How to Create a GitHub Profile

Written by Amar Pan, M.Ed.
Technical Writer

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Creating a GitHub profile is a great way to show visitors what you're all about as a developer - what languages and frameworks you know, types of work you are interested in, and general background information.

In this guide, we'll cover how to create a repository that doubles as a profile and how to add advanced tools that display cool statistics about your coding history and habits.

Create a Profile Repository

To make a GitHub profile, you must first create a repository with the same name as your GitHub username.

1. Create a new repository

In the upper-right hand corner of the GitHub dashboard:

a. Click +
b. Click New repository

2. Add the details for the new repository

a. Under "Repository name", type in your GitHub username
For example, if my GitHub username is linuxfan123, I would type in linuxfan123
b. Click the Public option so all users can see your newly created profile
c. Check the Add a README file box
d. Click the green Create repository button to make the new repository with all the above settings

3. View your new default profile

a. Click the white View Profile button on the right side of the page
b. Take a look at your new profile - by default, some placeholder text is inputted.
c. Click the pencil icon in the top-right hand corner of your new profile to initiate editing

4. Edit your new profile

a. Delete lines 3-6 and the ending -->

b. Add the missing information - think about what important information visitors looking at your code should know
c. Click the Preview tab to see what the new edits will look like

d. When satisfied, click the green Commit changes button to finalize the changes

5. View your new profile

In the upper-right hand corner of the GitHub dashboard:

a. Click your profile picture
b. Click Your Profile

Advanced Coding Statistic Add-ons

You can also choose to add from a variety of add-on tools that display insightful and interesting statistics about your coding history and habits.

Note: Take care to replace <your-github-username> with your own GitHub username when using the following code snippets and then delete the angle brackets <>.

Activity

Displays total stars, commits, pull requests, etc.

[![Activity](https://github-readme-stats.vercel.app/api?username=<your-github-username>&count_private=true&show_icons=true&include_all_commits=true&theme=vue-dark&custom_title=Activity)](https://github.com/anuraghazra/github-readme-stats)

Commits Graph

A simple graph displaying your daily commits over the last 30 days

<img src="https://activity-graph.herokuapp.com/graph?username=<your-github-username>&bg_color=1c1917&color=ffffff&line=0891b2&point=ffffff&area_color=1c1917&area=true&hide_border=true&custom_title=GitHub%20Commits%20Graph" alt="GitHub Commits Graph" />

Top Languages

Lists your most frequently coded in languages by percentage

[![Top Languages](https://github-readme-stats.vercel.app/api/top-langs/?username=<your-github-username>&theme=vue-dark&custom_title=Languages&layout=compact)](https://github.com/anuraghazra/github-readme-stats)

Repository Highlight

Displays a single repository (just as it would look underneath your GitHub profile)

<a href="https://github.com/<your-github-username>/<repository-name>"><img align="center" style="margin:20px" src="https://github-readme-stats.vercel.app/api/pin/?username=<your-github-username>&repo=<repo-name>&theme=vue-dark" /></a>

Streak Counter

Lists your current and longest streak of making at least one daily GitHub commit

[![GitHub Streak Counter](https://github-readme-streak-stats.herokuapp.com/?user=<your-github-username>&theme=vue-dark)](https://git.io/streak-stats)

Visitor Counter

A running counter of how many times your GitHub profile has been visited

![Visitor Counter](https://visitor-badge.glitch.me/badge?page_id=<your-github-username>.<your-github-username>)