Private repository commits missing from contribution graph (only 4 of 30 counted)

[Ishan-sa]

🏷️ Discussion Type

Bug

💬 Feature/Topic Area

Profile

Body

Hi, most of my commits to private repositories aren't being counted on my contribution graph, even though they meet every documented requirement. Support pointed me here since I'm on the free plan.

What's missing

• One private repository (not a fork): 30 commits on the default branch (main) on 2026-09-29 PDT (2026-09-30 03:06–05:38 UTC). All 24 pushes were received, and they appear in my events feed.
• Every commit is authored with my verified primary email and shows as authored by my account in the API.
• "Private contributions" is enabled on my profile.
• viewer.contributionsCollection for that day reports only 4 commit contributions for this repository (plus the repository creation). My graph shows 6 contributions instead of about 32, and nothing landed on the next day in UTC either. It has stayed that way for more than 36 hours.

It isn't just one repository
Across my private repositories in September 2026 there are about 52 commits on default branches, but only 24 private contributions were counted. My public repositories are counted correctly.

What I've checked

• Default branch, not a fork, email verified and linked, private contributions on.
• Waited well past the 24-hour window. No GitHub status incident covered these dates.

Could someone from GitHub staff re-index or rebuild the contribution graph for my account? Thanks!

[kurupdevs]

One thing worth double-checking: run git log --format='%an %ae' on the commits that aren't showing and confirm each author email exactly matches a verified email in your GitHub email settings, including any old or alternate addresses. Also confirm those commits are on the repository's default branch, since commits on other branches don't count. The graph can lag behind pushes, but well past 24 hours is beyond the usual caching window. If every check above already passes, this looks like a genuine bug rather than a settings issue, so report back the exact git log line for one uncounted commit and what your email settings show for that address.

[beenish-majeed]

Hi @Ishan-sa, you've already ruled out the usual email and default-branch causes, so I won't repeat those. Community members can't trigger a re-index of the contribution graph, so the useful next step is to narrow down where the discrepancy happens and give GitHub staff a reproducible example.

1. Check the author dates. The contribution graph uses a commit's author date, not when it was pushed. Run git log --format='%h %an | author: %ad | committer: %cd' --date=iso and check whether the missing commits have an author date different from the day you expect, for example if a tool set GIT_AUTHOR_DATE.
2. Check attribution independently. Query GET /repos/OWNER/REPO/commits?author=YOUR_USERNAME&since=...&until=... for the affected period. If the missing commits are returned there, that's useful evidence that GitHub is attributing those commits to your account even though the contribution count is lower.
3. Check the real commit count. In viewer.contributionsCollection, request commitCount on each node under commitContributionsByRepository, using your PDT day boundaries. totalCount may count contribution entries rather than commits.
4. Compare one counted and one uncounted commit: SHA, author date, committer date, and author identity. Please don't post your email address publicly; just confirm that the author address is a verified address on the account.
5. Don't rewrite history. Avoid rebasing, force-pushing, or deleting the repository for now, since that could change the SHAs staff would need to trace.

If the dates line up, GitHub attributes every commit to you, and the API still reports fewer commits than exist on main, that would point to a counting problem on GitHub's side. Add those results to your existing Support ticket and mention that the free-plan routing sent you here. Include the repository, the date, the 4 vs. ~32 numbers, and one counted and one uncounted SHA. Please post the outcome here too, so others with the same problem can see it.

If the query errors, check it against the current GraphQL schema documentation before drawing conclusions from the result.

[Ishan-sa]

Update: resolved. GitHub Support kindly rebuilt the contribution data for the repository, and the graph now shows all 30 commits for that day (32 contributions total, up from 6).

Thanks @kurupdevs and @beenish-majeed for the checklist. Everything checked out (verified email, default branch, all commits attributed to my account), so it was a counting issue on GitHub's side. For anyone who hits the same thing: if all the usual checks pass and it's still missing after 24+ hours, a contribution-data rebuild by Support is what fixes it.

[alaaaaaa0363-cmd]

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