# GitHub Trending Tracker — Stars, Forks, Language Filter (`gochujang/github-trending-tracker`) Actor

Track trending GitHub repositories by language, time period (daily/weekly/monthly), and keyword. Monitor star growth momentum. Filter by programming language, topic keyword, or minimum stars gained. No API key required. $0.001 per repository tracked.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/gochujang/github-trending-tracker.md
- **Developed by:** [Hojun Lee](https://apify.com/gochujang) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

Pay per usage

This Actor is paid per platform usage. The Actor is free to use, and you only pay for the Apify platform usage, which gets cheaper the higher subscription plan you have.

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

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
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.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## 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.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

### What does GitHub Trending Tracker do?

**GitHub Trending Tracker** scrapes the [GitHub Trending](https://github.com/trending) page and returns structured data for every **trending repository** — no API key or OAuth required. Filter by programming language, time period (daily, weekly, or monthly), and spoken language in a single run. Get **star growth velocity**, fork counts, contributor lists, and direct links for up to 25 repos per request.

This actor uses the public GitHub trending page directly, so it never consumes your GitHub API rate limit. Results are structured, deduplicated, and ready for downstream automation or dashboards.

### Why use GitHub Trending Tracker?

**Monitor viral GitHub projects** before they hit mainstream press — ideal for VCs, developer advocates, and open-source enthusiasts who need early signals on breakout libraries.

1. **Competitive intelligence** — Track which repositories in your language ecosystem are gaining momentum. Spot new competitors or emerging standards before they reach your team.
2. **Content and newsletter curation** — Automate weekly digests of the hottest **trending repositories** for developer blogs, newsletters, or Slack bots.
3. **Investment research** — Identify projects with unusual **star growth velocity** that may indicate rapid community adoption or viral product launches.
4. **Developer tooling discovery** — Find **viral GitHub projects** in specific languages (Rust, Solidity, TypeScript) to keep your tech stack current.
5. **Academic and trend analysis** — Researchers studying open-source adoption can pull time-series data by scheduling this actor daily and storing results to Apify datasets.

### How to use GitHub Trending Tracker

1. Open the actor on Apify and click **Try for free**.
2. Set **Programming Language** (e.g. `python`, `typescript`, `rust`) — leave empty for all languages.
3. Choose **Time Period**: `daily`, `weekly`, or `monthly`.
4. Optionally set **Spoken Language Code** (ISO 639-1, e.g. `en`, `zh`, `ja`).
5. Set **Max Repos** (1–25, GitHub's limit per page).
6. Click **Start** and retrieve results from the Output tab within seconds.
7. Download as JSON, CSV, or Excel — or connect via the Apify API for automated pipelines.

Schedule the actor via Apify Scheduler to run daily and push results to your storage bucket, webhook endpoint, or Google Sheets integration.

### Input

| Field | Type | Default | Description |
|-------|------|---------|-------------|
| `language` | string | *(all)* | Programming language slug (e.g. `python`, `rust`, `solidity`). Leave empty for all. |
| `since` | enum | `daily` | Trending window: `daily`, `weekly`, or `monthly`. |
| `spokenLanguage` | string | *(all)* | ISO 639-1 spoken language code (e.g. `en`, `zh`, `ja`). Leave empty for all. |
| `maxRepos` | integer | `25` | Maximum trending repositories to return (1–25, GitHub's hard limit per page). |

**Example — track Python repos trending daily:**

```json
{
  "language": "python",
  "since": "daily",
  "maxRepos": 25
}
```

### Output

Each repository is one item in the dataset. You can download the dataset in various formats such as JSON, HTML, CSV, or Excel.

```json
[
  {
    "rank": 1,
    "full_name": "microsoft/typescript",
    "owner": "microsoft",
    "repo": "typescript",
    "description": "TypeScript is a superset of JavaScript that compiles to clean JavaScript output.",
    "language": "TypeScript",
    "url": "https://github.com/microsoft/typescript",
    "stars_total": 98432,
    "forks_total": 12871,
    "stars_gained_period": 1247,
    "contributors": ["ahejlsberg", "DanielRosenwasser", "sandersn"],
    "since": "daily",
    "fetched_at": "2026-09-02T10:15:00Z"
  },
  {
    "rank": 2,
    "full_name": "vercel/ai",
    "owner": "vercel",
    "repo": "ai",
    "description": "Build AI-powered applications with React, Svelte, Vue, and plain JS.",
    "language": "TypeScript",
    "url": "https://github.com/vercel/ai",
    "stars_total": 10234,
    "forks_total": 1187,
    "stars_gained_period": 892,
    "contributors": ["lgrammel", "nicoalbanese"],
    "since": "daily",
    "fetched_at": "2026-09-02T10:15:00Z"
  }
]
```

### Data fields

| Field | Type | Description |
|-------|------|-------------|
| `rank` | integer | Position on GitHub Trending (1 = top trending) |
| `full_name` | string | Full repository slug (`owner/repo`) |
| `owner` | string | Repository owner username or organization |
| `repo` | string | Repository name |
| `description` | string | Repository description |
| `language` | string | Primary programming language |
| `url` | string | Direct GitHub URL |
| `stars_total` | integer | Total star count at time of scrape |
| `stars_gained_period` | integer | **Star growth** in the selected trending window |
| `forks_total` | integer | Total fork count |
| `contributors` | array | GitHub usernames of top contributors visible on the trending page |
| `since` | string | Trending window used (`daily`, `weekly`, `monthly`) |
| `fetched_at` | string | ISO 8601 timestamp of the scrape |

### Cost estimation

This actor uses **Pay-Per-Event (PPE)** pricing. You are charged per repository returned.

| Scenario | Repos | Cost |
|----------|-------|------|
| Single run, all 25 repos | 25 | ~$0.025 |
| Weekly sweep (one language) | 25 | ~$0.025 |
| 5 languages × daily (125 repos) | 125 | ~$0.125 |
| 30-day daily run (25 repos/day) | 750 | ~$0.75 |

**Price:** $0.001 per **trending repository** returned.

Apify platform compute costs are additional and typically negligible for this actor — runs complete in under 30 seconds.

### FAQ

**Does this actor require a GitHub API key?**
No. The **GitHub trending tracker** scrapes the public `github.com/trending` page directly. No API token, OAuth, or account is needed and your personal rate limit is never consumed.

**How often does GitHub update the trending page?**
GitHub refreshes **trending repositories** approximately every 24 hours for each window (daily, weekly, monthly). Running more than once per hour returns the same data.

**Can I track trending repositories for multiple languages in one run?**
Each run targets one language filter. To cover multiple languages, schedule parallel runs — one per language — via the Apify API or Scheduler, then merge the datasets downstream.

***

> **Disclaimer:** This actor scrapes the public GitHub Trending page. GitHub may change its HTML structure without notice, which could temporarily affect data availability. Star counts may occasionally be `null` if the parser cannot extract a specific field — all other fields are still returned. Data represents a point-in-time snapshot and should not be used as the sole basis for investment decisions. This actor is not affiliated with or endorsed by GitHub, Inc.

***

### Related actors

- [GitHub Repo Analytics](https://apify.com/gochujang/github-repo-analytics) — Deep dive into star history, forks, and contributor data for repos found via trending
- [Open Source Releases Tracker](https://apify.com/gochujang/open-source-releases-tracker) — Track new version releases of trending open source projects
- [NPM Package Trends](https://apify.com/gochujang/npm-package-trends) — NPM download trends for JS/TS packages that appear in GitHub trending

### Feedback

If this actor powers your open source research, a review helps others find it: [Leave a review on Apify Store](https://apify.com/gochujang/github-trending-tracker#reviews)

# Actor input Schema

## `language` (type: `string`):

Filter by programming language (e.g. 'python', 'javascript', 'rust'). Leave empty for all languages.

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

Trending period: daily (today), weekly (this week), or monthly (this month).

## `spokenLanguage` (type: `string`):

ISO 639-1 spoken language code (e.g. 'en', 'zh', 'ja'). Leave empty for all languages.

## `maxRepos` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of trending repositories to return (1-25, GitHub's limit per page).

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "language": "",
  "since": "daily",
  "spokenLanguage": "",
  "maxRepos": 25
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

No description

# 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 = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("gochujang/github-trending-tracker").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 = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("gochujang/github-trending-tracker").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 '{}' |
apify call gochujang/github-trending-tracker --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,gochujang/github-trending-tracker"
        }
    }
}

```

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/GbvbeNhfkfeiqr0qz/builds/TU98h88VkOksBAWis/openapi.json