LFX Mentorship (previously known as Community Bridge) is a platform developed by the Linux Foundation, which accelerates the adoption, innovation, and sustainability of open source software.
LFX Mentorship is actively used by the Cloud Native Computing Foundation as a mentorship platform across the CNCF projects.
The current cycle is whichever term is marked In progress in the table above.
- Nate W. (@nate-double-u)
Please see the program-wide guidelines on the LFX Mentorship website.
To propose a mentorship program for an upcoming term, file an issue using the proposal form:
The form asks for:
- CNCF Project — which CNCF project this program is for (dropdown, kept in sync with the CNCF landscape)
- Term — which upcoming term you're proposing for
- Program Name — a short title for the program (the full LFX name is
composed automatically:
CNCF - <Project>: <Program Name> (<Term>)) - Program Description — what the mentee will work on and what outcomes to expect (markdown supported)
- Technologies and Skills — what the program involves and what candidates should know
- Mentors — one primary mentor and up to three co-mentors, each with name, GitHub handle, email, and LFID (LF Username)
- Upstream Issue URL — a link to a tracking issue on the project's own repo
- Application Prerequisites — what applicants need to submit (resume, cover letter, coding challenge, etc.)
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Automated validation — a bot checks formatting, character limits, and mentor fields. If anything needs fixing, it comments on the issue with specific guidance. Fix the issue body and re-save; validation re-runs automatically.
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Maintainer approval — a maintainer of the CNCF project (or an authorized delegate) must comment
/approveon the issue. The bot checks the commenter against the project's maintainer list. If the proposer is themselves a project maintainer, this is granted automatically — filing the proposal implies their approval, so no/approveis needed. -
Mentor confirmation — each mentor listed on the proposal must comment
/confirmon the issue. This verifies they've agreed to mentor for this term and that their GitHub handle is correct. A mentor who filed the proposal is counted as confirmed automatically for their own slot; any other listed mentors still/confirm. -
CNCF admin approval — once maintainer approval and mentor confirmation are in place, a CNCF mentorship admin reviews and comments
/cncf-approveto finalize. -
Export — approved proposals are exported to files used for the LFX platform and the term's README. You'll be notified on your issue when the export happens.
Important
Editing a proposal after approval resets it. If you make a substantive
edit (change a form field — description, mentors, dates, etc.) after a
maintainer or CNCF admin has approved, that approval is automatically cleared
and must be granted again; the bot tags the approver(s) to re-review. This
applies even if the edit breaks validation — and a proposal that isn't
currently passing validation can't be /cncf-approve'd. Cosmetic edits
(whitespace) don't reset anything. Mentor confirmations aren't cleared by
content edits, but adding or swapping a mentor re-opens confirmation for the
new mentor.
You can track your proposal's progress via the labels on the issue and on the project board.
| Command | Who can use it | What it does |
|---|---|---|
/approve |
Project maintainers, authorized delegates, global approvers | Grants maintainer/project approval |
/confirm |
Mentors listed on the proposal | Confirms mentor participation |
/cncf-approve |
CNCF mentorship admins | Final approval — proposal moves to "CNCF Approved" |
/lfx-url <url> |
CNCF mentorship admins | After the term's export PR is merged to main: records the LFX program URL, fills it into the term's export files, and moves the card to "Posted to LFX" (rejected if the export isn't merged yet) |
If you are a mentee and your desired project will be selected to participate in the LFX Mentorship program, you'll have to apply as a mentee on the LFX Mentorship website. Please see the LFX Mentorship guidelines for more details.
Information on the application process is covered at the LFX Mentorship documentation website. Please note that once you've applied, your application moves to the pending state until a mentor will pick it up. There is no need to reapply (you'll see an error if you'll try to reapply).
The stipend guides and amounts are listed here.
Please see the full eligibility criteria in the LFX Mentorship documentation.
Mentors are responsible for selecting and matching mentees to their projects.
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Mentees must be chosen based on who is the best fit for the project. In addition to technical skills and qualifications, the person's ability to work well with others is a valid factor. Only if two candidates are equally qualified may a mentor use diversity-related considerations as a tie-breaker.
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A mentor must not participate in selection of the mentee for a particular mentorship if there is a conflict of interest. A conflict of interest exists if a family member, member of the same household, close personal friend, or romantic partner has applied for the mentorship, or if there is any other reason why the mentor could not be deemed impartial in the selection process.
Mentee candidates are required to provide cover letters (Statement of Purpose) while applying, so mentors may review them. In addition, mentors may also interview the candidates to understand their level of qualification before making the final decision.
If you are a mentee, please note that you'll be asked to provide the Statement of Purpose letter after the mentor's selection. Please be patient.
The LFX Mentorship stipend policy is described here - https://docs.linuxfoundation.org/lfx/mentorship/mentee-stipends.
If you have any questions or issues with the LFX Mentorship platform/website itself, payments, etc., contact the LFX Mentorship support team directly.
For CNCF-specific questions:
- Use the CNCF mentoring discussions board
- Write to mentoring@cncf.io only for questions that can not be asked publicly
Important
Do not directly message program maintainers or project mentors.