# GitHub Commit History: Commits, Authors & Dates (`bowmark-ai/github-commit-history`) Actor

Give GitHub repositories and get their commit history, newest first: sha, author, email, date, message and link, with the last commit date up top. Filter by date range or branch.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/bowmark-ai/github-commit-history.md
- **Developed by:** [Bowmark AI](https://apify.com/bowmark-ai) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools, MCP servers, Agents
- **Stats:** 1 total users, 0 monthly users, 0.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.00 / 1,000 repository reads

This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

### What does GitHub Commit History: Commits, Authors & Dates do?

GitHub Commit History reads **a public GitHub repository's commit log**, newest first: who committed what, and when.

Give it repositories like `facebook/react` or any github.com link inside one. For each you get the last commit date, author and message at the top of the row, the distinct authors, and every commit with its sha, author name and email, date, full message and link. Narrow it with a date window (`since`, `until`) or read a branch, tag or commit other than the default.

You pay **one flat price per repository**, not per commit, so 100 commits cost the same as 1.

It never signs in anywhere and never changes anything. It only reads public repositories.

### Why use it?

- **Is this project still alive?** The last commit date for a list of dependencies or candidate libraries, in one table.
- **What happened this week?** Every commit in a date window, ready to summarise or hand to a model for a changelog or standup note.
- **Who works on it?** The authors and their commit emails, per repository.
- **AI agents.** Connect it as an MCP server and let an agent answer "when was facebook/react last updated, and by whom?" while it works.

### How it works

For each repository:

1. It reads the repository's commits on GitHub, newest first, from the default branch or the one you name.
2. It keeps only commits inside your date window, if you gave one, up to `maxCommits`.
3. It puts the newest commit's date, author and first line at the top of the row, and the full list in `commits`.

### Input

| Field | Required | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `repos` | Yes | One repository per entry: `"owner/repo"` or any github.com link inside it. |
| `since` | No | Only commits on or after this date, like `"2026-10-01"`. |
| `until` | No | Only commits before this date, like `"2026-10-15"`. |
| `branch` | No | A branch, tag or commit sha. Default: the repository's default branch. |
| `maxCommits` | No | At most this many commits per repository, 1 to 100. Default `30`. |
| `maxConcurrency` | No | Repositories processed at once, 1 to 8. Default `4`. |

Example input:

```json
{ "repos": ["facebook/react", "https://github.com/astral-sh/uv"], "since": "2026-10-20", "maxCommits": 50 }
```

### Output

One dataset row per repository, with every commit in the `commits` column. Download it as JSON, CSV, Excel or HTML, or read it through the Apify API.

```json
{
  "input": "octocat/Hello-World",
  "status": "found",
  "repo": "octocat/Hello-World",
  "branch": null,
  "since": null,
  "until": null,
  "lastCommitAt": "2012-03-06T23:06:50Z",
  "lastCommitAuthor": "The Octocat",
  "lastCommitTitle": "Merge pull request #6 from Spaceghost/patch-1",
  "commitCount": 3,
  "authors": ["The Octocat", "Johnneylee Jack Rollins", "cameronmcefee"],
  "commits": [
    {
      "sha": "7fd1a60b01f91b314f59955a4e4d4e80d8edf11d",
      "shortSha": "7fd1a60",
      "authorName": "The Octocat",
      "authorEmail": "octocat@nowhere.com",
      "date": "2012-03-06T23:06:50Z",
      "title": "Merge pull request #6 from Spaceghost/patch-1",
      "message": "Merge pull request #6 from Spaceghost/patch-1\n\nNew line at end of file.",
      "url": "https://github.com/octocat/Hello-World/commit/7fd1a60b01f91b314f59955a4e4d4e80d8edf11d"
    }
  ],
  "warnings": [],
  "error": null
}
```

`status` is `found`, `not_found` or `error`. `not_found` means the repository was read and had no commits in your date window, which is a real answer (the project was quiet); `warnings` says so. `error` means GitHub has no public repository by that name, or no branch by the name you gave.

### Pricing

**$0.002 per repository**, with no monthly fee, however many commits it returns.

- A repository is charged when its history is read, even if no commit falls in your date window.
- A repository that does not exist, or that fails with an error, is not charged.
- Set a spending limit on the run and the Actor stops cleanly when it reaches it.
- On Apify's free plan, each run processes the first 10 repositories (10 tool calls per MCP session). Any paid Apify plan removes the limit.

### Use it as an MCP server

This Actor also runs as an MCP server with one tool, `get_commit_history`. Point any MCP client (Claude, Cursor, ChatGPT, your own agent) at:

```
https://bowmark-ai--github-commit-history.apify.actor/mcp
```

with your Apify API token as a bearer token. Each tool call is billed like one repository in a normal run.

### Limits and good practice

- It reads only **public** repositories. It never signs in anywhere and never changes anything.
- Up to 100 commits per repository per run. For older history, use `until` to step back in time.
- Commit messages longer than 5,000 characters are cut, with the link to the full commit.
- Author name and email are what the committer wrote into git. Many people use a GitHub "noreply" address.

### Related Actors

- **[GitHub Release Notes](https://apify.com/Bowmark-AI/github-release-notes)**: the same repository's release notes, newest first, with a "since my version" filter for upgrades.
- **[GitHub Repo Activity](https://apify.com/Bowmark-AI/github-repo-activity-finder)**: commits and release notes together, with a maintained or quiet verdict for each repository.

### Questions or a wrong result?

Open an issue on the **Issues** tab with the input you used and what you expected. We read every one.

# Actor input Schema

## `repos` (type: `array`):

One public GitHub repository per entry: "owner/repo" ("facebook/react") or any github.com link inside it. Up to 500 per run (10 on Apify's free plan).

## `since` (type: `string`):

Optional. Only commits on or after this date, like "2026-10-01". Leave empty for the latest commits.

## `until` (type: `string`):

Optional. Only commits before this date, like "2026-10-15".

## `branch` (type: `string`):

Optional. Read history from this branch, tag or commit sha. Leave empty for the repository's default branch.

## `maxCommits` (type: `integer`):

At most this many commits per repository, newest first.

## `maxConcurrency` (type: `integer`):

How many repositories are processed in parallel.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "repos": [
    "octocat/Hello-World"
  ],
  "maxCommits": 30,
  "maxConcurrency": 4
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

One row per repository: its last commit date and author, and every matching commit with sha, author, date and message.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "repos": [
        "octocat/Hello-World"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("bowmark-ai/github-commit-history").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "repos": ["octocat/Hello-World"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("bowmark-ai/github-commit-history").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "repos": [
    "octocat/Hello-World"
  ]
}' |
apify call bowmark-ai/github-commit-history --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,bowmark-ai/github-commit-history"
        }
    }
}
```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/DxBA2vscTSs8WuCB2/builds/MoA8lobqP6xVdLBUp/openapi.json