How to Add a Contribution Graph Card to Your GitHub Profile README

GitHub's contribution graph shows a full year of daily contribution activity as a grid of colored squares, where darker green indicates more contributions. The github-readme-stats project can render this same visualization as a self-contained SVG card that embeds in your README.

This card is most useful when GitHub's native contribution graph (which appears below your README on your profile page) is not prominent enough or when you want to include it in a repository README rather than only on your profile. It is also useful for highlighting contribution data alongside explanatory text — for example, noting that a particularly active period corresponds to a specific project launch or contribution sprint.

The github-readme-stats project exposes contribution data through its main stats card. To display your contribution calendar visualization, use the activity graph service instead, which provides the most similar rendering:

[![Contribution Graph](https://github-readme-activity-graph.vercel.app/graph?username=YOUR_USERNAME&theme=tokyo-night&area=true&hide_border=true)](https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME)

For a contribution count card using github-readme-stats:

![Contributions](https://github-readme-stats.vercel.app/api?username=YOUR_USERNAME&show=reviews,discussions,prs,issues&theme=tokyonight&count_private=true&include_all_commits=true&hide_rank=true)

The show=reviews,discussions,prs,issues parameter displays additional contribution types beyond commits, creating a more comprehensive view of your activity.

For a contribution-focused stats layout, combine the stats card with the streak card and the activity graph in a vertical arrangement:

<div align="center">
  <img src="https://github-readme-stats.vercel.app/api?username=YOUR_USERNAME&theme=tokyonight&count_private=true&include_all_commits=true" height="150" />
  <img src="https://streak-stats.demolab.com?user=YOUR_USERNAME&theme=tokyonight" height="150" />
</div>

[![Activity](https://github-readme-activity-graph.vercel.app/graph?username=YOUR_USERNAME&theme=tokyo-night&area=true&hide_border=true)](https://github.com/YOUR_USERNAME)

This three-card approach covers all dimensions of contribution data: cumulative totals (stats card), consistency (streak card), and recent activity pattern (activity graph). Together they answer 'does this developer actually ship code?' from three complementary angles.

If contribution counts appear low, add both count_private=true and include_all_commits=true to your stats card URL. Without these parameters, only public repository contributions in the current calendar year are counted — many developers who work primarily in private repos will appear much less active than they actually are.

If the activity graph appears but shows large gaps, this reflects actual contribution history. The graph cannot fill in missing data — if you did not commit code on certain days, those days remain blank. Gaps are honest representations of your actual activity pattern.

For developers whose primary work platform is not GitHub (GitLab, Bitbucket, internal systems), add a note in your README: 'Most of my work is in private/internal repositories.' This provides context that prevents the sparse contribution graph from being misinterpreted.