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Cover image for How To Create A GitHub Profile README
Monica Powell
Monica Powell

Posted on • Edited on • Originally published at aboutmonica.com

How To Create A GitHub Profile README

GitHub recently released a feature that allows users to create a profile-level README to display prominently on their GitHub profile. This article walksthrough how to access this new feature. I'll also be sharing some fun GitHub profiles I've seen so far. I'd love it if you shared yours with me on Twitter @waterproofheart.
The header GIF shows what my README looks like at the time of this writing. You may notice I was recently selected to be GitHub star!

Why READMEs?

The GitHub profile-level README feature allows more content than the profile bio, supports markdown which means you can play around with the content more visually (Did someone say GIFs!?) and the README is significantally more visible as it is placed above pinned repositories and takes up as much space above the fold of the webpage as you like.

A solid README is a core-component of well-documented software and often encourages collaboration by sharing helpful context with contributors. In my opinion, a profile-level README seems like a great extension of a convention a lot of GitHub users are already familiar with. If you're looking to make project-level READMEs more awesome and helpful check out matiassingers/awesome-readme for resources and examples of compelling READMEs.

How do I create a profile README?

The profile README is created by creating a new repository that’s the same name as your username. For example, my GitHub username is m0nica so I created a new repository with the name m0nica. Note: at the time of this writing, in order to access the profile README feature, the letter-casing must match your GitHub username.

If you already have a project in a repo-named username/username and are interested in setting up a profile-level README, then I recommend either re-naming that repository or re-purposing the existing project's README based on what makes the most sense in your particular situation.

  1. Create a new repository with the same name (including casing) as your GitHub username: https://github.com/new

  2. Create a README.md file inside the new repo with content (text, GIFs, images, emojis, etc.)

  3. Commit your fancy new README!

    • If you're on GitHub's web interface you can choose to commit directly to the repo's main branch (i.e., master or main) which will make it immediately visible on your profile)
  4. Push changes to GitHub (if you made changes locally i.e., on your computer and not github.com)

screenshot of the GitHub page for creating new repositories

Fun READMEs

The GitHub README profiles are written in Markdown which means you aren't just limited to texts and links, you can include GIFs and images. Need to brush up on Markdown Syntax? Check out this Markdown Cheatsheet.



If you're really ambitious you can use GitHub actions or other automation like bdougieYO or simonw to dynamically pull data into your README:


Serverless functions can also be used to dynamically generate information (for example your current Spotify activity):

I'm a huge proponent that folks should maintain a website they have complete ownership over (even if it's a no-code website solution) but this is tempting...


I've been inspired by the creative READMEs I've seen so far and am looking forward to seeing all kinds of profiles in the upcoming months.

Top comments (45)

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sarehprice profile image
Sarah Price

I saw someone post theirs the other day with a fun animation. I hadn't realized this was a new feature so I thought they were just joking around. But this is great! I'm going to have to do some brainstorming on mine. Maybe I'll see how much of my design skills I can use in it as well!

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coderjojo profile image
coderjojo

I have created Developer Profile repository with a bunch of GitHub profiles so that others will get inspiration to create their own. Do consider to contribute with your profile also.

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itsasine profile image
ItsASine (Kayla)

Only downside I can see to this is that the README seems meant to be a living document. Mine is a bunch of gifs now, but later I could update it to actually be professional or something and less awesome.

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coderjojo profile image
coderjojo

You may update it later in the repo also.

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itsasine profile image
ItsASine (Kayla)

I see screenshots got added recently, nice! :)

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ayushkumar25 profile image
Ayush Kumar • Edited


My Github.
For more cool templates.

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jacques_blom profile image
Jacques Blom • Edited

I've set mine up to automatically pull in my latest uploads from YouTube, using a Netlify Serverless function:
github.com/jacques-blom
screenshot

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rahuldkjain profile image
Rahul Jain

Tired of updating GitHub profle README with latest features again & again?

If yes, then I have developed a tool to do the same for you in just 1 click 🤓

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GitHub logo rahuldkjain / github-profile-readme-generator

🚀 Generate GitHub profile README easily with the latest add-ons like visitors count, GitHub stats, etc using minimal UI.

GitHub Profile Readme Generator

GitHub Profile README Generator

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View Demo · Report Bug · Request Feature

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Tired of editing GitHub Profile README with new features?

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Just fill in the details such as Name, Tagline, Dev Platforms Username, Current Work, Portfolio, Blog, etc. with a minimal UI.

  • Uniform Dev Icons

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Click on Generate README to get your README in markdown

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solitrix02 profile image
Sanchit Bajaj

It's great and easy to use

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alenabraham profile image
Alen Abraham

hey, I tried out this.
It's an awesome tool. Nice one mate.

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vadorequest profile image
Vadorequest • Edited

Just built mine in 2h time really quickly, with github stats, trophies, SO feed, medium feed, etc.

github.com/Vadorequest

Thanks to github.com/rahuldkjain/github-prof... which helped me bootstrap real quick!

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israelias profile image
Joem Elias Sanez

Great piece. Newbie, but took a friendly first pass at this — bonus CV frontier!
mine

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harshalrj25 profile image
Harshal Jadhav • Edited

Here's mine which shows your latest medium blogs.
harshalrj25

checkout my repo github.com/harshalrj25/mediumblog-... to add medium blogs to your profile.

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10secondsofcode profile image
Elango Sundar

I have created a repository for awesome github profile aims to collect the all awesome beautiful READMEs profile and make your Profile look good & Inspire other's.

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odalet profile image
odalet

Hi! Do you know if this is also available to organizations?