The EuroPython tradition of post-conference sprints came alive once again in Prague, bringing together open-source maintainers, newcomers, and curious contributors for two days of coding, learning, and collaboration.
And the results? Across all projects, over 81 pull requests were merged during the weekend 🎉. That’s dozens of fixes, improvements, and first-time contributions landing directly into Python’s ecosystem in just two days.
Hosted at WPP Campus, the sprints ran over the weekend with plenty of space, Wi-Fi, coffee, and food. The formula was simple: pick a project you care about, sit down with maintainers and peers, and work together to make the Python ecosystem a little better. Whether that meant fixing bugs, writing docs, brainstorming future work, or just asking questions, the spirit of “show up and contribute” was everywhere.
What Are Sprints?
Sprints are focused coding sessions where open-source projects invite contributors to come work alongside them. For maintainers, it’s a chance to attract new contributors and get long-standing issues tackled. For participants, it’s a low-barrier way to dive into real projects, learn from experienced maintainers, and see their work make an impact right away.
At EuroPython, sprints are open to everyone—no extra ticket required. Beginners sit next to long-time core devs, and contributions range from code to documentation, design discussions, or testing.
This Year’s Impact
Here are some highlights from the projects that sprinted this year:
- CPython – More than 25 sprinters, 33+ PRs opened, 24 merged.
- BeeWare – ~30 contributors, 32 PRs merged, 3 major investigations completed, and 25 challenge coins handed out to first-time contributors.
- Django – 21 participants tackled 12 issues and merged 4 PRs.
- Haitch – 9 participants, ~10 PRs opened, ~5 merged.
- UniversalPython – 6 participants, 8 issues, 8 PRs opened, 8 merged.
- Apache Arrow – 7 participants handled 6 issues, opened 7+ PRs, and merged 4, with more in the pipeline.
- AnyIO – 6 sprinters worked on documentation improvements, producing notes and feedback still being folded into the docs. 2 PRs merged.
- Pillow – 3 plus some drive-by contributors. Tackled 3 issues, opened 2 PRs.
- Apache Airflow – With just 2 sprinters, they tackled 2 issues and merged 1 PR.
- Sphinx – 6–8 participants, 5 issues tackled, 4 PRs opened, 1 merged.
Maintainers’ View
We asked maintainers how did they like the sprints and this is what they said:
Thank you for organizing, this was my favourite sprint so far at any conference.
- Rok Mihevc, ApacheArrow
These issues were super fun to work on --- all the participants brought great stories with them, and we had great laughter seeing the results of Python in their language.
One participant also discussed that she might make examples of these and publish in a book or a blog for Irish children to learn programming.
Overall a 10/10 experience, would do again!
- Sahad Bazaz, Universal Python
Thanks to you and the whole EuroPython team for your work on the sprints. I know how much effort goes into putting together a sprint venue - the effort is definitely appreciated.
- Russell Keith-Magee, BeeWare
Behind the Stats
The numbers only tell part of the story. Here are some examples of what happened during the sprints:
- BeeWare handed out challenge coins to first-time contributors, recognizing their initial contributions in a tangible way.
- Django collected quotes from participants to include in their project, capturing community perspectives.
- AnyIO received extensive documentation feedback, much of which is still being incorporated.
- CPython drew so many participants that the organizer noted: “I should have counted the participants :)”
Looking Forward
Many projects left with PRs still in review, new contributors to nurture, and future work mapped out. If you’re a maintainer, consider bringing your project to next year’s sprints. If you’ve never contributed to open source, sprints are the perfect place to start. All it takes is curiosity and maybe a bit of coffee.
See you at the next one!