The first step towards putting up your GitHub profile is to create the special repository designed to contain it. The images show the author's GitHub account, however, yours should look similar enough to follow along.

Creating a New Repository

Visit the main page of your GitHub account at the URL, https://github.com/YOUR_GITHUB_USERNAME/, e.g. https://github.com/kattni/. You should see something similar to the image below. If your account is brand new, you won't see popular repositories and so on. The important part is the set of tabs towards the top. Click on the Repositories tab. (The number next to it will differ based on your account and potential previous contributions.)

Inside the Repositories tab, you'll find a green button titled "New". Click the New button.

This button takes you to the repository creation page, which begins with two prompts and a new repository name suggestion, in this case, "effective-chainsaw". (Suggestions are randomised.)

Now, you'll want to fill in the Repository name dialogue box with the same name as your account, using the same spelling, formatting, etc. as you do for your account name. The name listed as Owner to the left of the Repository name dialogue box is your account name, so you can refer to that if you're unsure.

Once you fill in the Repository name with your account name, you'll see a box pop up below it explaining that this repository is special, why it's special, and how to fill in the rest of the page to use it as intended.

You can optionally fill in the Description as well, but it is not necessary.

The next section of the new repository page determines whether the repo is public, where everyone can see it, or private, where only you can see it. It defaults to Public and you should leave it as such.

The following section asks whether you want to include a few things in your brand new repository. You definitely do! Check the box to Add a README file. You can leave the rest as is.

You're now ready to create your new repository. Click the Create repository button.

After a moment, you'll be taken to your new repository, which should look something like the following.

That's the process for creating a new personal profile repository on your GitHub account!