The latest articles on DEV Community by Max Friedmann (@maxfriedmann). https://dev.to/maxfriedmann https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F2532425%2F55e69066-bb60-485b-b25d-93c600b33500.jpeg https://dev.to/maxfriedmann en Max Friedmann Sun, 22 Feb 2026 19:03:19 +0000 https://dev.to/maxfriedmann/i-built-a-cli-to-see-my-real-github-language-stats-does-something-like-this-already-exist-1n18 https://dev.to/maxfriedmann/i-built-a-cli-to-see-my-real-github-language-stats-does-something-like-this-already-exist-1n18 <p>I recently created my new online CV and wanted to show all of my contributions — also the ones from private repositories. My GitHub profile looked nearly empty, even though I'd been coding professionally for years. Most of that work just happened to live in private repos.</p> <p><a href="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2Fqtth7iou69b1eyyww1ld.png" class="article-body-image-wrapper"><img src="https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=800%2Cheight=%2Cfit=scale-down%2Cgravity=auto%2Cformat=auto/https%3A%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Farticles%2Fqtth7iou69b1eyyww1ld.png" alt=" " width="800" height="956"></a></p> <p><code>Example of how the output data can be visualized — this chart is from my CV app, built on top of the JSON data this tool produces</code></p> <p>That's when I realized: GitHub's profile is basically useless for showing your real activity as a professional developer. So I started looking for a tool that could compute honest, per-language stats from <em>all</em> my commits — public and private. I couldn't find one. So I built it: <strong><code>github-lang-stats</code></strong>.</p> <h2> What it does </h2> <p>It scans every commit you've personally authored on GitHub — including private repos — and calculates how many lines you've changed per programming language. The result is an honest, verifiable snapshot of your actual work.<br> </p> <div class="highlight js-code-highlight"> <pre class="highlight shell"><code>npx github-lang-stats <span class="nt">--token</span><span class="o">=</span>&lt;your-github-pat&gt; </code></pre> </div> <p>That's it. No install needed. Just a GitHub Personal Access Token.</p> <h2> Why not just use the GitHub profile? </h2> <ul> <li> <strong>No language breakdown</strong> — GitHub shows total contributions, not which languages you used</li> <li> <strong>Private repos are invisible</strong> — Most (of my) professional work happens in private repos, which don't show up at all</li> </ul> <h2> Try it out! </h2> <p>👉 <a href="https://www.npmjs.com/package/github-lang-stats" rel="noopener noreferrer">github-lang-stats on npm</a></p> <p>I'd love to hear your thoughts:</p> <ul> <li>Did you know of a similar tool? (I couldn't find one!)</li> <li>Would you use this for your portfolio or resume?</li> <li>What features would you want to see?</li> </ul> <p>Drop a comment below — all feedback, issues, and PRs are welcome on <a href="https://github.com/smallstack/github-lang-stats" rel="noopener noreferrer">GitHub</a>! ⭐</p> github language stats privaterepositories