Meet Birajit Saikia GSoC 2025 Contributor Working on Complete Build Retooling of jenkins.io
Hello everyone!
I’m Birajit Saikia, and I’m thrilled to be a Google Summer of Code 2025 contributor with Jenkins. This summer, I’ll be working on the "Complete Build Retooling of jenkins.io" project, which focuses on modernizing and reorganizing the Jenkins documentation infrastructure and updating the tech stack with UI/UX changes.
Project Description
This project focuses on reworking and improving the Jenkins documentation system to make it more structured, modern, and easier to maintain. The documentation will be split between versioned and non-versioned formats using Antora and Gatsby, respectively. Alongside the migration, we’ll also implement improvements in SEO, metadata, site usability, and a modern UI/UX built on an updated tech stack to ensure a better experience for contributors and end users alike.
Community Bonding Period Works
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Worked on multiple issues to improve documentation, fix broken links on jenkins.io repo.
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Created a PR to resolve the React dependency issue: #285
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Initiated the process of syncing the docs.jenkins.io repository with the latest file structure and content from the jenkins.io repository to ensure consistency and up-to-date information.
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Had our first weekly meeting on the 20th of May.
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Created a detailed task-tracking checklist in Notion based on meeting discussions and shared it with the mentors to streamline ongoing and upcoming work.
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Opened a GitHub issue to track metadata/SEO enhancement for docs.jenkins.io.
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Part 1 #296, part 2 #299, part 3 #300, part 4 #302, and image addition part 1 #303 of updating the docs.jenkins.io are created
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Created the basic Gatsby new site repo GATSBY SITE.
My GSoC Coding Period Goals
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Complete syncing of content from jenkins.io to docs.jenkins.io
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Build the new Gatsby.js site
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Define a clean separation of versioned and non-versioned documentation
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Set up and test Antora and Gatsby builds
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Add basic SEO/meta configurations and plan long-term enhancements
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Make UI improvements that align with a modern developer experience
Future Plans
After GSoC, I plan to continue contributing to Jenkins, particularly around documentation, web development, and UI improvements. I’d also love to contribute as a mentor in the future and help newcomers get started with open-source just like I did. Beyond documentation, I also plan to explore more plugin development work within Jenkins as I deepen my understanding of advanced Java.
Background
I’m currently a first-year B.Tech student in CSE (AI & ML) at Newton School of Technology, India. I started contributing to open-source through Jenkins in Nov 2024 and gradually learned the ropes of collaboration, version control, documentation systems, and web development. My interests lie in full-stack development, documentation, and developer tooling. Over time, I’ve contributed across both jenkinsci and jenkins-infra repositories. Software development is where I see my future, and this opportunity with GSoC is a major step in that direction.
Acknowledgements
A big thank you to my mentors - Kris Stern, Bruno Verachten, Kevin Martens, and Rajiv Singh for their guidance and encouragement. Their insights have been instrumental even in the bonding period, and I’m excited to build with their support throughout the summer.
Also, thanks to the org admins - Kris Stern, Bruno Verachten, and Alyssa Tong for giving me this wonderful opportunity to work on this project.
Conclusion
Being a part of GSoC 2025 is both an honor and a responsibility. It’s not just about writing code; it’s about learning, collaborating, and contributing to something that benefits developers worldwide. I’m eager to grow through this journey and give back to the Jenkins community in every way I can. This is just the beginning, and I’m looking forward to the challenges and learning that lie ahead.
About the author