New contributor looking for a good first V8 issue

[Temiloluwa]

My name is Temiloluwa, and I am a software engineer interested in getting started with V8 development.

I have set up the V8 development environment on macOS(M1), built V8 from source successfully, run d8, and run the test suite. I am currently learning C++ more deeply, particularly systems programming, low latency, memory management, and low-level optimization, and I would like to develop these skills by contributing to V8.

I have started looking through the Chromium issue tracker, but since this is my first contribution to V8, I would appreciate some guidance on a suitable issue to start with. I am happy to begin with a small bug, test improvement, cleanup, or other well-scoped task and learn the relevant part of the codebase as I work through it.

If there are any beginner-friendly or currently unowned issues that would be appropriate for a new contributor, I would be grateful for recommendations.

Thanks,
Temiloluwa

[ASTRA DEV]

Hi! As for how to contribute, it really depends on your goal. You could start by removing dead code (which is fairly straightforward, though cross-validation is recommended) or by addressing FIXME comments. However, you need to be careful with FIXMEs: a naive fix might introduce security vulnerabilities or break things, and a FIXME that looks simple might actually require a complex implementation. I described two such cases in this CL: https://chromium-review.googlesource.com/c/v8/v8/+/8135542

понедельник, 31 августа 2026 г. в 20:52:29 UTC+3, ytemi...@gmail.com:

[ASTRA DEV]

I also apologize for not providing a link to a specific issue; I’m currently busy with a personal project and not actively following the V8 codebase, so I can only offer a couple of general suggestions.
You might also want to check for behavioral consistency across architectures—especially RISC-V; it’s a relatively new area, and in my experience, there are more gaps there.

понедельник, 31 августа 2026 г. в 21:47:26 UTC+3, ASTRA DEV:

[Marja Hölttä]

If you're interested in the JavaScript language, there are a bunch of language corner cases we never bothered to implement: https://source.chromium.org/chromium/chromium/src/+/main:v8/test/test262/test262.status;l=694?q=test262.status&ss=chromium (caveat: some of the tests might be failing for a good reason, and we might not even want to fix all corner cases if the fix would add significant complexity). Or look at the spec https://tc39.es/ecma262/ and try to find bugs that way.

If you're interested in improving benchmarks, investigating Jetstream3 / Speedometer3 performance is a good way to start. You can get the Jetstream3 benchmark as part of your V8 checkout if you set the "checkout_benchmarks": True in your custom_vars in your .gclient file. Caveat: not so easy to find new improvements, but at least looking at things there will increase your understanding.

You can also try to find bugs or vulnerabilities with whatever method you'd like (fuzzing, auditing the code...) and you can submit vulns in the Chrome vulnerability reward program  https://bughunters.google.com/about/rules/chrome-friends/chrome-vulnerability-reward-program-rules .

And just my personal opinion about AI usage: If you use AI, please use it in a way that speeds up your learning of V8, not in a way that bypasses learning. And in a way that saves us work instead of adding work for us. So, e.g., have AI review your code before you send it over (saves work), do not send us AI slop (generates more work for us).

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[Temiloluwa]

Thank you, this is very helpful. I am particularly interested in the JavaScript language side of V8, so the test262 direction sounds like a good place for me to start.

I have located test/test262/test262.status in my local checkout and I am going to start by understanding some of the skipped/failing tests there, read the corresponding ECMAScript specification sections and reproduce the behavior locally before attempting any changes.

I will keep your caveat in mind that some of the tests might be failing for a good reason, and we might not even want to fix all corner cases if the fix would add significant complexity. 

Thank you for pointing me in this direction.