GSoc 2025 - Interested applicant seeking guidance

[ankitsharma101]

Discussion

Hi Theia community! 👋

I'm Ankit, and I recently made my first contribution to Theia (PR #16932 - fixing whitespace collapsing in the Explorer). I'm interested in applying for GSoC 2026 and would love to learn more about:

1. Is Theia participating in GSoC 2026?
2. Are there project ideas or areas you'd recommend for GSoC proposals?
3. What kinds of contributions would be most valuable for demonstrating readiness?

I'm excited about contributing more to the project and would appreciate any guidance from mentainers and experienced contributors!

Thanks! 🙏

[github-actions[bot]]

Hi @ankitsharma101, thanks for starting this discussion! 👋

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• 💬 Previous Discussions

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[msujew]

Hey @ankitsharma101, thank you for your interesting in contributing something to Theia during GSoC!

I'm not entirely sure whether Theia explicitly needs to participate (I don't think we ever did explicitly), or whether the Eclipse Foundation as a whole simply has to participate. It looks like during the recent years there have been a few projects for GSoC hosted by the Eclipse Foundation.

I'm pretty sure there are interesting project ideas around - I just don't know about the organizational specifics. @JonasHelming Do you know perhaps?

[JonasHelming]

Hi @ankitsharma101

I will check for the organizational pre-requisites with the Eclipse Foundation, but this should be possible and this would be great. I will also check with the team for potential topic ideas. I assume you would like to work in the "AI area"? :-)

[JonasHelming]

@ankitsharma101 What is the time line on this so when do proposals need to be in?

[tfroment]

Hi @ankitsharma101, thanks again for your interest and for already contributing to Theia.

For the organisational details around GSoC at the Eclipse Foundation, including timelines and the current status, I recommend checking the soc-dev mailing list message here, which explains the process in detail:
https://www.eclipse.org/lists/soc-dev/msg01010.html

More generally, participating in GSoC is possible and valuable, but it depends on having a mentor who can commit real time to mentoring and some project leadership during the program. This is why ideas are only proposed when that level of commitment is clearly available.

On the timeline, the official call for ideas for this year had an early February deadline. Even if that date has passed, if there is a concrete idea and a committed mentor, it is still worth checking quickly with Maria Teresa Delgado at the Eclipse Foundation to see what flexibility might exist.

[tfroment]

edit: in the message, Maria says that deadline is Feb 3rd, but GSoc deadline for mentors is Feb 11.... I don't know if they are open to the discussion

[ankitsharma101]

Thank you all for the responses and information! Really appreciate the guidance.

@JonasHelming To answer your questions:

Timeline: According to the GSoC 2025 timeline, the contributor application period is March 18 - April 2, 2025.

AI area: I'm definitely interested in learning about AI integration in development tools! I don't have deep AI experience yet, but I'm eager to learn and contribute in that area if there are opportunities. I'm also very open to working on UI/UX improvements, IDE features, or other areas where I can make meaningful contributions based on my current skills.

@tfroment Thanks for sharing the mailing list link! I'll check that out. I understand the mentor commitment requirement and appreciate you looking into the organizational details.

My approach: I'd like to continue making contributions to build my understanding of the Theia codebase, whether or not GSoC works out for this year.

Current work:

• PR Fix whitespace collapsing in Explorer file/folder names #16932: Fixed whitespace collapsing in Explorer (merged ✅)
• PR Remove the seeding of workspace chat history from global history #16933: Working on fixing dropdown resize issue in preferences
• Looking for more UI/UX or feature issues to tackle

If there are specific areas or issues you'd recommend for someone at my level, I'd be happy to focus there and learn as I go!

Thanks again for considering this and for being so welcoming! 🙏

[JonasHelming]

@ankitsharma101 Could you create a proposal that is broader so it fits the scope? I would define the scheme as stefan outlined above and then mention the technical details rather as examples. This leaves a bit of freedom in terms of what you will actually do.

[ankitsharma101]

Hi @JonasHelming,

Thanks for the suggestion — that makes a lot of sense.

I agree that the current proposal is too implementation-focused. I’ll rework it to frame the project more broadly around a unified observability and diagnostics strategy for Theia, with logging improvements as one concrete part of that effort.

I’ll define the high-level architecture and goals first, and present the technical steps (logger naming, console.log migration, filtering improvements, etc.) as possible implementation directions rather than fixed deliverables. That way the scope remains flexible and can be refined based on priorities.

I’ll share an updated draft shortly for feedback.

Thanks again for the guidance!

[ankitsharma101]

Hi @JonasHelming,

I’ve reworked the proposal to broaden the scope as suggested. The updated idea focuses on improving observability and logging consistency in Theia, including structured logging, better filtering, and clear contributor guidelines.

Before submitting it to the Eclipse Foundation GitLab repository, I wanted to quickly check if this broader framing aligns with what you had in mind.

I’m happy to adjust the scope based on feedback. Thanks again for the guidance!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/15I2zbLmn6GRJaH9QkAtdBOpovvzd0K2TLWOnVO9yZho/edit?usp=sharing

[sdirix]

Hi @ankitsharma101,

Thanks for the updated draft, but unfortunately the scope is still too narrow. Even with the broader "observability" framing, the actual work described is still essentially about logging improvements. As @JonasHelming mentioned, that is realistically a few days of work, not a GSoC-sized project.

I think the issue is that you are trying to turn one specific topic into a full project by stretching it, when what we actually need is a broader umbrella topic that covers multiple areas of work.

What I would suggest instead:

Base the proposal on what I outlined #16949 (reply in thread), i.e. improving the Theia Framework Adopter Experience. The idea is that the proposal defines the general direction and scope, but the concrete tasks are determined together with the mentors during GSoC, based on what is most impactful at that point in time.

Logging improvements would be a natural starting point since it is beginner-friendly, but beyond that you would also work on other topics from the list, for example startup performance profiling, detachable view improvements, OpenTelemetry evaluation, or other framework improvements that come up. The mentors would guide you through this and help you pick tasks that match
your growing familiarity with the codebase.

This approach has two advantages:

1. It gives you enough work to fill 350 hours with meaningful contributions across different areas of the framework.
2. It gives us the flexibility to prioritize what is most relevant when you actually start working, rather than committing to a fixed plan months in advance.

I have drafted a proposal below (based on your proposals) that you can use as a starting point. Feel free to adjust it and make it your own.

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Project Idea Name

Improving the Eclipse Theia Framework Adopter Experience

Description

Eclipse Theia is a framework for building IDEs and developer tools. As adoption grows, so does the importance of the framework's developer experience, both for contributors to Theia itself and for adopters building products on top of it.

This project aims to improve the Theia framework in several areas that directly impact adopters and contributors. Rather than focusing on a single narrow topic, the project covers a range of framework-level improvements that will be prioritized together with the mentors based on current needs and the contributor's growing familiarity with the codebase.

Areas of Work

The following are concrete areas where improvements are needed. The specific tasks and their prioritization will be determined in discussion with the mentors during the community bonding period and throughout the project:

• Unified Logging: Theia has an ILogger concept with named loggers that can be individually configured at runtime. However, many loggers are unnamed or console.log is used directly. This area involves naming all existing loggers, replacing console.log with named loggers where appropriate, establishing a naming convention, and updating the developer guidelines.
• Startup Performance: Startup performance directly impacts user perception. Work here involves profiling backend and frontend startup, identifying hotspots and unnecessary work being done before the UI is shown, and fixing low-hanging fruits. Issue Improve start-up performance #12924 captures known topics.
• Detachable Views: Theia supports detaching views into separate windows, but only for a few view types and with some remaining styling/UX issues. This area involves making more views detachable, fixing issues in existing detachable views, and potentially contributing patches back to Lumino. See issues Multi Window support (Floating windows) #10526 and
  Contribute Lumino patches to Upstream #15680.
• OpenTelemetry Evaluation: Theia currently supports Prometheus metrics but lacks support for OpenTelemetry, which provides unified traces, metrics, and logs. This area involves evaluating how OpenTelemetry can be integrated, what data can be easily exposed, and whether traces can span Theia's RPC gap. The initial step would be a concept and proof of concept.
• Other Framework Improvements: Depending on priorities at the time, additional topics may include improvements to Theia AI, browser-only Theia support, or other framework-level enhancements identified during the project.

Approach

The project follows an iterative approach:

1. Community Bonding: Deep dive into Theia's architecture. Discuss and prioritize concrete tasks with mentors. Start with the codebase areas relevant to the first tasks.
2. Phase 1 - Initial Tasks: Begin with beginner-friendly tasks (e.g., unified logging) to build familiarity with the codebase, contribution process, and review workflow.
3. Phase 2 - Broader Improvements: Move on to more involved tasks (e.g., startup performance profiling, detachable views) as understanding of the architecture deepens.
4. Phase 3 - Advanced Topics: Tackle more complex topics (e.g., OpenTelemetry evaluation, architectural improvements) based on progress and mentor guidance.

Throughout the project, each task follows a cycle of investigation, discussion with mentors, implementation, and review.

Expected Outcomes

• Concrete improvements to the Theia framework in multiple areas
• Improved experience for adopters and contributors
• Documentation and guidelines where applicable
• A contributor who is deeply familiar with the Theia framework and can continue contributing beyond GSoC

Skills Required

• TypeScript
• Willingness to learn a large codebase
• Interest in framework-level and developer experience work
• Communication skills for working with an open source community

Project Size

350 hours

Difficulty

Medium

[ankitsharma101]

Hi @sdirix,

Thanks a lot for the detailed explanation and for drafting the broader proposal — that really helps.

I see your point now. I was trying to turn logging into a full GSoC project, but it makes much more sense to frame this under a broader umbrella like improving the Theia framework adopter experience.

I really like the idea of starting with logging as a beginner-friendly area and then gradually moving into performance, detachable views, OpenTelemetry, and other framework improvements as I get more familiar with the codebase. That approach feels much more realistic and meaningful.

I’ll update the proposal based on your draft and make it my own before submitting it. Please let me know if there’s anything specific you’d like me to emphasize.

Thanks again for the guidance — I really appreciate it.