GitHub Issues Scraper – Repo Issues & Labels

What does GitHub Issues Scraper do?

GitHub Issues Scraper extracts every issue from any public GitHub repository — title, state, labels, author, comment counts, and full body text — from a repo URL or owner/repo string. It's built for open-source maintainers, engineering managers, and support/DevRel teams who need structured issue data for triage, reporting, or trend analysis without manually paging through GitHub's issues tab. Unlike the raw GitHub API — which mixes issues and pull requests together and enforces strict pagination — this Actor filters PRs out by default, supports open/closed/all state filtering, and batches multiple repositories in a single run with no personal access token required.

Why scrape GitHub issues? (Business Use Cases)

• Bug & Backlog Triage at Scale — Pull every open issue with labels and comment counts to prioritize engineering backlog or spot recurring bug patterns across releases.
• Competitive & Product Intelligence — Monitor issues filed against competitor or partner open-source tools to understand pain points, feature gaps, and user sentiment.
• Community & DevRel Reporting — Track issue volume, resolution time, and label distribution to report on open-source community health and maintainer responsiveness.
• Academic & OSS Research — Study bug lifecycle, label taxonomies, and contributor engagement patterns across large repositories like the Linux kernel or major CLIs.

Key Features

• Accepts repository URLs or owner/repo shorthand, mixed freely in one run
• Filter by issue state: open, closed, or all
• Excludes pull requests by default (includePullRequests: false) — GitHub's API returns both, this Actor separates them
• Configurable maxResults cap per repository, or unlimited (0) for full issue history
• Returns full issue body text, labels, assignees, and author metadata in one call
• Structured JSON output ready for CSV, Excel, or BI tool import

Input Parameters

Parameter	Type	Required	Default	Description
repositories	Array of strings	Yes	—	Repo URLs or owner/name (e.g. https://github.com/cli/cli, torvalds/linux)
state	String	No	"open"	Filter by issue state: open, closed, or all
includePullRequests	Boolean	No	false	GitHub's Issues API also returns PRs; set true to keep them in the results
maxResults	Integer	No	100	Maximum issues per repository; 0 returns all pages

Valid input sample:

{
  "repositories": [
    "https://github.com/cli/cli"
  ],
  "state": "open",
  "includePullRequests": false,
  "maxResults": 100
}

Output Data Structure

Each output item represents one issue, including repository context, state and labels, author identity, comment count, and full body text.

{
  "repo_full_name": "cli/cli",
  "repo_owner": "cli",
  "repo_name": "cli",
  "id": 5388523201,
  "number": 14394,
  "title": "`gh pr list` with flags fails JSON parsing",
  "state": "open",
  "state_reason": "reopened",
  "locked": false,
  "author": "yrahul3910",
  "author_type": "User",
  "labels": ["bug", "priority-3"],
  "assignees": [],
  "comments": 5,
  "is_pull_request": false,
  "draft": false,
  "body": "### Describe the bug\n\nWhen `gh pr list` is called with filters...",
  "html_url": "https://github.com/cli/cli/issues/14394",
  "created_at": "2026-09-08T15:14:56Z",
  "updated_at": "2026-09-15T03:26:56Z",
  "closed_at": "",
  "scraped_at": "2026-09-15T06:23:24.191003+00:00"
}

How to use GitHub Issues Scraper

1. Configure repositories and optionally state, includePullRequests, and maxResults.
2. Click "Start" or trigger a run via the Apify API, Python, or JavaScript SDK.
3. Preview the resulting issues dataset in the Apify Console.
4. Export to JSON, CSV, or Excel, or route it into Zapier, Webhooks, or Google Drive.

Integrations & Export Options

Results export natively to JSON, CSV, Excel, and XML, and integrate directly with n8n, Zapier, and Make for no-code automation pipelines. The dataset can also sync into database pipelines (Postgres, BigQuery, Airtable) or trigger webhook-based workflows for continuous issue monitoring and alerting.

Custom Scrapers & Enterprise Automation Solutions

Need a customized scraping solution, tailored workflow automation, or enterprise data extraction pipeline? Get custom development, maintenance, and setup tailored to your exact infrastructure requirements: 📬 Submit Your Custom Automation Requirements

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

1. Is scraping GitHub issues legal and compliant? Issue data on public repositories is publicly visible, and scraping it is generally acceptable, but always review GitHub's Terms of Service and applicable data protection regulations before using it commercially, especially where issue bodies may contain personal information.

2. How much does it cost to scrape GitHub issues using this Actor? Cost is based on Apify compute units consumed, scaling with the number of repositories and issues fetched — typically low-cost even for repositories with thousands of open and closed issues.

3. Do I need proxies or coding skills to run this scraper? No. The Actor is fully configurable through the Apify Console's input form — no proxy setup or coding knowledge required.

4. How does this compare to the official GitHub API? The GitHub REST API's issues endpoint mixes pull requests into issue results and requires manual pagination plus authentication for higher rate limits. This Actor separates PRs from issues by default, automates pagination, and batches multiple repositories into a single consolidated dataset.