LOC Graph Action

GitHub Action that scans your repository's commit history, calculates lines of code (LOC) for each commit, and produces an SVG chart showing how LOC changes over time. The generated SVG and a JSON cache are automatically committed back to the repository, allowing you to embed the chart directly in your README.

Quick Setup

Create a workflow file .github/workflows/loc-graph.yml:

name: LOC graph

on:
  schedule:
    - cron: '0 0 * * *'  # Daily at midnight
  workflow_dispatch:

permissions:
  contents: write

jobs:
  build-loc-graph:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0
      - uses: botforge-pro/loc-graph-action@main

After the workflow has run, add the following HTML snippet to the end of your README to display the LOC graph with automatic theme switching:

### Lines of Code Over Time
<picture>
  <source media="(prefers-color-scheme: dark)" srcset=".github/loc-history-dark.svg">
  <source media="(prefers-color-scheme: light)" srcset=".github/loc-history-light.svg">
  <img src=".github/loc-history.svg" alt="Lines of code over time">
</picture>

Advanced Setup

name: LOC graph

on:

  # Trigger on every push (mostly for testing)
  push:
    branches: [ main, master ]
  
  # Trigger daily at midnight (recommended for active projects)
  schedule:
    - cron: '0 0 * * *'

  # Allow manual triggering from the Actions tab
  workflow_dispatch:

permissions:
  contents: write

jobs:
  build-loc-graph:
    runs-on: ubuntu-latest
    steps:
      - name: Checkout full history
        uses: actions/checkout@v4
        with:
          fetch-depth: 0

      - name: Generate LOC graph
        uses: botforge-pro/loc-graph-action@main
        with:
          output_json: "docs/data/loc-cache.json"
          fallback_theme: dark  # Theme for .github/loc-history.svg
          date_format: "%Y-%m-%d"  # 2024-03-15
          time_format: "%I:%M %p"  # 03:45 PM
          exclude: ".cache,assets"  # Additional names to exclude
          include_lang: "Python,Swift"  # Count only these languages

Counting the code, not the data

exclude names directories to skip, which is enough while the repository is mostly code. It stops being enough in two cases, and both end with a chart of something other than the codebase:

• data files sit beside the code — fixtures, recorded responses, exported measurements — and cloc counts JSON and YAML as languages of their own;
• a directory name contains a comma, which the comma-separated list cannot express at all.

include_lang names what to count instead of what to skip, so neither case needs a list that has to be kept up to date as directories come and go:

        with:
          include_lang: "Python"

Leave it empty and every language cloc knows is counted, as before.

Live example

This repository uses its own action to track LOC over time: