Alex Alexandrescu alexcatdad

Hi there 👋

A collection of things GitHub doesn't exactly advertise. Saving these here so I don't forget them.

Repo name	What it does
`username/username`	Profile README — you're looking at it right now
`username.github.io`	Free personal website at `https://username.github.io/` — auto-enables GitHub Pages
`.github/FUNDING.yml`	Adds a "Sponsor" button to all your repos (supports Ko-fi, Patreon, custom URLs)
`.github/ISSUE_TEMPLATE.md`	Pre-fills every new issue with your template
`.github/PULL_REQUEST_TEMPLATE.md`	Pre-fills every new PR with your template

Append this to a URL	What it does
`?w=1`	Hides whitespace-only changes in diffs — see actual code changes
`?ts=4`	Sets tab width to 4 instead of the default 8
`.diff` or `.patch`	On any PR/commit URL — raw diff output, pipeable to tools
`#L52` or `#L53-L60`	Highlights specific lines in a file (shareable links)
`?author=username`	Filters commits page by author
`?timeline_per_page=1`	Forces pagination on long issue/PR threads

Branch vs branch: /compare/branch1...branch2
Across forks: /compare/other-user:branch...your-branch
Time-based diffs: /compare/main@{1.day.ago}...main — "what changed in the last day?"
By date: /compare/main@{2024-10-04}...main

Press ? on any GitHub page to see all shortcuts for that page. The best ones:

Key	What it does
`t`	Fuzzy file finder — genuinely life-changing
`w`	Branch switcher
`s`	Focus search bar
`l`	Edit labels on issues
`y`	Rewrites URL to permanent SHA link — file will never 404 even if branch changes
`r`	Highlight text in an issue, press `r` — auto-quotes it in your reply

Gists are full git repos — git clone https://gist.github.com/{id}, push commits, branch them. Free scratch repos
Paste screenshots into issues/PRs — just Cmd+V, it uploads automatically
Close issues from commits — fixes #12 or closes #12 in a commit message auto-closes the issue on merge
Cross-repo issue refs — user/other-repo#5 links issues across repositories
GitHub Actions cron jobs — schedule workflows to run on a cron. Free automation for personal projects
Secret gists — unlisted (not private), great as free paste bins
Quick license picker — when creating a repo, there's a license dropdown most people never notice
status:success filter — on PR search, shows only PRs where CI passed

What	How
ASCII Pi to 336 decimals	Visit github.com/π
ASCII Octocat	`curl https://api.github.com/octocat`
Roguelike commit garden	`gh repo garden` in GitHub CLI (navigate with vim keys)
3D contribution skyline	Visit `skyline.github.com` + enter Konami Code (↑↑↓↓←→←→BA) for retro 80s mode
Spooky contribution graph	Shows up automatically every Halloween 🎃