Are contributions to a open source project helpful for graduate admissions?
Does open source code contribution matter for graduate admissions?


Yes.

Admission to graduate school is based primarily on your potential for research.  Independent, creative, intellectual work of any kind strongly correlates with potential for research, especially if that work is directly related to the interests described in your research statement.  Contributing to open-source software projects is independent, creative, intellectual work.

Of course, your contribution would matter more if it were merged into the main branch of the project, but something is better than nothing.