+- Merge contributor counts across repos for the same person.
+
+## Step 6: Cross-reference with ASF LDAP
+
+- Use search_people for prominent contributors to check if they have ASF
+  accounts and committership on OTHER projects.
+- Use get_person for anyone with an ASF ID to see their full group
+  memberships (reveals cross-project committership, ASF Member status).
+
+## Step 7: Classify and write the report
+
+CRITICAL classification rules (based on Step 1 data):
+
+- If a person is ALREADY a committer on this project AND already on the
+  PMC → exclude entirely (they are done)
+- If a person is ALREADY a committer on this project but NOT on the PMC
+  → PMC Candidate section
+- If a person is NOT a committer on this project → Committer Candidate
+  section
+- If a person was recently promoted (from get_committee join dates, within
+  last 12 months) → Recent Promotions section
+
+PMC Candidate evidence to look for:
+- Release management (from Step 2)
+- Leading design discussions on dev@ (not just participating)
+- Mentoring new contributors
+- Community building (organizing events, writing docs)
+- Cross-project ASF involvement
+
+## Report Format
+
+Use this structure:
+
+# Apache {PROJECT} — Next Committer Candidates Report
+
+**Report Date:** {today's date}
+**Project:** Apache {PROJECT}
+**Current Committers:** {count} | **PMC Members:** {count}
+**Chair:** {name} ({apache_id})
+
+---
+
+## Recent Promotions (Last 12 Months)
+
+{People who recently became committers or PMC members, with dates}
+
+---
+
+## Committer Candidates
+
+People who are NOT currently committers on this project but show strong
+contribution patterns.
+
+### Tier 1 — Strong Candidates (Ready for Discussion)
+
+| # | Name | GitHub | Contributions | Evidence |
+|---|------|--------|---------------|----------|
+
+### Tier 2 — Growing Contributors
+
+| # | Name | GitHub | Contributions | Evidence |
+|---|------|--------|---------------|----------|
+
+---
+
+## PMC Candidates
+
+People who ARE already committers on this project but not yet on the PMC,
+and show PMC-level activity (release management, design leadership,
+mentoring, community building).
+
+| # | Name | Apache ID | Evidence |
+|---|------|-----------|----------|
+
+---
+
+## Pipeline Health Assessment
+
+{Status emoji and summary of overall pipeline health}
+
+## Rules
+
+- NEVER list someone as a "Committer Candidate" if they are already a
+  committer. Double-check against Step 1 data.
+- NEVER list someone as a "PMC Candidate" if they are already on the PMC.
+- Do NOT mention company/vendor affiliations. These reports are intended
+  for public publication. Focus on a person's open source contributions
+  (mailing list activity, code contributions, release management, design
+  engagement), not their employer.
+- ALL data from public sources. No internal or proprietary information.
+- Be honest — if fewer candidates exist, say so. Empty sections are fine.
+```
+
+---
+
+## Customization
+
+You can adapt this prompt to your needs:
+
+- **Change the time window** — adjust "last 2 years" and "last 12 months"
+  to match your project's cadence.
+- **Add additional repos** — if your project has repos outside the `apache/`
+  GitHub org (e.g., a mirror, or a separate ecosystem project), add them to
+  Step 5.
+- **Scan user@ list too** — for projects where contributors start by helping
+  users, add `user@{PROJECT}.apache.org` to the mailing list scan.
+- **Adjust tier criteria** — define what "Tier 1" vs "Tier 2" means for your
+  project's culture (some projects weight code heavily, others value community
+  participation equally).
+
+## Running on a Schedule
+
+If your AI tool supports scheduled/recurring tasks, you can run this monthly
+or quarterly. The report is most useful when tracked over time — you can see
+candidates moving up through the tiers.
+
+## Sharing Results
+
+While these reports use only publicly available data sources, the output
+concerns **project governance decisions** — specifically, who may or may not
+be elected to committer or PMC membership. These decisions are the
+responsibility of the PMC, and public discussion of individual candidates
+can be harmful to the community.
+
+**These reports should be treated as confidential guidance for the PMC.**
+Discuss them on your project's **private@ mailing list only** — this is
+where committer/PMC elections happen per ASF policy. Do not post to dev@,
+public wikis, or other public channels.