Becoming a PMC Member

So you’ve become a committer on an ASF project. Congratulations! Now what?

Becoming a PMC member is the next step on the contributor ladder. This document describes what PMCs generally look for when considering a committer for PMC membership, and how you can position yourself for that invitation.

As with becoming a committer, there are no guarantees. Each project sets its own bar, and the decision is made by the existing PMC members. But the behaviors described here are consistently valued across ASF projects.

What is a PMC member? ¶

A Project Management Committee (PMC) member is someone entrusted with the governance and oversight of an Apache project. PMC members:

Have binding votes on project releases and technical decisions
Nominate and vote on new committers and PMC members according to the ASF voting process
Provide oversight of the project on behalf of the ASF and its Board of Directors
Ensure the project follows ASF policies (legal, branding, infrastructure)
Report to the Board quarterly on the health of the project

Being invited to the PMC is the project expressing trust that you will act as a responsible steward — someone who cares about the long-term health of the project and its community, not just their own contributions.

How is it different from being a committer? ¶

As a committer, your primary focus is on making contributions — code, documentation, reviews, and user support. As a PMC member, your focus broadens to project governance:

You shift from “What can I build?” to “What should we build, and is it ready to ship?”
You take responsibility for the project’s releases, ensuring they meet ASF standards.
You actively look for contributors to mentor and eventually nominate.
You ensure the community operates transparently and welcomes newcomers.

Many projects describe this as moving from doing the work to stewarding the work.

What PMCs look for ¶

While every project is different, the following qualities appear consistently across ASF projects when evaluating candidates for PMC membership:

Sustained, broad contribution ¶

PMC candidates have typically been active committers for a meaningful period of time. The form of contribution is not limited to code — it can include code review, user support, documentation, testing, release management, or community building.

What matters is breadth and consistency. A PMC member should understand the project holistically, not just the corner they work in.

Project-wide perspective ¶

PMC members need to think beyond their own features or their employer’s priorities. They should demonstrate:

Concern for the overall health and direction of the project
Interest in areas of the project outside their immediate work
Willingness to review and discuss changes they didn’t author
Attention to the user community’s needs, not just developer needs

Release process familiarity ¶

PMC members cast binding votes on releases. Before being nominated, you should have:

Verified release candidates and voted (non-binding is fine initially)
Understood the ASF release policy
Familiarized yourself with your project’s release process and tooling

Several projects (for example, Teaclave and Celeborn) explicitly list familiarity with the ASF release process as a PMC competency requirement.

Community building and mentorship ¶

PMC members are expected to grow the community. This means:

Helping newer contributors find their way
Being active, courteous, and respectful on mailing lists and in reviews
Celebrating others’ contributions
Actively looking for people who might become committers
Guiding discussions diplomatically, even in disagreement

As the APISIX community puts it: “We value the community more than the code. A strong and healthy community will be respectful and a fun and rewarding place.”

Governance awareness ¶

PMC members should be familiar with how the ASF operates:

The Apache Way
How PMC decisions are made (consensus voting, lazy consensus, vetoes)
The role of the private@ mailing list (personnel matters and security disclosures only — substantive discussion belongs on dev@)
The relationship between the PMC and the ASF Board
Branding, legal, and infrastructure requirements

Independence of judgment ¶

PMC members are expected to act as individuals, making decisions in the best interest of the project — not on behalf of their employer. The ASF Board has stated clearly that PMCs must “operate independently of outside commercial influence.”

The process ¶

The process for adding a PMC member is handled privately by the existing PMC, and varies slightly by project, but generally follows these steps:

Discussion — A PMC member proposes the candidate on the private@ mailing list, citing specific contributions and behaviors.
Vote — If discussion is positive, a formal [VOTE] thread is opened. It runs for at least 72 hours (some projects use one week), requiring at least 3 binding +1 votes and no vetoes.
Board notification — Unlike adding a committer, new PMC members require notification to the ASF Board (board@apache.org). The Board has 72 hours to raise objections (rare in practice).
Invitation — The candidate is invited privately and may accept or decline.
Announcement — Once accepted, the new PMC member is announced on the project’s dev@ list.

You cannot nominate yourself. The existing PMC decides when a committer is ready for this responsibility.

What you can do now ¶

If you’re a committer who aspires to PMC membership, here are concrete actions:

Verify release candidates — Download RCs, check signatures, run tests, and vote on the dev@ list (mark your vote as non-binding). This is the single best way to demonstrate release readiness.
Review PRs beyond your area — Show that you care about the whole project, not just your slice of it.
Participate in design discussions — Contribute thoughtful opinions on the project’s direction, roadmap, and architecture.
Mentor newcomers — Help first-time contributors get their PRs merged. Answer their questions patiently. Point them to documentation.
Tend to project health — Address old tickets, stale PRs, broken CI, outdated docs. This is thankless work that signals ownership.
Understand governance — Read your project’s bylaws. Read the ASF governance documentation. Understand how decisions are made.
Think long-term — Ask yourself: “If I moved on tomorrow, would this project be healthier because of my time here?” That’s the mindset of a PMC member.
Don’t wait for an invitation. Start showing ownership today.

A note on timelines ¶

There is no fixed timeline. Some projects add committers to the PMC simultaneously (contributor → committer + PMC member). Others maintain a clear separation where committers prove themselves over months or years before being considered.

Don’t focus on the clock. Focus on demonstrating the qualities above. When it becomes obvious to the PMC that you belong, the invitation will come.