How to customize your GitHub profile with a Readme file

GitHub has made it possible to customize your profile page thanks to a simple README file, just like on all our currently hosted repositories.

So how do you go about enabling this feature? We'll see together that it only takes a few clicks, which is why I've also added the steps to add a cover photo to your profile with a few additional steps.

1 - Create the README

Your profile's README has nothing special about it, except for the name of the repository it's located in, because to activate profile customization, you simply need to name a repository with the same name as your Github username!

By doing this, you should see a message appear letting you know that you've discovered a secret Github feature as shown below!

Remember to initialize your repository with a README file, this will save you from having to clone the repository and you'll be able to edit the file directly from the Github interface!

Simply click on the small pencil-shaped button at the top right of your README, as shown in the screenshot below.

Wonderful, now you're editing your profile page, all that's left is to let your creativity run wild! But if you want to add one or more images, I recommend reading the rest of the tutorial.

2 - Add a cover photo to your profile

To add an image to your README, you must first save it in your repository, to do this, simply click on the "Add file" then "Upload files" button available in any folder of the repository.

Tip: I recommend not adding images to the root of your repository, but rather in an "/img/" folder, to do this simply don't drag and drop your image right away, but put it in a folder called img and drag the entire folder!

Then all you have to do is go back to editing your README to add your image by adding this line of Markdown to your file:


Careful, make sure to add the ABSOLUTE link to your image, because otherwise your image will appear correctly in your repository, but the link will be broken on your homepage!

And there you have it, you've just customized your Github profile with a cover image, and you can even reuse this method to add as many images as you like!

Personally, I opted for adding badges and widgets, which you can copy-paste from any other README!

3 - A few examples of Github profiles

If you're looking for inspiration, I invite you to check out the Github repository below which brings together dozens and dozens of profiles with very different designs, badges, and widgets: