Why does my commit show up on GitHub but not count toward my contribution graph?

[ideas-whisper]

I pushed commits to a repository and I can see them in the commit history, but they do not appear on my GitHub contribution graph on my profile.

Things I am unsure about:

Does the branch name (main vs master) matter?

Do commits only count if they are on the default branch?

Does pushing to a fork or a private repository affect this?

Are commits ignored if the email address is different?

What are the exact conditions required for a commit to count as a contribution?

[rinas21]

GitHub only counts commits toward your contribution graph if all these are true:

The commit is in a repository you own or contributed to

The commit is on the default branch (main or master) or in a branch with an open pull request to the default branch

The commit email matches your GitHub account email

The repository is not archived or private (unless private contributions are enabled in your profile settings)

So, if your commit shows up in the repo but not on your graph, it’s usually because:

You committed on a branch other than main without a PR

Your commit email is different from your GitHub account email

The repo is private and private contributions are hidden

Fix:

Check your commit email:

git config user.email

Enable private contributions if needed: Profile → Settings → Contributions → Private contributions

Merge your branch to the default branch (main)

After that, your contributions should appear.