Agent skill · software engineering · davila7
star-history-chart
Add a self-hosted "Stargazers over time" chart to any GitHub repo's README. GitHub now restricts the stargazers endpoint to a repo's own admins/collaborators, so third-party live services (star-history free tier, starchart.cc) return "Requires authentication" for everyone. This generates a static, theme-aware SVG in-repo and auto-refreshes it weekly with a GitHub Action using the repo's own GITHUB_TOKEN. Use when the star chart in a README is broken, shows "Requires authentication", or you want a star history that never breaks.
Why this skill is useful
Adds a complete self-hosted solution for generating and maintaining a stargazers chart with automation scripts and GitHub Actions.
What it needs
Requires python, requests installed locally. Requires github account access. About 2k tokens when loaded. Last updated 2026-08-06. 30,138 stars on the source repository.
What this skill does
Star History Chart (self-hosted, never breaks) Add a "Stargazers over time" chart that renders from a static SVG committed to the repo and refreshes itself weekly — no external chart service, no broken images. Why this exists GitHub now restricts the /stargazers endpoint to a repository's own admins and collaborators. Unauthenticated requests return {"message":"Requires authentication"}, which breaks every third-party live-chart service (star-history.com free tier, starchart.cc, etc.) for all repos. The only reliable fix is to generate the chart yourself with an authenticated token and commit a static image. Inside GitHub Actions, the repo's own GITHUBTOKEN can read its own stargazers, so the whole thing runs with zero secrets to configure. What this skill sets up 1. scripts/generatestarhistory.py — fetches stargazers (authenticated), renders a clean, light/dark-adaptive SVG. 2. .github/workflows/star-history.yml — weekly cron + manual trigger that regenerates and commits docs/star-history.svg. 3. A README section pointing at the local SVG. Workflow Step 1: Copy the script and workflow into the repo The script needs the requests package: pip install requests. It resolves the repo from STARHISTORYREPO, then GITHUBREPOSITORY (set automatically in Actions), then the origin git remote — so no edits are required for it to work in a different repo. Step 2: Generate the SVG once, locally Use a token that can read the repo's stargazers (as owner/collaborator). The GitHub CLI provides one: This writes docs/star-history.svg. For a repo with many thousands of stars the first run paginates the whole stargazer list and can take a couple of minutes. Verify it rendered (optional, macOS): qlmanage -t -s 800 -o . docs/star-history.svg Step 3: Add it to the README Add or replace the star chart section. Point the image at the local SVG. …
How to use it
Reference it in AdaL, Claude Code, Cursor or any coding agent — nothing to install:
@skills davila7/star-history-chart