Hex.pm Package Scraper

Scrape package data from Hex.pm — the package manager for the Erlang ecosystem (Elixir, Erlang, Gleam, and more). This actor uses the official public Hex.pm REST API with no authentication required.

What can it do?

• Search packages by keyword with configurable sort order (recent downloads, total downloads, alphabetical, etc.)
• Fetch specific packages by exact name (e.g. phoenix, ecto, jason)
• Returns rich metadata: download statistics, versions, owners, licenses, repository links, and more

Input

Field	Type	Description
mode	searchPackages | getByName	Operation mode. Default: searchPackages
searchQuery	string	Free-text search query. Default: phoenix
packageNames	string[]	Exact package names for getByName mode
sort	enum	Sort order for search results. Default: recent_downloads
maxItems	integer (1–500)	Maximum packages to return. Default: 50

Sort options

Value	Title
recent_downloads	Recent downloads
total_downloads	Total downloads
inserted_at	Newest packages
updated_at	Recently updated
name	Alphabetical name

Example input — Search

{
  "mode": "searchPackages",
  "searchQuery": "phoenix",
  "sort": "recent_downloads",
  "maxItems": 50
}

Example input — Fetch by name

{
  "mode": "getByName",
  "packageNames": ["phoenix", "ecto", "jason"]
}

Output

Each record in the dataset represents one Hex.pm package.

Field	Type	Description
packageName	string	Package name on Hex.pm
description	string	Package description
licenses	string[]	List of SPDX license identifiers
links	object	Links from package metadata (GitHub, Changelog, etc.)
totalDownloads	integer	All-time download count
recentDownloads	integer	Downloads in the last 90 days
weeklyDownloads	integer	Downloads in the last 7 days
insertedAt	string	ISO timestamp when package was first published
updatedAt	string	ISO timestamp of latest update
latestVersion	string	Latest stable version (falls back to latest pre-release)
owners	string[]	Package owner usernames
repositoryUrl	string	Source repository URL (GitHub, GitLab, etc.)
sourceUrl	string	Hex.pm package page URL
recordType	string	Always "package"
scrapedAt	string	ISO timestamp when record was scraped

Example output record

{
  "packageName": "phoenix",
  "description": "Peace of mind from prototype to production",
  "licenses": ["MIT"],
  "links": {
    "GitHub": "https://github.com/phoenixframework/phoenix",
    "Changelog": "https://github.com/phoenixframework/phoenix/blob/master/CHANGELOG.md"
  },
  "totalDownloads": 156000000,
  "recentDownloads": 4200000,
  "weeklyDownloads": 380000,
  "insertedAt": "2014-01-30T00:00:00Z",
  "updatedAt": "2025-05-01T12:00:00Z",
  "latestVersion": "1.7.14",
  "owners": ["chrismccord"],
  "repositoryUrl": "https://github.com/phoenixframework/phoenix",
  "sourceUrl": "https://hex.pm/packages/phoenix",
  "recordType": "package",
  "scrapedAt": "2025-05-30T10:00:00+00:00"
}

Frequently Asked Questions

Does this require an API key? No. The Hex.pm API is fully public and does not require authentication.

Can I get all packages on Hex.pm? Yes — leave searchQuery empty and use sort=recent_downloads with a high maxItems. The API paginates automatically.

What is the difference between recent_downloads and total_downloads? recent_downloads covers the last 90 days; total_downloads is the all-time count. Both are available in the output.

What ecosystems does Hex.pm cover? Hex.pm hosts packages for Elixir, Erlang, and Gleam — all languages that run on the BEAM virtual machine.

How often is the data updated? Hex.pm data is live — each run fetches real-time data from the official API.

Can I search for multiple queries in one run? Each run supports one search query. To scrape multiple queries, run the actor multiple times or use getByName mode with a list of package names.