How to Add Tableau Dashboard to GitHub
Want to showcase your brilliant Tableau dashboards on your GitHub profile? You're in the right place. Creating a data analytics portfolio is one of the best ways to demonstrate your skills, and GitHub is the industry-standard platform for it. This article gives you a step-by-step guide to adding your Tableau projects to GitHub for maximum impact.
Why Share Your Tableau Dashboards on GitHub?
Before we jump into the "how," let's quickly cover the "why." You're not just adding a file to a folder, you're building a professional asset. Using GitHub as a portfolio serves a few key purposes:
Demonstrates Technical Skills: It shows you're comfortable with developer-centric tools like Git and GitHub, which is a valuable skill in any tech-adjacent role.
Creates a Centralized Portfolio: Instead of sending links to different projects, you can direct potential employers or collaborators to one professional profile showcasing all your best work.
Provides Context: GitHub allows you to do more than just show a dashboard. Using a README.md file, you can explain your process, detail the data sources, describe the challenges you overcame, and highlight the key insights.
Encourages Collaboration: GitHub is built for collaboration. You can share your data sources, calculation logic, and project files, allowing others to learn from your work or even contribute.
Understanding the Core Method
There's a common misconception that you can directly embed an interactive Tableau dashboard into your main GitHub repository page (the README.md file). Due to security and formatting restrictions in GitHub's Markdown rendering, iframes and complex HTML don't work there.
So, how do you do it? The professional method involves three parts:
An eye-catching screenshot of your dashboard.
A compelling written description of your project.
A clear link to the live, interactive dashboard hosted on Tableau Public.
This approach gives visitors an immediate visual of your work while inviting them to click through for the full interactive experience. We'll also cover an advanced method using GitHub Pages if you absolutely need a direct embed.
Step-by-Step: Adding Your Tableau Project to your GitHub Profile
Let's get down to business. Follow these steps to get your dashboard beautifully presented on your GitHub profile.
Step 1: Save Your Dashboard to Tableau Public
Your dashboard needs to be accessible online before you can link to it from GitHub. Tableau Public is a free service that allows you to save and share your creations with the world.
In Tableau Desktop, go to File → Save to Tableau Public As...
You'll be prompted to sign into your Tableau Public account. If you don't have one, you can create one for free.
Give your workbook a descriptive name and click Save.
Once it's published, your browser will open the dashboard on your Tableau Public profile. Keep this URL handy, you'll need it soon.
Step 2: Take a High-Quality Screenshot of Your Dashboard
First impressions matter. Your screenshot is the preview that will entice people to click, so make it a good one.
Maximize your dashboard on your screen to get the highest resolution possible.
Use a screen capture tool (like Snipping Tool on Windows or Shift+Cmd+4 on Mac) to grab a clean image of the entire dashboard.
Avoid capturing your browser tabs or other parts of your desktop.
Save the image with a clear name, like sales-dashboard-preview.png. Keep the file size reasonable for fast loading.
Step 3: Create a New GitHub Repository
Now, let's head over to GitHub. Each project should live in its own "repository" (or repo).
Log into your GitHub account and click the "+" icon in the top right corner, then select New repository.
Owner: Make sure your username is selected.
Repository name: Give it a short, descriptive name (e.g., tableau-sales-analysis_2024)
Description: Write a one-sentence summary of the project.
Make sure it's set to Public so others can see it.
IMPORTANT: Check the box that says Add a README file. This file is where your project's description and screenshot will go.
Click Create repository.
Step 4: Add Your Screenshot to the Repository
With your new repo created, you need to upload your screenshot to it.
From your repository's main page, click the Add file button and select Upload files.
Drag and drop your sales-dashboard-preview.png image file into the box, or click to find it on your computer.
Scroll down and click Commit changes. You can leave the default commit message.
Your image is now part of the repository and has its own URL, which we can reference.
Step 5: Edit the README.md File to Showcase Your Project
This is where everything comes together. You'll use Markdown, a simple text-formatting language, to make your project page look amazing.
In your repository, click the pencil icon next to the README.md file name to start editing.
Adding a Title and Description
Start by giving your project a clear header and a summary. Describe the project's goals, the questions you were trying to answer, and what the dashboard shows.
Adding the Linked Screenshot
Now, let's add the magic line that displays your screenshot and links it to your live Tableau Public dashboard. Go to your Tableau Public dashboard in your browser and copy its URL.
The Markdown format for a linked image is:
To get the URL_of_your_screenshot.png, go back to your repository's main page, click on the image file you uploaded, and copy the URL from your browser's address bar.
Here’s what it would look like filled in:
Just replace YourUsername and the URLs with your actual information.
Add this code block to your README file beneath the introduction. You can also add a simple line of text encouraging people to click:
Adding More Context
A professional project tells a story. Use headings to add more sections to your README:
Once you are happy with your README.md, scroll down to the "Commit changes" section, and click the green Commit changes button.
That's it! Visit your repository's main page and you'll see a professional-looking project page with a great-looking preview of your work.
Advanced Method: True Embedding with GitHub Pages
If you absolutely need a fully interactive embedded dashboard, GitHub Pages is the way to go. It lets you create a simple, live website directly from your repository.
Get the Embed Code: On your Tableau Public dashboard, click the "Share" button at the bottom and copy the "Embed Code". It will look like a block of HTML starting with
<div>.Create an HTML File: In your GitHub repo, click Add file → Create new file. Name this file index.html.
Paste the Code: Paste the embed code from Tableau Public into this index.html file and commit the changes.
Enable GitHub Pages: In your repo, go to Settings → Pages. Under "Branch", select main (or master) and click Save.
Access Your Page: GitHub will provide you with a URL, usually formatted like https://your-username.github.io/your-repository-name/. It can take a few minutes to go live, but you will soon have a webpage that perfectly embeds your interactive dashboard. You can then link to this page from your README.md file.
Final Thoughts
Showcasing your Tableau projects on GitHub is a powerful way to build a professional portfolio. By combining high-quality visuals, clear written explanations, and links to your interactive work, you demonstrate not only your technical skills with Tableau but also your ability to present data in a compelling, accessible way.
Building presentations and then manually updating them on platforms like Tableau Public and GitHub is great for a portfolio, but daily reporting can be a struggle. We built Graphed because we believe getting insights shouldn't involve juggling multiple tools and manual steps. You can connect your marketing and sales data sources in seconds, and then use plain English to ask questions or build entire dashboards that are always live and update automatically. It saves countless hours of downloading CSVs and wrangling visuals so you can get back to making decisions.