How to showcase your GitHub activity effectively

GitHub is not just where your code lives. For developers, it's a continuous record of how you work, what you build, and how you collaborate. Most people treat it as a backup drive. It's actually a portfolio.

Pinned repositories: your highlight reel

You get six pinned repos. Use them intentionally:

• At least one project with a README that explains the problem it solves, not just setup instructions
• At least one project with tests, which shows you care about reliability
• No empty repositories. A repo with one commit and no README signals "I started this and gave up"

If your best work is in private repos, add a note in the description: "Full project available on request."

Your contribution graph tells a story

Recruiters look at the green squares. I know. It feels shallow. It is, a little. But consistency is a real signal: it shows up-to-date skills and an active practice.

You don't need to commit every day. But a graph that shows consistent activity over 6 to 12 months says something a resume can't.

Stars and forks: social proof you're not using

If one of your projects has 50+ stars, that's notable. Mention it in your bio or portfolio description. "Built a CLI tool used by 300+ developers" is a fact worth stating.

Contributions to other projects

Open source contributions, even small ones, show you can navigate unfamiliar codebases, communicate with maintainers, and ship code that meets someone else's standards. One merged PR to a real project is worth more than ten solo side projects in terms of signal.

What getfolio.dev does with your GitHub data

getfolio.dev pulls your contribution calendar, pinned repositories, stars, and stats automatically. You can choose which repos to highlight and control which sections appear on your public profile.

The goal is to surface the best version of your GitHub activity, without you having to manually curate every detail.

Your code is already there. Let people see it properly.