How I Built a GitHub Repo Timeline Viewer Using React, Firebase & GitHub API

Hi, I am Sneha, and this is one of the coolest open-source projects I’ve ever built. Think about the time when you came across an interesting project and pondered on how this even began? Who contributed? How did the codebase evolve?
Well, I did. A lot. And that curiosity turned into a full-blown side project: GitHub Repo Evolution Finder 🚀

🧠 What It Does (In Simple Terms)

GitHub Repo Evolution Finder is a tool where you enter a GitHub repository link, hit the magic button, and boom, you get the entire timeline of commits, issues, contributor details, and repo activity breakdown visualised neatly.

It’s like time-travelling through someone else’s code history 👩‍💻⌛

🔐 Why I Built It (and What It Solves)

Open-source is amazing, but sometimes it’s hard to understand how a project matured without digging through raw commit logs. I wanted something:

• Lightweight 🔍

• Intuitive 💡

• Dev-friendly 🔧

Additionally, I was eager to experiment with Firebase Authentication and the GitHub API, so this became the perfect opportunity to combine both into a meaningful project.

🛠️ Tech Stack Highlights

Here’s a quick overview of the tools and tech that brought this idea to life:

Instead of letting users just spam the API (and risking rate limits), I decided to wrap it with a simple Firebase login flow. You can sign in with Email, and you're in.

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🔁 How the Repo Timeline Works

Once you're in:

1. Write your GitHub username and the repository name in the respective fields.

2. The app extracts data from the API.

3. It fetches commit history, contributors, and activity via GitHub’s API

4. Then, it renders a visual breakdown using clean, readable cards

That’s it. No fluff. Just data, done right.

✨ A Few Cool Touches

• Responsive UI built with Tailwind

• Handles errors gracefully (invalid links, empty commit history, etc.)

• Fully mobile-friendly 📱

• Hosted on Vercel for super-fast loads

💡 What I Learned Building This

This project wasn’t just about the final product; I learned a lot during the process:

• Working with Firebase taught me how clean auth can be

• Parsing GitHub repo data made me appreciate how vast and powerful their API is

• And styling dynamic states in Tailwind? Definitely not boring 🙃

🔗 Try It Out Yourself

👉 Live Demo
👉 GitHub Repo

Feel free to fork it, break it, remix it, or just vibe with it 🌱

☕ Final Words

This wasn’t built to be the next unicorn startup — it was built to scratch a personal itch and explore a problem that felt real. And I believe that’s how the best side projects are born.

Thanks for reading!

If you're looking to get frontend development or content writing done, I’d love to collaborate with you. Feel free to reach out for gigs, freelance work, or any exciting opportunities at:

• LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/sneha-farkya

• Portfolio: sneha-farkya.vercel.app

• Hashnode: snehafarkya.hashnode.dev

• X (formerly Twitter): x.com/sneha_farkya

• Peerlist: peerlist.io/snehafarkya

🖤 Made with code, chai, and curiosity.

Until next time…