What is GitHub Profile Readme & How to create one?
If you have used GitHub you might have noticed the importance of a Readme file. For those who are unfamiliar, it is the a markdown or a text file whose contents are rendered automatically by GitHub. A Readme file at the root folder of your repo will contain the information that is shown when a user visits your repo. In addition to that any contents of a Readme file in any directory will also be rendered when a user navigates to that directory.
GitHub then took this idea about Readme and expanded it. They decided to bring a Readme to user’s profile so that when someone visits a users profile the contents of that Readme will be rendered. With many developers already using their GitHub profile as a Portfolio, adding a Readme greatly benefits that use case. As markdown supports a lot of things including tables, images, links, lists, code blocks, etc… you can add almost anything from your portfolio into it.
How to create a Readme for your GitHub profile?
- Create a repository in GitHub with the same name as your username. If your username is JonSnow then your repository name should also be JonSnow.
- Now create a Readme in this repository. This readme is your user profile’s readme. Whatever you type here will be shown in your user profile.
For example the following Readme will be shown as,
- 🔭 I'm Scott Hanselman
- 🌱 I've blogged here for nearly 20 years https://hanselman.com/blog
- 👯 I've podcasted here for 15 years https://hanselminutes.com
- 🤔 I'm on Twitter https://twitter.com/shanselman
- 💬 and I like making YouTubes https://youtube.com/shanselman
- 📫 How to reach me: https://www.hanselman.com/about/
- 😄 Pronouns: he/him/his
- ⚡ Fun fact: I've been using an Open Source Artificial Pancreas 24hrs a day since 2016
![Scotts's github stats](https://github-readme-stats.vercel.app/api?username=shanselman&show_icons=true)
What can you use this for?
You can use the GitHub Readme for various things
- Highlighting your open source projects.
- Calling attention to your projects where you need contributions / feedback.
- Use it as a Portfolio / about me.
- Pointing users to your documentation, project website, blog, etc….
- Promoting your books, courses, etc…
- Showcasing your contributions on GitHub. GitHub Readme Stats is a great tool for this.
You can also use GitHub actions to update content such as List of blog posts automatically.
Further Reading
- Add & auto upadte a list of your blogposts, medium articles, YouTube videos to GitHub readme using GitHub actions
- GitHub Readme Stats - An app that provides dynamically generated stats about your GitHub account that can be embeded in markdown or HTML.
- 10 Standout GitHub Profile Readme | dev.to