Build in Public: Lessons From 170+ GitHub Repos
TL;DR
After 170+ public and private repos, here is what building in public taught me about scope, momentum and reuse — and what I would do differently.
After shipping 170+ public and private repos at github.com/shihabshahrier, here is what building in public taught me. Some lessons cost weeks; some unlocked years of leverage.
What worked
Reuse compounds. The skills layer (My AI Agent Skills Stack) exists because the 10th similar project finally pushed me to extract the pattern. Every repo after that started faster.
Shipping in public forces tightness. A README readers might see is a different thing than a private scratch file. The reader-facing version is always better engineered.
Public repos attract collaborators. Some of my best PRs came from strangers who found a repo via search.
What did NOT work
Spreading too thin. I started 30 repos some quarters. Maintaining 30 is impossible solo; most decayed. Three good repos > 30 abandoned ones.
Premature open-sourcing. Some products got open-sourced before they had a clear narrative. Confused early users. Better: stabilize first, open second.
Inconsistent commit hygiene. Old repos with messy histories embarrassed me later when colleagues clicked through. Now every commit is a clean unit, even on side projects.
The framework I use now
| Decision | Rule |
|---|---|
| New repo? | Only if reuse path is real |
| Public or private? | Public unless it has a moat |
| README before code? | Yes, README first — forces clarity |
| Maintain or archive? | Archive ruthlessly after 6 months idle |
What 170+ repos actually look like
A long tail. ~10 active products. ~10 active skills/tools. The rest are coursework, experiments, archived projects. The Projects page shows the curated 24 worth featuring.
Building world-class software from Dhaka covers the larger context — building in public from Bangladesh has a different valence than from Silicon Valley.
What I'd do again
The skills layer. Open-sourcing tools that compound. Writing about decisions in public. The repos that matter most are the ones I wrote about.
What I'd skip
The 100+ tutorial repos from my undergrad. They taught me but they are noise on the profile now. Archived.
FAQ
Q: Should I open-source everything? A: No. Open-source the things that compound across your work. Keep private the things that are real moat.
Q: Does GitHub still matter for portfolio? A: Yes. Recruiters and AI engines both ground on it. A curated profile is a real asset.
Q: How do you decide what to feature? A: A project is featured if a stranger can read the README in 60 seconds and tell what it does.
Written by Shihab Shahriar Antor. Browse all projects or hire me at Shahriar Labs.
Written by
Shihab Shahriar Antor — AI Engineer & Founder of Shahriar Labs. Creator of LetX, QuantumSketch, and more.