If you are in a hurry and just want the template skip to the bottom (not cool).

The rest of the cool people get ready to take your first step to being a **README MASTER! **(absolutely not clickbait).

You have just created this awesome project and you shared it on GitHub. You think now you’ll just sit back and wait for the world to tell you how cool your project is. After all, you have worked tirelessly for the past month on this very challenging project, right?

Well, let’s just take a step back and look from the perspective of a developer or a user checking your project. Although you know how cool your project is, and how it is going to solve that one pressing problem that hasn’t been fixed(**until you came along), **the person would be looking at your project and wondering what in the world you have built.

If nobody can’t figure out how to use your software, there’s something very bad going on.

Photo from imgflip

If people don’t know what your software does, then they won’t use it or contribute to it and they will most likely find something more clear and concise in the sea of open-source software.

That’s where the README comes in!

A good README is like the face of your project. It is the first thing a person looks at in your project and it gives them a very brief introduction to your software.

Beginning of the README from my NSFW Filter project

A good-looking and helpful README file can make your project stand out and grab attention from the developer community.

It will help them understand your project, how they can get it working and why they should contribute.

#towards-data-science #programming #open-source #documentation #readme #data science