github-profile-crt

Bring a little retro warmth to your GitHub profile: turn your contributions into a CRT “signal board” SVG — animated scanlines, noise, and a dashboard-style vibe — generated automatically on a schedule.

What you get

github-profile-crt is a GitHub Action that:

• Fetches contribution data for a user (GraphQL) or an organization (REST aggregation)
• Renders a CRT-style weekly chart as SVG
• Applies themes (dark + light variants), custom palettes are supported too
• Optionally commits & pushes the generated files back to your repo

It’s designed for:

• Profile READMEs (user and organization)
• Project READMEs (if you want a living “activity panel” in a repo)

Quick start

Choose where the README lives

• User profile README: create a public repo named .github under your user account, then add profile/README.md
• Organization profile README: create a public repo named .github under the organization, then add profile/README.md

(Those are GitHub’s rules; this action simply generates files you embed.)

Add a workflow

Create a workflow file in the repository that will store the generated SVGs — your profile .github repo, your organization .github repo, or any other repository you want to use for hosting them.

Example: .github/workflows/github-profile-crt.yml

name: Build CRT contribution SVGs

on:
  workflow_dispatch:
  schedule:
    # Every day at 10:15 UTC (edit to taste)
    - cron: '15 10 * * *'

permissions:
  contents: write

jobs:
  build:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Generate SVGs
        uses: stefashkaa/github-profile-crt@v1
        with:
          output-dir: assets
          themes: crt
          # github-user - set for a different user/org or to aggregate org data (defaults to repo owner)
          # github-token - set for org data access (defaults to GITHUB_TOKEN)
          # include-org-private - set to 'true' to include private repos in org aggregation (defaults to 'false')

• For personal accounts, enable private contributions in your profile settings
• For organizations, use a custom token if you want to include private repository activity: see setup steps

Commit, push, and run the workflow once (or wait for the schedule).

Embed it in your README

In your profile/README.md (or somewhere else), embed the generated SVG:

<picture>
  <source media="(prefers-color-scheme: dark)" srcset="../assets/crt-dark.svg">
  <source media="(prefers-color-scheme: light)" srcset="../assets/crt-light.svg">
  <img alt="My CRT contribution chart" src="../assets/crt-dark.svg" width="100%">
</picture>

The picture element ensures the correct theme variant is shown based on user preference. Adjust paths if your SVGs are in a different location.

Tip: keep the SVGs in a simple folder like assets/ so paths stay stable.

Themes

Preset themes:

• crt: the original green terminal glow
• amber: warm fossil-era monitor amber
• ice: cold blue signal from the future
• ruby: red alert with style
• mint: fresh green with a cleaner edge
• mono: grayscale, quiet, and sharp
• winamp: loud Y2K media-player nostalgia
• neon: midnight cyber-club voltage
• rainbow: pure color chaos, but joyful
• chaos: unstable signal, controlled damage
• chaos-max: full visual meltdown
• static: no motion, just clean signal

Use one, a list, or all:

with:
  themes: crt,rainbow,winamp

with:
  themes: all

Want your own custom theme? Customize it!

Inputs

All inputs are optional unless stated otherwise.

Input	Default	What it does
github-token	${{ github.token }}	Token for reading data and (optionally) pushing commits.
github-user	repo owner	GitHub login to render (user or org).
output-dir	assets	Output folder written inside the workspace repo.
themes	crt	Themes to render: comma-separated list, all, and/or custom.
year	current year	If current year: rolling last ~365 days; otherwise full calendar year.
commit-and-push	true	Commit & push changed SVGs back to the repo.
commit-message	auto	Custom commit message for generated files.
show-grid	true	Toggle chart grid lines.
show-stats	true	Toggle the dashboard panels (language + activity vector).
show-stats-footer	true	Toggle footer metrics line.
enable-hover-attrs	false	Adds <title> hover text per week (larger SVG).
include-org-private	false	For org logins: include private repos in aggregation (token must allow it).
minify-svg	true	SVGO optimize output (recommended).

Outputs

Output	Meaning
output-directory	Where SVGs were written in the workspace.
generated-files	Number of SVG files generated.
weeks	Weeks rendered in the chart.
total-contributions	Total contributions in the rendered window.
committed	true if a commit was created and pushed.

Common recipes

Generate without committing

with:
  commit-and-push: false

Change the year window

Render a specific year:

with:
  year: 2021

Preview

Turn off the dashboard panels

with:
  show-stats: false
  show-stats-footer: false

Preview

Organization profile

Set github-user to the organization login and use a github-token that has access to organization data (see setup steps).

with:
  github-user: DeSource-Labs
  github-token: ${{ secrets.ORG_TOKEN }}
  include-org-private: true

Preview

How it works

At a high level:

• Fetch contribution data (user: GraphQL; org: REST aggregation)
• Render themed SVG(s)
• Optionally optimize (SVGO)
• Optionally commit & push changes

Troubleshooting

If nothing updates:

• Confirm permissions: contents: write in your workflow.
• Confirm the SVG paths in your README match your output-dir.
• If the action errors about the workspace not being a git repo, add actions/checkout.

More info

Security

• Pin actions to a release tag or commit SHA in production workflows.
• Use the minimum required workflow permissions (contents: write only when committing).

See SECURITY.md for reporting & workflow hardening notes.

Contributing

Contributions, bug reports, theme ideas, and docs fixes are welcome.

Start here

License

MIT

Support

• Questions / help: open an issue
• Vulnerabilities: use GitHub Security Advisories (private report)

See SUPPORT.md for details.

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_{Built with ❤️ by @stefashkaa
If this project helps your profile stand out, star the repo and share your theme setup}