Quest Contributor

Pollinations pays Pollen rewards for merged PRs that solve community quests - issues labeled POLLEN-QUEST in pollinations/pollinations. This skill teaches an agent the whole loop.

Rule zero: the issue is the contract

Every quest issue carries a "How this quest works" block and acceptance criteria. Read them first; they override anything here. In particular:

• whether the quest is single-winner or multi-winner ("This quest can have several winners" - each merged PR earns),
• the exact PR linking keyword it demands (usually the body must start with Fixes #NNNNN),
• the acceptance checklist - every box is a rejection reason if missing.

1. Discover

Open quests: label:POLLEN-QUEST state:open. With a key, polli quests lists your quest states (open / claimable / claimed). New quests appear without warning - re-check before starting.

2. Choose

• Read the comments and the timeline for linked PRs. If someone already has an open PR, either pick a different quest or make your approach clearly distinct - maintainers compare solutions head to head.
• Prefer quests matching what you can prove: a code quest needs tests and a real run; a media quest needs generated artifacts.
• Smallest correct solution wins. The maintainer review rubric is the quest-solution-review skill; read it to learn exactly how your PR will be judged.

3. Start

No claim or assignment is needed: open your PR when it works. Being first does not win. Maintainers compare the open PRs and merge the smallest correct one, so a short comment on the issue saying what you plan helps others avoid duplicate work but reserves nothing.

4. Build

• Fork, branch, smallest correct change. The repo's Ponytail skill (repo-internal) encodes the house style: no speculative features, standard library first, minimal diff.
• Follow existing patterns in the same directory - reviewers reward code that looks like its neighbors.
• agent.json configs are camelCase everywhere (systemPrompt, baseModel, mcpServers); snake_case fails schema validation and has killed quest PRs.
• Run npm run test and npx @biomejs/biome check --write on modified files before pushing; both appear in quest acceptance criteria.

5. Prove

A claim without evidence loses. Attach what the quest's acceptance criteria ask for, typically:

• live API calls against the real service (request + response, unique marker strings so reviewers can see it is not canned),
• screenshots or a short clip for UI work (light mode, dark mode, phone width, if the quest says so),
• the test run output.

If a paid-tier model blocks a live check, say so honestly and give the maintainer a one-line command to run it - do not fake a transcript.

6. Submit

• PR body starts with the linking keyword the issue requires (Fixes #NNNNN), then: what changed, how it was verified, proof links.
• One focused PR per quest; do not bundle fixes.
• Answer review comments fast - stalls get overtaken by competing PRs.

7. Get paid

After merge, open enter.pollinations.ai/quests, check quests, and claim the pending reward. Rewards are keyed to your GitHub account. When a PR is not selected but an idea from it ships, maintainers sometimes pay a small bonus.

Standards and discovery

This skill follows the Agent Skills format and is served through the Agent Skills well-known discovery index at https://gen.pollinations.ai/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json (discovery RFC). API basics live in the sibling polli skill from the same index.