# GitHub Readme Stats: Dynamically Generated Profile Cards That the Author No Longer Maintains

> GitHub Readme Stats generates SVG stat cards for GitHub profiles, displaying commits, PRs, languages, and repository pins via a Vercel API. The README states the repository is no longer maintained and points users to the GitHub Stats Extended fork. The last push was on 2026-08-31.

**anuraghazra/github-readme-stats** — :zap: Dynamically generated stats for your github readmes. Use &theme=THEME_NAME parameter like so : All inbuilt themes GitHub Readme Stats comes with several built-in themes (e.g.

- Repository: https://github.com/anuraghazra/github-readme-stats
- Website: https://github-readme-stats.vercel.app
- Stars: 79,813 · Forks: 38,080
- Language: JavaScript
- License: MIT
- Published: 2026-08-08 · Updated: 2026-08-18 · Language: en
- Canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/anuraghazra-github-readme-stats

## What GitHub Readme Stats Does and Its Current Maintenance Status

GitHub Readme Stats is a service that generates dynamically updated SVG cards for GitHub profile README files. The cards can display a user's commit count, pull request count, review count, issue count, stars, and followers, as well as top programming languages and pinned repositories. The cards are generated by a serverless API hosted on Vercel and embedded as image URLs in Markdown.

The README opens with a notice that must be stated plainly: this repository is no longer maintained. The README directs users to the GitHub Stats Extended fork at github.com/stats-organization/github-stats-extended, which it describes as an actively maintained fork with additional features and improved stability. An alternative called GitHub Readme Stats Action is also listed.

For new projects, the README's own guidance is to use the successor. This article covers the original project's architecture and how it works for teams evaluating whether to migrate existing integrations.

## How the Stats Cards Work

The core mechanism is an API endpoint hosted on Vercel. You embed a URL in your Markdown that includes your GitHub username, and the endpoint calls the GitHub API, computes statistics, and returns an SVG image.

The README instructs users to change the ?username= value to their GitHub username and embed the resulting URL as an image in their Markdown README. The README warns that the public Vercel instance is best-effort and can be unreliable due to rate limits and traffic spikes. For reliable cards, the README recommends self-hosting on Vercel or other platforms, or using the GitHub Actions workflow to generate static card images in a profile repository.

By default, the stats card shows only data from public repositories. Private repository statistics require deploying your own instance with a personal access token (PAT).

## Card Types: Stats, Languages, Repository Pins, and WakaTime

The project provides four types of cards. The stats card shows overall activity metrics. The top languages card visualises which programming languages appear most in a user's repositories, with several layout options: compact, donut chart, donut vertical chart, and pie chart.

The GitHub Extra Pins card allows pinning specific repositories in a profile README when GitHub's native limit of six pins is not enough or when you want to pin a repository you do not own. GitHub Gist Pins serves the same purpose for gists.

The WakaTime Stats card integrates with WakaTime, a coding time tracking service, to display time spent per language. This requires a WakaTime account with public statistics enabled.

The README documents a ranking system for the stats card. Available ranks are S (top 1%), A+, A, A-, B+, B, B-, C+, and C. The README notes this scheme is based on the Japanese academic grading system and that the global percentile is a weighted sum across multiple activity metrics.

## Self-Hosting on Vercel

The README documents two self-hosting paths: a GitHub Actions workflow (the recommended approach) and a Vercel deployment. For Vercel deployment, the first step is creating a GitHub personal access token (PAT) with the appropriate scopes.

After cloning and installing dependencies, running the test suite uses:

```bash
npm run test
```

The vercel.json file in the repository configures the API routes and caching behaviour. The express.js file at the root provides an alternative server for self-hosting on platforms other than Vercel.

The README lists available environment variables for configuring the self-hosted instance. These include the PAT, cache settings, and locale options. The package.json shows the server runs as an ES module ("type": "module") and uses Jest for testing, including benchmark tests (jest.bench.config.js) and end-to-end tests (jest.e2e.config.js).

Self-hosting removes the rate limit issue because your instance makes GitHub API calls using your own token rather than sharing the public endpoint's token quota.

## Themes and Customisation Options

The README documents a theme parameter that can be added to any card URL. The themes/ directory in the repository contains the theme definitions. The package.json includes a theme-readme-gen script that generates documentation for the themes.

Customisation goes beyond themes. Individual statistics can be hidden or shown, icons can be added, and colours can be overridden with custom hex values. The compact language card layout is one of several options for the top languages card, which also supports hiding specific languages or repositories from the calculation.

The README notes that the language stats algorithm counts lines of code per language across repositories and that users can exclude individual repositories from the calculation. This is relevant for developers whose stats are skewed by repositories in languages they do not consider representative of their work.

## GitHub Readme Stats vs GitHub Stats Extended

The README itself identifies GitHub Stats Extended as the successor. GitHub Stats Extended is described as an actively maintained fork with additional features and improved stability. It also references GitHub Readme Stats Action as an alternative that generates cards through a GitHub Actions workflow rather than a live API.

The architectural difference between the live API approach and the Actions approach is meaningful. A live API card updates every time the page loads (subject to caching). An Actions-generated card updates on a schedule or on commits, and is stored as a static file. The static approach is more predictable and avoids the rate limit and downtime issues the README flags on the public Vercel instance.

For teams maintaining existing README integrations that depend on the original project's URL, migrating to a self-hosted instance of GitHub Stats Extended is the path the README suggests.

## Licence and Repository State

GitHub Readme Stats is published under the MIT licence. The last push to the repository was on 2026-08-31. The README's own notice states the repository is no longer maintained.

The repository has no GitHub releases; development was tracked through commits. The README's caution notice about the public Vercel endpoint's instability has been present for some time, reflecting a longstanding operational concern.

The package.json version is 1.0.0, which has not tracked the actual feature development. The test suite uses Jest with experimental VM modules, as shown in the test scripts, which indicates the test infrastructure was not updated to the stable Jest ESM support.

## Conclusion

GitHub Readme Stats is not the right starting point for a new project. The README explicitly states it is no longer maintained and directs users to the GitHub Stats Extended fork. For existing projects that depend on it, the public Vercel API at github-readme-stats.vercel.app is documented as best-effort and unreliable due to rate limits; self-hosting or the GitHub Actions workflow are the recommended approaches. Teams starting fresh should follow the README's own advice and use the GitHub Stats Extended repository instead.

## FAQ

### How do I use GitHub Readme Stats?

Embed a URL pointing to github-readme-stats.vercel.app/api?username=YOUR_USERNAME as an image in your Markdown README. However, the README states the project is no longer maintained and recommends using the GitHub Stats Extended fork instead.

### Is GitHub Readme Stats down?

The public Vercel instance at github-readme-stats.vercel.app is documented as best-effort and unreliable due to rate limits and traffic spikes. The README recommends self-hosting or using the GitHub Actions workflow for reliable operation.

### How do I add GitHub Readme Stats to my profile?

Add an image link pointing to the API URL with your username parameter in your GitHub profile README.md file. Change ?username= to your GitHub username. The README also documents theme and customisation parameters that can be appended to the URL.

## Sources

- [Official documentation](https://github-readme-stats.vercel.app)
- [Official README](https://github.com/anuraghazra/github-readme-stats#readme)
- [Project repository](https://github.com/anuraghazra/github-readme-stats)

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Hysen Labs editorial analysis, written from the project's own repository and release notes. Cite the canonical page: https://hysenlabs.com/projects/anuraghazra-github-readme-stats