Activity Timeline Generator

Generate comprehensive timelines of GitHub or GitLab activity for a specified user and time period.

When to use this skill

•User asks for their GitHub/GitLab activity or contribution history
•User wants to see what they worked on in a given month
•User asks for a summary of their recent work
•User mentions "activity", "timeline", "contributions", or "what did I work on"

Arguments

Parse the user's request for:

•Platform: GitHub or GitLab (infer from context, check CLAUDE.md, or ask)
•Username: GitHub/GitLab username (check CLAUDE.md or ask if not specified)
•Time period: Specific month (e.g., "January 2026") or "past 30 days" (default)
•Output file: Where to save the timeline (default: ./timeline-YYYY-MM.md)

Execution steps

1. Determine parameters

code

Platform: GitHub (gh) or GitLab (glab) - infer or ask
Username: From CLAUDE.md, conversation context, or ask user
Period: Parse from request, default to past 30 days
Output: Parse from request or generate default filename

2. Calculate date range

For a specific month:

code

START_DATE=YYYY-MM-01
END_DATE=YYYY-MM-{last day of month}

For past 30 days:

code

START_DATE=$(date -d "30 days ago" +%Y-%m-%d)
END_DATE=$(date +%Y-%m-%d)

GitHub Instructions (gh CLI)

Fetch GitHub data

User events (recent activity feed)

Note: Events API only retains ~90 days of history. Filter by date range in jq.

bash

gh api users/{username}/events --paginate --jq '.[] | select(.created_at >= "{START_DATE}" and .created_at <= "{END_DATE}T23:59:59Z") | {type: .type, repo: .repo.name, created_at: .created_at, payload_action: .payload.action, ref: .payload.ref, ref_type: .payload.ref_type}'

PRs authored (using API for reliable date filtering)

bash

gh api "search/issues?q=author:{username}+type:pr+created:{START_DATE}..{END_DATE}" --jq '.items[] | {title: .title, repo: (.repository_url | split("/") | .[-1]), created_at: .created_at, state: .state, url: .html_url, number: .number}'

Issues created (using API for reliable date filtering)

bash

gh api "search/issues?q=author:{username}+type:issue+created:{START_DATE}..{END_DATE}" --jq '.items[] | {title: .title, repo: (.repository_url | split("/") | .[-1]), created_at: .created_at, state: .state, url: .html_url, number: .number}'

Releases from user's repos

bash

gh api users/{username}/repos --jq '.[].name' | while read repo; do
  gh api "repos/{username}/$repo/releases" --jq '.[] | select(.published_at >= "{START_DATE}") | {repo: "'$repo'", tag: .tag_name, published_at: .published_at, url: .html_url}' 2>/dev/null
done

Issues/PRs involving user (for external contributions)

bash

gh api "search/issues?q=involves:{username}+created:{START_DATE}..{END_DATE}+-author:{username}" --jq '.items[] | {title: .title, repo: (.repository_url | split("/") | .[-1]), created_at: .created_at, url: .html_url}'

Open PRs authored by user (all time, still active)

bash

gh api "search/issues?q=author:{username}+type:pr+state:open&per_page=100" --jq '.items[] | {title: .title, repo: (.repository_url | split("/") | .[-2:] | join("/")), created_at: .created_at, url: .html_url, number: .number, draft: .draft, labels: [.labels[].name]}'

Commits to specific repos (if needed for detail)

bash

gh api "repos/{owner}/{repo}/commits?since={START_DATE}&author={username}" --jq '.[] | {sha: .sha[0:7], date: .commit.author.date, message: (.commit.message | split("\n")[0])}'

Collect all repos with activity

Gather unique repos from user's account and from the events data. Note: Parse repos from the events you already fetched rather than re-fetching.

bash

# Get user's own repos
gh api users/{username}/repos --paginate --jq '.[].full_name'

# Also extract unique repos from the events API response (org repos where user contributes)
# Parse from the events data you fetched earlier, extracting unique .repo values

Star counts and changes for specific repos

For repos you want to track (user's repos + org repos they maintain), fetch individually:

bash

gh api "repos/{owner}/{repo}" --jq '{repo: .name, full_name: .full_name, stars: .stargazers_count, url: .html_url}'

Star events on a repo (who starred during period)

bash

gh api "repos/{owner}/{repo}/stargazers" -H "Accept: application/vnd.github.star+json" --paginate --jq '.[] | select(.starred_at >= "{START_DATE}" and .starred_at <= "{END_DATE}") | {user: .user.login, starred_at: .starred_at}' 2>/dev/null

To count stars gained in period:

bash

gh api "repos/{owner}/{repo}/stargazers" -H "Accept: application/vnd.github.star+json" --paginate --jq '.[] | select(.starred_at >= "{START_DATE}" and .starred_at <= "{END_DATE}")' 2>/dev/null | wc -l

Note: The stargazers endpoint with timestamps requires the star+json media type. This includes org repos where the user has activity (e.g., maintainer of ratatui/tachyonfx). To calculate net change, compare against previous period or track unstar events (which aren't directly available via API).

GitLab Instructions (glab CLI)

Fetch GitLab data

User's merge requests

bash

glab api "merge_requests?author_username={username}&created_after={START_DATE}T00:00:00Z&scope=all" --paginate | jq '.[] | {title: .title, project: .references.full, created_at: .created_at, state: .state, url: .web_url, iid: .iid, merged_at: .merged_at}'

User's issues

bash

glab api "issues?author_username={username}&created_after={START_DATE}T00:00:00Z&scope=all" --paginate | jq '.[] | {title: .title, project: .references.full, created_at: .created_at, state: .state, url: .web_url, iid: .iid}'

User's events/activity

bash

glab api "users/{username}/events?after={START_DATE}" --paginate | jq '.[] | {action: .action_name, target_type: .target_type, target_title: .target_title, created_at: .created_at, project: .project_id}'

Projects user contributed to

bash

glab api "users/{username}/contributed_projects" | jq '.[] | {name: .name, path: .path_with_namespace, url: .web_url}'

Commits in a specific project

bash

glab api "projects/{project_id}/repository/commits?author={username}&since={START_DATE}T00:00:00Z" | jq '.[] | {sha: .short_id, date: .created_at, message: (.title)}'

MR reviews/approvals

bash

glab api "merge_requests?reviewer_username={username}&created_after={START_DATE}T00:00:00Z&scope=all" --paginate | jq '.[] | {title: .title, project: .references.full, created_at: .created_at, url: .web_url}'

Releases (per project)

bash

glab api "projects/{project_id}/releases" | jq '.[] | select(.created_at >= "{START_DATE}") | {tag: .tag_name, name: .name, created_at: .created_at, url: ._links.self}'

Open MRs authored by user (all time, still active)

bash

glab api "merge_requests?author_username={username}&state=opened&scope=all" --paginate | jq '.[] | {title: .title, project: .references.full, created_at: .created_at, url: .web_url, iid: .iid, draft: .draft, labels: .labels, description: .description}'

Organize into timeline

Group events chronologically and categorize by:

•Releases - Version releases with links
•MRs/PRs merged - Merge/pull requests that were merged
•MRs/PRs opened - Merge/pull requests opened (note if still open)
•Issues - Issues created or closed
•Code reviews - Reviews on others' MRs/PRs
•Repos starred - Repos the user starred (GitHub only)
•Notable commits - Significant commits (features, fixes)
•Repository star changes - New stars gained on user's repos (GitHub only)
•Active PRs - All open PRs authored by the user (see below)

Generate summary statistics

For the summary section, calculate:

•Number of releases per project
•MRs/PRs authored (merged count)
•External MRs/PRs reviewed
•Issues created/closed
•Repos starred by user (GitHub)
•Stars gained on user's repositories (GitHub) - include per-repo breakdown if significant
•Notable external contributors (if applicable)

Summarize active PRs

Fetch all open PRs authored by the user and create an intelligent summary:

•Group by repository - Organize PRs by the repository they target
•Categorize by type - Infer from title/labels: feature, bugfix, docs, refactor, dependency update
•Note age - Flag PRs that have been open for a long time (>2 weeks) as potentially stale
•Identify draft PRs - Mark draft PRs separately as work-in-progress
•Summarize intent - For each PR, write a brief 1-line summary based on title and body (if available)

When summarizing, look for patterns:

•Multiple PRs in the same repo suggest active development focus
•PRs across different orgs show breadth of contribution
•Long-open PRs may need attention or follow-up
•Draft PRs indicate ongoing work

For each active PR, include:

•Repository name
•PR number and title (linked)
•Age (days since opened)
•Status indicators: [draft], [stale], [waiting-review]
•Brief context if discernible from title/body

Write output

Create markdown file with structure:

markdown

# {Platform} Activity Timeline: {Period Description}

## {Month/Period} {Year}

### {Date Range or Week}
- **{repo} {version} released** - {description}
- **{repo} MR/PR !/{#}{number} merged** - {title}
- ...

---

## {Period} Summary

| Metric | Count |
|--------|-------|
| **Releases** | X |
| **MRs/PRs merged** | X |
| **Stars gained** | +X |
| ...

### Repository Star Changes (GitHub)

| Repository | Stars | Change |
|------------|-------|--------|
| repo-name | 150 | +12 |
| other-repo | 45 | +3 |

### Notable External Contributors
- **{username}** - {contribution count/description}

---

## Active Pull Requests

Summary of all open PRs authored by {username} as of {current_date}.

### {repository_name}

| PR | Title | Age | Status |
|----|-------|-----|--------|
| [#{number}]({url}) | {title} | {X} days | {status_badges} |

**Context:** {brief summary of what these PRs are about, patterns noticed}

### {another_repository}
...

**Overall:** {X} open PRs across {Y} repositories. {Any observations about focus areas, stale PRs needing attention, etc.}

Format output

After writing the markdown file, format it with prettier to ensure tables are properly aligned:

bash

prettier --write {output_file}

This ensures markdown tables display correctly when viewed in the terminal.

Edge cases

•No activity: Report "No activity found for this period"
•Rate limiting: If API returns rate limit errors, wait and retry or inform user
•Private repos/projects: Activity from private repos may not appear depending on permissions
•Events API limit: GitHub Events API only retains ~90 days of history; for older periods, rely on commit/MR/issue searches instead
•GitLab self-hosted: May need different API base URL; glab should handle this if configured

Platform detection tips

•If user mentions "MR" or "merge request" -> GitLab
•If user mentions "PR" or "pull request" -> GitHub
•Check CLAUDE.md for configured usernames per platform
•If unclear, ask: "Which platform - GitHub or GitLab?"