📅 Automated Daily Log Tracker

This repository contains a simple, self-managing system to automatically track a daily streak or continuous counter. It runs once per day using GitHub Actions, executes a Python script to calculate the current day count, and commits a new, timestamped log file back to the repository.

The resulting files are named with the format: Day-X_YYYY-MM-DD.txt.

📂 Project Structure

├── .github/  
│   └── workflows/  
│       └── daily_run.yml    # GitHub Action configuration  
├── daily_logs/              # Automated output folder  
│   └── Day-1_2025-09-29.txt  
│   └── Day-2_2025-09-30.txt  
└── daily_counter.py         # The core Python logic

🚀 Setup and Installation

Follow these steps to deploy the tracker in your own GitHub repository.

1. Repository Preparation

1. Create Repository: Start a new GitHub repository.
2. Add Files: Add the daily_counter.py script and the .github/workflows/daily_run.yml file to the root of your repository.
3. (Optional but Recommended): Create the empty directory daily_logs locally and add a placeholder file (e.g., .gitkeep) to ensure the directory is tracked by Git, though the Python script will create it if needed.

2. GitHub Action Configuration

The GitHub Action is configured to run automatically, but you must ensure it has the necessary permissions to commit the files.

No additional secrets are needed. The action uses the built-in GITHUB_TOKEN which already has the permissions required by the workflow file (permissions: contents: write).

3. Execution Schedule

The workflow is currently scheduled to run every day at midnight UTC (0 0 * * *).

If you want to manually trigger the first run or test the process:

1. Go to the Actions tab in your repository.
2. Select the Daily Log Creator workflow.
3. Click the Run workflow dropdown and select the main branch.

⚙️ How It Works

The system ensures idempotence (it won't create duplicate files if run multiple times in one day).

1. Daily Trigger: GitHub runs the daily_run.yml job at the scheduled time.
2. Count Calculation: daily_counter.py looks inside the daily_logs/ folder and counts all existing .txt files. This count is used to determine the sequential Day-X number.
3. Duplicate Check: The script generates the expected filename (e.g., Day-15_2026-03-05.txt) and checks if it already exists.
   • If file exists: The script exits with a non-zero exit code (1), and the commit step is skipped.
   • If file is new: The script creates the file and exits with a zero exit code (0).
4. Commit: The GitHub Action sees the success status (0), stages the new file (git add daily_logs/*.txt), commits it, and pushes the change to the main branch.

🐍 Python Dependencies

The core logic relies solely on the Python Standard Library.

Module	Purpose
datetime	Used to get the current date (YYYY-MM-DD).
pathlib	Used for reliable, cross-platform file and directory manipulation.
os, sys	Used for interacting with the system exit codes (crucial for GitHub Actions).