Live-inject recent GitHub events into your README with a highly customizable JSON mapping.
Here's how the setup looks like in action: My Readme
name: Update Activity Timeline
on:
workflow_dispatch:
schedule:
- cron: '0 \* \* \* \*' # Customize CRON run timing - like this it runs hourly
jobs:
update:
runs-on: ubuntu-latest
steps:
- uses: actions/checkout@v3
- name: Fetch & Render Activity
uses: FreddyMSchubert/github-activity-timeline@main
with:
github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
username: "YourUser" # Insert your username here
max_items: "5"
event_templates: > # Customize what to display here
{ /* see "Configuration" below */ }
- name: Commit & Push
run: |
git config user.name "github-actions[bot]"
git config user.email "github-actions[bot]@users.noreply.github.com"
git add README.md && git diff --cached --quiet || git commit -m "chore: update activity"
- uses: ad-m/[email protected]
with:
github_token: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
branch: "main"If you don't want to dive deep into the customization opportunities, you can copy my config.
<!-- ACTIVITY:START -->
<!-- ACTIVITY:END -->
Don't put anything else between these markers as all of it will be replaced with the generated events list upon workflow run.
Provide a JSON object mapping event keys ↔ JS template strings.
Format:{ "event_key": "Your string with {{placeholders}}", … }.
Missing keys or empty strings ("") skip that event.
Example skeleton
{
"issues_opened": "...",
"pr_merged": "...",
"push": "..."
}Use event_templates to map each event key to a JS template string.
Placeholders inside {{…}} (e.g. {{payload.issue.number}}) are replaced with real values from the GitHub event when the workflow runs.
Here are some usage examples for useful event keys:
-
Description: New issue created.
-
Docs: https://docs.github.com/en/webhooks/event-payloads#issues 📑
-
Top Variables:
payload.issue.number– Issue number 🔢payload.issue.title– Issue title 🏷️payload.issue.html_url– Link to the issue 🌐actor– Who opened it 👤- ...
-
Example Template:
"issues_opened": "{{index}}. 🐛 Opened [{{repo}}#{{payload.issue.number}}]({{payload.issue.html_url}}): “{{payload.issue.title.slice(0,50)}}…”"
-
Rendered Output:
- 🐛 Opened octocat/Hello-World#42: “Improve README examples…”
-
Description: Issue closed (anyone).
-
Docs: https://docs.github.com/en/webhooks/event-payloads#issues 📑
-
Top Variables:
payload.issue.number– Issue number 🔢payload.issue.html_url– Link to the issue 🌐actor– Who closed it 👤- ...
-
Example Template:
"issues_closed": "{{index}}. ✅ Closed [{{repo}}#{{payload.issue.number}}]({{payload.issue.html_url}}) by {{actor}}"
-
Rendered Output:
- ✅ Closed octocat/Hello-World#42 by octocat
-
Description: Comment added to an issue.
-
Docs: https://docs.github.com/en/webhooks/event-payloads#issue_comment 📑
-
Top Variables:
payload.comment.body– Comment text 💬payload.comment.html_url– Link to the comment 🔗payload.issue.number– Issue number 🔢actor– Who commented 👤- ...
-
Example Template:
"issue_commented": "{{index}}. 💬 {{actor}} commented on [{{repo}}#{{payload.issue.number}}]({{payload.comment.html_url}}): “{{payload.comment.body.slice(0,50)}}…”"
-
Rendered Output:
- 💬 octocat commented on octocat/Hello-World#42: “Looks good to me, but…”
-
Description: Pull request opened.
-
Docs: https://docs.github.com/en/webhooks/event-payloads#pull_request 📑
-
Top Variables:
payload.pull_request.number– PR number 🔢payload.pull_request.title– PR title 🏷️payload.pull_request.html_url– Link to the PR 🔗actor– Who opened it 👤- ...
-
Example Template:
"pr_opened": "{{index}}. 🆕 PR [{{repo}}#{{payload.pull_request.number}}]({{payload.pull_request.html_url}}) opened: “{{payload.pull_request.title.slice(0,50)}}…”"
-
Rendered Output:
- 🆕 PR octocat/Hello-World#56 opened: “Add CONTRIBUTING guide…”
-
Description: PR closed, with or without merge.
-
Docs: https://docs.github.com/en/webhooks/event-payloads#pull_request 📑
-
Top Variables:
payload.pull_request.number– PR number 🔢payload.pull_request.html_url– Link to the PR 🔗actor– Who performed the action 👤payload.pull_request.merged–trueif merged;falseif just closed 🔄- ...
-
Example Template:
"pr_closed": "{{index}}. {{payload.pull_request.merged ? '🎯 Merged' : '❌ Closed'}} PR [{{repo}}#{{payload.pull_request.number}}]({{payload.pull_request.html_url}}) by {{actor}}"
-
Rendered Output:
- 🎯 Merged PR octocat/Hello-World#56 by octocat
-
Description: Review approval or change request.
-
Docs: https://docs.github.com/en/webhooks/event-payloads#pull_request_review 📑
-
Top Variables:
payload.review.state–approvedorchanges_requested🔍payload.pull_request.number– PR number 🔢actor– Who reviewed 👤- ...
-
Example Template:
"pr_review_approved": "{{index}}. 👍 {{actor}} approved PR [{{repo}}#{{payload.pull_request.number}}]({{payload.pull_request.html_url}})", "pr_review_changes_requested": "{{index}}. 🚩 {{actor}} requested changes on PR [{{repo}}#{{payload.pull_request.number}}]({{payload.pull_request.html_url}})"
-
Rendered Output:
- 👍 octocat approved PR octocat/Hello-World#56
- 🚩 octocat requested changes on PR octocat/Hello-World#56
-
Description: Comment on a PR review.
-
Docs: https://docs.github.com/en/webhooks/event-payloads#pull_request_review_comment 📑
-
Top Variables:
payload.comment.body– Comment text 💬payload.comment.html_url– Link to the comment 🔗payload.pull_request.number– PR number 🔢actor– Who commented 👤- ...
-
Example Template:
"pr_review_comment": "{{index}}. 🗣 {{actor}} commented on review for PR [{{repo}}#{{payload.pull_request.number}}]({{payload.comment.html_url}}): “{{payload.comment.body.slice(0,50)}}…”"
-
Rendered Output:
- 🗣 octocat commented on review for PR octocat/Hello-World#56: “Nit: rename this variable…”
Description: One or more commits pushed.
Docs: https://docs.github.com/en/webhooks/event-payloads#push 📑
Top Variables:
payload.commits.length– Number of commits 📦payload.ref– Branch ref (e.g.refs/heads/main) 🌿payload.compare– Comparison URL 🔗payload.commits[payload.commits.length-1].messageorpayload.head_commit.message– Latest commit message 📝actor– Who pushed 👤- ...
Example Template:
"push": "{{index}}. 🚀 {{actor}} pushed {{payload.commits.length}} commits to [{{repo_owner}}/{{repo_name}}@{{payload.ref.replace('refs/heads/','')}}]({{payload.compare}}): “{{payload.commits[payload.commits.length-1].message.slice(0,50)}}…”"Rendered Output:
- 🚀 octocat pushed 3 commits to octocat/Hello-World@main: “Fix typo in docs…”
-
Description: Release published or updated.
-
Docs: https://docs.github.com/en/webhooks/event-payloads#release 📑
-
Top Variables:
payload.release.tag_name– Tag (e.g.v1.2.3) 🔖payload.release.html_url– Link to release 🔗payload.release.prerelease–trueif prerelease🅿️ actor– Who released 👤- ...
-
Example Template:
"release": "{{index}}. 📡 Released [{{repo}}@{{payload.release.tag_name}}]({{payload.release.html_url}})"
-
Rendered Output:
- 📡 Released octocat/[email protected]
-
Description: Repository forked.
-
Docs: https://docs.github.com/en/webhooks/event-payloads#fork 📑
-
Top Variables:
payload.forkee.full_name– New fork name 🔱payload.forkee.html_url– Link to fork 🔗repo– Original repo name 🏺actor– Who forked 👤- ...
-
Example Template:
"fork": "{{index}}. 🍴 Forked [{{repo}}]({{`https://github.com/${repo}`}}) to [{{payload.forkee.full_name}}]({{payload.forkee.html_url}})"
-
Rendered Output:
- 🍴 Forked octocat/Hello-World to octocat/Hello-World-Fork
-
Description: Private repo made public.
-
Docs: https://docs.github.com/en/webhooks/event-payloads#public 📑
-
Top Variables:
repo– Repo name 🏛️actor– Who changed visibility 👤- ...
-
Example Template:
"public": "{{index}}. 🎸 Made [{{repo}}]({{`https://github.com/${repo}`}}) public"
-
Rendered Output:
- 🎸 Made octocat/Hello-World public