GitHub Repo Search — Structured Repository Search API

Searches GitHub repositories using GitHub's own search syntax and returns clean, structured results: stars, forks, license, last activity.

What it does

• Uses the same search syntax as github.com/search (e.g. language:python stars:>500 pushed:>2026-01-01).
• Automatically paginates up to the requested maxItems (or the 1000-result ceiling imposed by GitHub's own API).
• If GitHub's rate limit is hit mid-search, the run stops there and returns what it already collected — it doesn't fail the whole run.

Who it's for

• Technical market research ("how many active projects exist in this category?").
• Quick due diligence on an open-source ecosystem.
• AI agents that need to discover relevant repositories by criteria.

Input

Field	Type	Required	Description
query	string	Yes	GitHub search syntax.
maxItems	integer	No (default 30)	Between 1 and 1000.
sort	string	No	stars, forks, help-wanted-issues, updated. Empty = best match.
order	string	No	desc or asc.
githubToken	string (secret)	No	Your own read-only Personal Access Token, to raise the limit from 60 to 5000 searches/hour.

{ "query": "language:javascript stars:>1000", "maxItems": 50, "sort": "stars", "order": "desc" }

Output

{
  "fullName": "vercel/next.js",
  "url": "https://github.com/vercel/next.js",
  "description": "The React Framework",
  "stars": 128000,
  "forks": 27000,
  "language": "JavaScript",
  "openIssues": 3200,
  "updatedAt": "2026-09-18T10:00:00Z",
  "createdAt": "2016-10-05T00:00:00Z",
  "license": "MIT",
  "archived": false
}

Pricing

Pay-per-event, provisional. Starting reference: USD 2.00 per 1,000 repos returned (03-plan.md §2).

How to call it

curl "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/cuantic-data~github-repo-search/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=YOUR_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"query": "language:python stars:>500", "maxItems": 100}'

Terms and limits

See ./TERMS.md: a public, documented GitHub API. Without a token: 60 searches/hour, shared across all users of the Actor. With your own token (optional, githubToken field): 5000/hour, your own quota.

FAQ

Why does my run return fewer results than I asked for? Either GitHub has fewer than maxItems results for your query, or the shared rate limit was hit partway through (check the run's RUN-SUMMARY for details). If you search often, use your own githubToken.

Found a bug? Email cuanticwindows@gmail.com — we reply within 72 hours.

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See build/README.md for how to run tests and publish this Actor.