WordPress contributor depth

A focused view of drive-by, returning, regular, and sustained participation across Core Trac tickets, Gutenberg issues, and wordpress-develop pull requests.

Core Trac

75.5%

one-time contributors since 2024

31.5%work from sustained contributors
1.7%contributors in sustained bucket
One-time share vs all-time: +4.5 pts Sustained work vs all-time: -16.6 pts

Gutenberg

58.9%

one-time contributors since 2024

52.2%work from sustained contributors
4.1%contributors in sustained bucket
One-time share vs all-time: -3.3 pts Sustained work vs all-time: -10.9 pts

Core PRs

51.6%

one-time contributors since 2024

69.1%work from sustained contributors
8.4%contributors in sustained bucket
One-time share vs all-time: -4.1 pts Sustained work vs all-time: -2.6 pts

What this says

Broad entry is real.Each stream still has many people who only appear once, especially Core Trac.
Repeat work is concentrated.Gutenberg and Core PRs depend more heavily on the sustained-contributor bucket.
PRs are the most concentrated stream.Since 2024, 8.4% of PR authors account for 69.1% of wordpress-develop PRs.

Newcomer return

A cohort is the first quarter someone appears in a source. Return rate means they appeared again within the next four quarters, so the newest cohorts are held out until enough time has elapsed.

Core Trac

9.2%

average next-year return rate for mature first-seen cohorts since 2021

Latest mature cohort (2025-Q2)7.5%
One-quarter-only share92.5%

Gutenberg

19.9%

average next-year return rate for mature first-seen cohorts since 2021

Latest mature cohort (2025-Q2)19.4%
One-quarter-only share80.7%

Core PRs

23.2%

average next-year return rate for mature first-seen cohorts since 2021

Latest mature cohort (2025-Q2)41.7%
One-quarter-only share58.3%

Depth ladders since 2024

Each row compares share of people with share of work. A wide people bar with a smaller work bar means broad entry; a small people bar with a wider work bar means concentrated repeat work.

Core Trac

Core Trac reporters · 2,170 contributors · 5,220 items since 2024

One time 1 item · 1,638 people · 1,638 items
people75.5%
work31.4%
Returning 2-4 items · 379 people · 934 items
people17.5%
work17.9%
Regular 5-19 items · 117 people · 1,005 items
people5.4%
work19.2%
Sustained 20+ items · 36 people · 1,643 items
people1.7%
work31.5%

Gutenberg

Gutenberg issue creators · 1,343 contributors · 6,664 items since 2024

One time 1 item · 791 people · 791 items
people58.9%
work11.9%
Returning 2-4 items · 330 people · 819 items
people24.6%
work12.3%
Regular 5-19 items · 167 people · 1,572 items
people12.4%
work23.6%
Sustained 20+ items · 55 people · 3,482 items
people4.1%
work52.2%

Core PRs

wordpress-develop PR authors · 742 contributors · 6,325 items since 2024

One time 1 item · 383 people · 383 items
people51.6%
work6.1%
Returning 2-4 items · 175 people · 462 items
people23.6%
work7.3%
Regular 5-19 items · 122 people · 1,108 items
people16.4%
work17.5%
Sustained 20+ items · 62 people · 4,372 items
people8.4%
work69.1%

Rows come from the SQLite contributor_depth_buckets and contributor_retention_cohorts tables. Integrity check: ok. The main report summarizes this as broad entry with concentrated sustained work.