# Profile customization

By default, the profile page of a user (or an organization) is the list of repositories they
own. It is possible to customize it with a short description that
shows to the left, under their avatar. It can also be fully
personalized with a markdown file that is displayed instead of the
list of repositories.

![Profile page](../../_images/user/profile/profile-step1.png)

It uses the `README.md` file from the `.profile` repository of the
user (or organization), if it exists.

If the `.profile` repository contains a [FUNDING file](../../repository/funding/) with
valid entries, then a "Donate" button is displayed as well, which users may
select to view a list of configured donation options for the user (or
organization).

Forked `.profile` repositories do not display profile content - only regular
`.profile` repositories (not forks) will be used to populate the profile page.
If you want to use content from a forked `.profile` repository, convert the
fork to a regular repository in the "Danger Zone" section of repository
settings.

![Profile README.md](../../_images/user/profile/profile-step2.png)

Making the `.profile` repository private will hide the Profile README and donation options.

Rather than supporting multiple social links on the profile card, under the user
avatar, such links - including
[`rel=me`](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Attributes/rel/me)
attributes - can be placed in the `.profile` README instead. This gives a user a
lot of flexibility on how they wish to display these links. To add a `rel=me`
attribute, the link should be written in HTML, rather than in Markdown format,
for example: `<a rel="me"
href="https://social.example.com/@username">Fediverse</a>`.