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Cover image for Supercharge Your GitHub Profile: Showcase Your Open Source Contributions
Nick Taylor Subscriber for OpenSauced

Posted on • Updated on • Originally published at opensauced.pizza

Supercharge Your GitHub Profile: Showcase Your Open Source Contributions

Last week, we launched our brand new Dev Cards with the OSCR (Open Source Contributor Rating) highlighted on the front to make it easier for you to showcase your impact in open source. To make it even easier, I've cooked up a little GitHub Action that'll automatically update your Dev Card on your GitHub profile.

In this post, we're gonna dive into what Dev Cards are all about, how this new GitHub Action works, and how you can get it set up.

OpenSauced Dev Cards

At OpenSauced, we created dev cards to showcase your open source stats.

We also recently introduced the OSCR score which appears prominently on dev cards now.

If you head on over to your OpenSauced profile page, you can see your dev card now. Here's my OpenSauced profile. There's a little pizza card button you can press to see it.

An OpenSauced User's avatar with the dev card button to the bottom right of it.

The card is interactive and can be flipped.

My OpenSauced dev card

Introducing the OpenSauced Dev Card GitHub Action

To make it easier to showcase your contributions, I've developed a GitHub Action that automates the process of fetching your OpenSauced dev card (static version) and updating it in your GitHub profile README.

GitHub logo nickytonline / open-sauced-dev-card-action

A GitHub Action that automatically fetches and updates an OpenSauced dev card image for a specified GitHub user. It runs on a schedule or manual trigger, saving the image to the user's profile README repository for easy display.

OpenSauced Dev Card GitHub Action

This project fetches the OpenSauced dev card for an OpenSauced user with the GitHub username specified in the GitHub action.

nickytonline's OpenSauced Dev Card

About the OpenSauced Dev Card

Usage

To use this action, you need to add the following to a GitHub Actions workflow file.

name: Update OpenSauced Dev Card

on:
  schedule:
    - cron: "0 0 * * *" # Run daily at midnight UTC
  workflow_dispatch: # Allow manual triggering

jobs:
  update-dev-card:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Update Dev Card
        uses: nickytonline/open-sauced-dev-card-action@v1.0.0
        with:
          github-token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
          username: "your_username"
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We suggest you add this to a workflow file in the .github/workflows directory of your repository and call it something like update-open-sauced-dev-card.yml.

When the…

This means you can have an always up-to-date representation of your open source contributions from OpenSauced stats right on your GitHub profile.

Here's mine on my GitHub profile

My GitHub README showcasing my OpenSauced Dev Card

How It Works

  1. The action runs on a schedule (default is daily at midnight UTC) or can be triggered manually.
  2. It fetches your dev card image from OpenSauced.
  3. The image is saved to your profile README repository.
  4. Your README is automatically updated with the new image.

Setting It Up

View the GitHub action on the GitHub Action Marketplace

To use this action in your own GitHub profile, follow these steps:

  1. Create a workflow file (e.g., .github/workflows/update-open-sauced-dev-card.yml) in your profile README repository.
  2. Add the following content to the file:

    name: Update OpenSauced Dev Card
    
    on:
      schedule:
        - cron: "0 0 * * *" # Run daily at midnight UTC
      workflow_dispatch: # Allow manual triggering
    
    jobs:
      update-dev-card:
        runs-on: ubuntu-latest
        steps:
          - name: Update Dev Card
            uses: nickytonline/open-sauced-dev-card-action@v1.0.2
            with:
              github-token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
              username: "your_username"
    
  3. Replace "your_username" with your actual GitHub username.

  4. Add the following markdown to your README.md:

    [![My OpenSauced Dev Card](./dev-card.png)](https://oss.fyi/your_username)
    

    Again, replace your_username with your actual GitHub username.

  5. Run the GitHub action manually the first time if you want to get an initial image. It's not a big deal if you don't, but it'll mean the image will look broken until the first time the action runs at midnight UTC.

Making the Most of Your Dev Card: Tips & Tricks

If you want to make the most of your dev card on your GitHub profile? Here are some tips:

  • Prime Real Estate: Place your card where you think it will be noticed on your README. First impressions count, and you want visitors to see your open source contributions. Maybe place it between your "About Me" and your "Current Projects" for a well-rounded profile.
  • Context is Key: Don't just leave your card hanging there. Add some text to introduce it. Something like: "Check out my open source contribution snapshot!"

The Secret Sauce: Understanding Your OSCR Score

Think of the OSCR as your open source score that looks at:

  • Your contribution frequency
  • The quality of your contributions
  • Your ability to start and be a part of open source conversations

Your OSCR score provides a quick snapshot of your open source activity and impact. It gives people an idea of how active and influential you are in the open source community.

Like any metric, your open source experience is about more than just one number.

Conclusion

Open source contributions are a fantastic way to grow as a developer and give back to the community. With this GitHub Action and OpenSauced, you can easily showcase your efforts and inspire others to get involved.

Give it a try and let me know what you think!

Stay saucy peeps!

If you would like to know more about my work in open source, follow me on OpenSauced.

Top comments (3)

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jance_jacobs profile image
Jance Jacobs

What a clever idea! For the GitHub Action, is it possible to customize the cron schedule to update more or less frequently?

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nickytonline profile image
Nick Taylor

Thanks for giving it a read!

100% you can change it. The code you copy in your action has a suggested cron, but feel free to modify it as you see fit.

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shubhamchasing profile image
Shubham Sharma

I think it is time to update the README 🔥