Visualize version control activity per contributor

To visualize version control activity per contributor, you can use several tools and techniques depending on your version control system (e.g., Git). Here are several common ways to do this using Git and visualization tools:

1. Using Git Command-Line Tools

Git Shortlog

Shows commit counts per author:

bash
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git shortlog -s -n

Git Log with Graph

To view activity over time with a basic ASCII graph:

bash
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git log --graph --pretty=format:'%h - %an, %ar : %s'

2. GitHub Insights (for GitHub Repos)

If your project is hosted on GitHub:

• Go to your repository.

• Click on “Insights”.

• Select “Contributors”.

• View a timeline of commits, additions, and deletions per contributor.

3. GitStats or Gitinspector

GitStats

Generates detailed HTML reports with charts.

bash
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git clone https://github.com/hoxu/gitstats.git
./gitstats /path/to/your/repo /path/to/output

Gitinspector

Provides detailed analysis per author.

bash
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pip install gitinspector
gitinspector -f html -r -T -w

4. Gource (Animated Visualization)

Gource is a tool for visualizing repository activity in a tree-based animated graph.

Install Gource and run:

bash
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gource

You can customize by filtering by author, time, or directory.

5. Custom Visualization Using Python (Matplotlib or Plotly)

Here’s an example of a simple Python script using Matplotlib to show commits per contributor:

python
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import subprocess
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt

# Get commit data
output = subprocess.check_output("git shortlog -sn", shell=True).decode()

# Parse data
contributors = []
commits = []
for line in output.strip().split("n"):
    count, name = line.strip().split("t")
    contributors.append(name)
    commits.append(int(count))

# Plot
plt.figure(figsize=(10, 6))
plt.barh(contributors, commits, color='skyblue')
plt.xlabel('Number of Commits')
plt.title('Git Commits per Contributor')
plt.tight_layout()
plt.show()

6. Web-Based Dashboards

GitHub + GitHub Actions + Grafana:

• Export data using GitHub API or webhooks.

• Store in a time-series DB (like InfluxDB or Prometheus).

• Use Grafana to build contributor-based dashboards.

GitLab Analytics (For GitLab Repositories)

• Navigate to Analytics > Repository.

• View detailed contributor graphs, contributions per month, etc.

7. VS Code Extensions

You can install extensions like:

• GitLens: Offers visual line history, authorship, and activity tracking.

• Project Manager + Git Graph: Helps visualize commit history with contributor filters.

8. Bitbucket / Azure DevOps / Other Platforms

Most Git hosting platforms offer similar contributor activity insights in their web UI under “Analytics” or “Insights.”

Summary

These approaches will give you a range of ways to visualize contributor activity depending on your needs and technical preferences.