1. Create a new repo (preferably private)
2. Click on Create a new file
   
3. In the Name your file... field, type in .github/workflows/main.yml
4. Paste in one of the YAML file contents below, depending on what you want to do.
5. Click the Commit new file button at the bottom of the page. You're all set!

If you change your mind about these commits later, you can delete the repository and they'll disappear from your contribution graph.

# .github/workflows/main.yml

on:
  schedule:
  - cron: '0 12 * * *' # every day at noon

jobs:
  single-commit:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - uses: bcanseco/github-contribution-graph-action@master
      env:
        GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
        GIT_EMAIL: [email protected] # replace me

If you need help with cron job syntax, crontab guru is a great resource.

This rolls a pseudorandom number generator between 1 and 5 (inclusive) to determine how many commits to make per-day.

# .github/workflows/main.yml

on:
  push:
    branches: [ master ]

jobs:
  backfill-commits:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
    - uses: bcanseco/github-contribution-graph-action@master
      env:
        GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}
        GIT_EMAIL: [email protected] # replace me
        MAX_DAYS: 365
        MIN_COMMITS_PER_DAY: 1
        MAX_COMMITS_PER_DAY: 5

Keep reading for more cool stuff like:

• skipping weekends/weekdays
• backfilling specific time periods
• custom commit messages
• and more!

Explore the code! It's tiny and there aren't many dependencies.

Speaking of dependencies, all production npm dependencies used by this GitHub Action are automatically audited for vulnerabilities. If the badge at the top of this README is green, you're good to go.

If you're still worried about malicious code in this repository, GitHub recommends always using a specific version of any GitHub Actions you add to your repositories. Read more.

- uses: bcanseco/github-contribution-graph-action@master
+ uses: bcanseco/github-contribution-graph-action@v1

As far as data security, there's two sensitive pieces of data that this Action handles:

• GITHUB_TOKEN
• GIT_EMAIL

GitHub has a great article about the token. It's the standard way that all GitHub Actions interact with GitHub on your behalf. The permissions of this token are both short-lived scoped to the repo only.

You don't need to create this secret yourself; GitHub handles that for you. All you need to do is provide the token in your workflow, job, or step:

env:
  GITHUB_TOKEN: ${{ secrets.GITHUB_TOKEN }}

This GitHub Action requires an email associated with your GitHub account. If you provide a random or throwaway email, contributions won't show up on your GitHub profile. Read more.

Chances are, your email is already public if you're making commits with it. But if you're concerned about privacy, you can do either of the following:

• Add your email as a secret and pass it in the same way as the GITHUB_TOKEN
• Use your GitHub-provided noreply email address

PRs are welcome! Please read the contributing guide. This project is MIT licensed.