LFX Mentorship Term 3 2026 - Potential Project Ideas for Tekton

[mayankdev-oss]

Hey everyone,

Following up on the chat in the Tekton Slack, I wanted to drop a few initial project ideas for our participation in LFX Mentorship Term 3 (Sept–Nov).

These are just a starting point to get the ball rolling, so let me know what you think or if we should pivot on any of these based on what the maintainers need most right now.

1. Proactive Security Hardening for Tekton Resolvers

Lately, we've been patching resolver issues reactively as they come up (like the recent Git token leakage, argument injection, and HTTP OOM CVEs). It feels like a good time to step back and audit/harden the framework as a whole.

What the mentee would do: Work on robust input validation, adding proper size/rate limits, fixing up error handling, and expanding the security test suite.

Skills needed: Go, Kubernetes, and basic security principles.

Scope: Medium. Very well-defined with clear, testable deliverables that can easily fit into 3 months.

2. Auditing & Improving Tekton’s Own CI/CD Security

Building on top of the recent GitHub Actions hardening and threat modeling work, I think it'd be great to have a mentee systematically audit our own CI workflows across repositories.

What the mentee would do: Integrate automated security scanners (like zizmor, SLSA tooling, etc.) and actually document the best practices we establish so they stick.

Skills needed: GitHub Actions, CI/CD, and familiarity with security tooling. (Lighter on Go, so great for someone still ramping up on the core codebase).

3. Tekton Dashboard UX Improvements (Pipeline Observability)

The dashboard is still lagging behind the pipeline when it comes to observability features. This project would focus on making it way easier for users to debug and monitor complex pipelines.

What the mentee would do: Improve PipelineRun visualizations, build better filtering/search features, and work on real-time status updates.

Skills needed: React, Go (basics), and Kubernetes.

Scope: UI-focused, meaning we can break it down into clean, iterative PRs.

Would love to get some feedback from the maintainers on this. Do any of these match up with what's currently on the roadmap? Or is there another high-priority area you'd rather see a mentor/mentee tackle?

Let me know what you think!

[waveywaves]

https://docs.linuxfoundation.org/lfx/mentorship/mentorship-program-timelines

[waveywaves]

For CNCF LFX Mentorship Term 3, you should treat this as the Fall / September–November term. For 2026 Term 3, CNCF lists it as “Term 03 - 2026 September - November,” status: Planning, with a three-month full-time schedule. (GitHub)

Here’s what you need to do as a mentor.

1. Submit your project idea by July 28, 2026

CNCF’s Term 3 page says project maintainers and potential mentors should propose mentoring project ideas by submitting a PR to the Term 3 project_ideas.md file by July 28, 2026, and asks projects to limit proposals to 4–5 projects per CNCF project. (GitHub)

Your proposal should use the template in project_ideas.md:

### CNCF Project Name
Mentorship project Title

Description:
Expected Outcome:
Recommended Skills:
Mentor(s):

Mentor Name (@mentor_github, mentor@email.addy)


Upstream Issue:

Use the same email address you use on the LFX Mentorship Platform in the mentor line. (GitHub)

2. Make sure your LFX mentor profile is ready

On the LFX Mentorship platform, you need to sign in, create/update your mentor profile, and request to be added to the relevant program. LF’s mentor docs say to use Become a Mentor, create a mentor profile, and request to be added to a program. (Linux Foundation Documentation)

Have these ready: LinkedIn, GitHub, resume, avatar, project name, project repository, and project administrator name/email. (Linux Foundation Documentation)

If your CNCF/LFX admin adds you directly, you should receive an email notification; if you already have a mentor profile, no further action may be needed unless you want to withdraw. (Linux Foundation Documentation)

3. Watch the Term 3 dates

For 2026 Term 3, these are the key dates:

Activity | Date
-- | --
Project proposals open | Jul 1 – Jul 28, 2026, 18:00 UTC
Mentee applications open | Aug 3 – Aug 18, 2026, 18:00 UTC
Application review | Aug 19 – Sep 1, 2026, 18:00 UTC
Selection notifications | Sep 2 – Sep 4, 2026
Program begins | Sep 7, 2026
Kickoff call | Sep 8, 2026
Midterm evaluations | Oct 20, 2026, 18:00 UTC
Final evaluations | Nov 24, 2026, 18:00 UTC
Last day of term | Nov 27, 2026

For India time, the 18:00 UTC deadlines are 23:30 IST. (GitHub)

4. Review applicants and select mentees

During the review window, go to LFX Mentorship → My Projects → your project card → Current Mentees to view applicants. LF’s docs describe statuses such as Pending, Accepted, Withdrawn, Declined, and Graduated. (Linux Foundation Documentation)

CNCF says mentors are responsible for selecting and matching mentees to their projects. Selection should be based on best fit, including technical skills, qualifications, and ability to work well with others; mentors should not participate in selection where they have a conflict of interest. (GitHub)

5. Assign work and manage progress

Once the mentee is accepted, you should set initial assignments, track progress, and manage tasks. LF’s general mentor responsibilities include reviewing applicant eligibility/contributions, responding to questions, assigning tasks, tracking progress, and writing a graduation report. (Linux Foundation Documentation)

In LFX, tasks can be viewed, added, and updated; task statuses include Pending, In Progress, Submitted, and Completed. When you update a task, the mentee receives an email. (Linux Foundation Documentation)

6. Complete midterm and final evaluations

For a full-time 12-week program, LF’s general timeline expects initial work in weeks 1–3, midterm evaluation around week 6, and final evaluation at week 12. The midterm and final evaluations trigger stipend approvals. (Linux Foundation Documentation)

For CNCF 2026 Term 3 specifically, the evaluation dates are:

• Midterm evaluation: Oct 20, 2026, 18:00 UTC / 23:30 IST

• Final evaluation: Nov 24, 2026, 18:00 UTC / 23:30 IST

The first stipend payment is listed for Oct 21 and the second for Nov 25. (GitHub)

Practical checklist: submit PR to project_ideas.md, ensure your LFX mentor profile uses the same email, get added to the LFX program, review applications Aug 19–Sep 1, select your mentee, attend kickoff, guide the work weekly, and submit midterm/final evaluations on time.

For **CNCF LFX Mentorship Term 3**, you should treat this as the **Fall / September–November term**. For **2026 Term 3**, CNCF lists it as **“Term 03 - 2026 September - November,” status: Planning**, with a **three-month full-time schedule**. ([[GitHub](https://github.com/cncf/mentoring/blob/main/programs/lfx-mentorship/2026/03-Sep-Nov/README.md)][1])

Here’s what you need to do as a mentor.

1. Submit your project idea by July 28, 2026

CNCF’s Term 3 page says project maintainers and potential mentors should propose mentoring project ideas by submitting a PR to the Term 3 project_ideas.md file by July 28, 2026, and asks projects to limit proposals to 4–5 projects per CNCF project. ([GitHub]1)

Your proposal should use the template in project_ideas.md:

### CNCF Project Name

#### Mentorship project Title

- Description:
- Expected Outcome:
- Recommended Skills:
- Mentor(s):
  - Mentor Name (@mentor_github, mentor@email.addy)
- Upstream Issue:

Use the same email address you use on the LFX Mentorship Platform in the mentor line. ([GitHub]2)

2. Make sure your LFX mentor profile is ready

On the LFX Mentorship platform, you need to sign in, create/update your mentor profile, and request to be added to the relevant program. LF’s mentor docs say to use Become a Mentor, create a mentor profile, and request to be added to a program. ([Linux Foundation Documentation]3)

Have these ready: LinkedIn, GitHub, resume, avatar, project name, project repository, and project administrator name/email. ([Linux Foundation Documentation]3)

If your CNCF/LFX admin adds you directly, you should receive an email notification; if you already have a mentor profile, no further action may be needed unless you want to withdraw. ([Linux Foundation Documentation]4)

3. Watch the Term 3 dates

For 2026 Term 3, these are the key dates:

Activity	Date
Project proposals open	Jul 1 – Jul 28, 2026, 18:00 UTC
Mentee applications open	Aug 3 – Aug 18, 2026, 18:00 UTC
Application review	Aug 19 – Sep 1, 2026, 18:00 UTC
Selection notifications	Sep 2 – Sep 4, 2026
Program begins	Sep 7, 2026
Kickoff call	Sep 8, 2026
Midterm evaluations	Oct 20, 2026, 18:00 UTC
Final evaluations	Nov 24, 2026, 18:00 UTC
Last day of term	Nov 27, 2026

For India time, the 18:00 UTC deadlines are 23:30 IST. ([GitHub]1)

4. Review applicants and select mentees

During the review window, go to LFX Mentorship → My Projects → your project card → Current Mentees to view applicants. LF’s docs describe statuses such as Pending, Accepted, Withdrawn, Declined, and Graduated. ([Linux Foundation Documentation]5)

CNCF says mentors are responsible for selecting and matching mentees to their projects. Selection should be based on best fit, including technical skills, qualifications, and ability to work well with others; mentors should not participate in selection where they have a conflict of interest. ([GitHub]6)

5. Assign work and manage progress

Once the mentee is accepted, you should set initial assignments, track progress, and manage tasks. LF’s general mentor responsibilities include reviewing applicant eligibility/contributions, responding to questions, assigning tasks, tracking progress, and writing a graduation report. ([Linux Foundation Documentation]7)

In LFX, tasks can be viewed, added, and updated; task statuses include Pending, In Progress, Submitted, and Completed. When you update a task, the mentee receives an email. ([Linux Foundation Documentation]8)

6. Complete midterm and final evaluations

For a full-time 12-week program, LF’s general timeline expects initial work in weeks 1–3, midterm evaluation around week 6, and final evaluation at week 12. The midterm and final evaluations trigger stipend approvals. ([Linux Foundation Documentation]9)

For CNCF 2026 Term 3 specifically, the evaluation dates are:

• Midterm evaluation: Oct 20, 2026, 18:00 UTC / 23:30 IST
• Final evaluation: Nov 24, 2026, 18:00 UTC / 23:30 IST

The first stipend payment is listed for Oct 21 and the second for Nov 25. ([GitHub]1)

Practical checklist: submit PR to project_ideas.md, ensure your LFX mentor profile uses the same email, get added to the LFX program, review applications Aug 19–Sep 1, select your mentee, attend kickoff, guide the work weekly, and submit midterm/final evaluations on time.

cc @afrittoli @vdemeester