Does deleting a private repository also removes the green-tile commits from my profile's front page?

[borgesenioc]

Select Topic Area

Question

Body

I got this from GPT-4o but wanted to double check: deleting private repositories may cause contributions to disappear if the repository is no longer accessible or deleted.

Deleting a public repository from GitHub will not remove the green contribution tiles (activity streaks) on your profile for commits, pull requests, or other contributions associated with that repository, however. Here’s why:
1. Green Tiles (Contributions) in Your Profile: GitHub contributions, like commits, are tied to your email address and GitHub account. These contributions are stored separately from the repositories themselves.
2. Retention of Contribution Data: Even if the repository is deleted, the contributions that were already recorded on your profile remain unless they were private and the repository’s visibility influenced their visibility on your profile.
3. Exceptions:
• If the repository was private, and you delete it, the associated contributions may disappear from your profile because GitHub does not display contributions linked to private repositories unless you still have access to them.
• If you had unverified email addresses in your commits, deleting the repository could potentially affect the contributions associated with those commits.

[davevad93]

Hi @borgesenioc ,

Actually, also by deleting a public repo, the commit history is removed from the activity graph on GitHub. Yes, the commit history is linked to the commit author's email address, but that doesn't mean that the history is kept in the activity graph when deleting a repo, but it means that if you decide to push an old or deleted repo to GitHub, the commit history (green-tile commits) will be updated accordingly in the contributions graph, that in both public and private repos. Obviously, the commit email must match the one in your git config and your GitHub profile, otherwise those contributions won't show up.

[IndianPhotoAcademy]

The green-tile commits remain on your GitHub profile even after you delete a private repository. Contributions to the repositories you had access to at the time are displayed in the contribution graph. New viewers will not see repository-specific information, though, and the commits will no longer be connected to the removed repository.

[borgesenioc]

I may test this and record the attempt to share here. This seems like relevant information. I'd prefer to keep a clean repository backlog but at the same time, no one will want to delete repositories if that means their activities are also erased.

[davevad93]

Hey @borgesenioc , note that GitHub can take up to 24 hours to update the activity graph, the last time I deleted a repo the green dots still showed up on the graph for a few hours, then disappeared.

[nsahil992]

Yes, deleting a private repository will remove the contributions (green tiles) associated with it from your GitHub profile's activity graph