Apache Arrow
A cross-language development platform for in-memory columnar data.
Mostly friendly. Welcome, with extra rules.
AI tools may be used to generate PRs, but authors should review and own every change, be upfront about what was AI-generated, and disclose any copyrighted material. PRs that look fully AI-generated with little author engagement may be closed, and AI agents should never ping maintainers.
Policy by area
- Code contributionsPatches, pull requests and other changes written with AI tools.
- Mostly friendly
- AI use must be disclosed
- Contributor takes full responsibility
- A human must review the output
- Output must be license-compatible
- No autonomous agents
- Issues & bug reportsBug reports, security reports and issues found or written with AI tools.
- No policy
- AI-written textPull request descriptions, issue comments and summaries written by AI.
- No policy
In their own words
Code contributions
We are not opposed to the use of AI tools in generating PRs, but recommend the following:
Only submit a PR if you are able to debug and own the changes yourself - review all generated code to understand every detail
Be upfront about AI usage and summarise what was AI-generated
AI agents should never tag or ping maintainers
PR authors are also responsible for disclosing any copyrighted materials in submitted contributions.
Sources
- Apache Arrow Contributing Overviewarrow.apache.org/docs/dev/developers/overview.htmlSnapshot 9 Oct 2026