GitHub Email Scraper

GitHub Email Scraper - extract public developer emails from GitHub search results

The GitHub Email Scraper is an Apify Actor that collects publicly indexed contact emails linked to GitHub accounts, repositories and GitHub Pages sites. You give it keywords, optional location and the email domains you care about, and it returns a clean dataset of leads.

Developers publish email addresses everywhere on GitHub: in profile bios, in README files, in package manifests, in CONTRIBUTING and SECURITY docs, in issue threads and in project sites hosted on github.io. When Google indexes those pages, the GitHub Email Scraper can find them.

This is the tool people are looking for when they search for a GitHub email finder, a way to find developer emails from GitHub, or a GitHub email extractor that produces a spreadsheet instead of one address at a time.

What the GitHub Email Scraper actually reads

The GitHub Email Scraper reads only what Google has already indexed on github.com and github.io. It builds Google queries with the site: operator, fetches result pages through the Apify GOOGLE_SERP proxy, and pulls emails out of titles and snippets.

It does not read git history, it does not clone repositories, and it does not call the GitHub API. There is no login, no browser, no JavaScript rendering and no cookies anywhere in the pipeline.

That distinction matters. Commit metadata, package.json author fields and issue threads are only reachable here when those pages appear in Google's public index, not because the Actor walks the repository.

Who the GitHub Email Scraper is built for

Technical recruiters sourcing engineers, developer relations teams building a launch list, open-source maintainers looking for peer projects, and agencies doing developer lead generation all need the same thing: a repeatable way to turn a niche into contactable accounts.

The GitHub Email Scraper turns "Rust developer, London, Gmail addresses" into rows you can filter, dedupe and export as CSV, JSON, Excel or feed into an API.

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Key features of the GitHub Email Scraper

Feature	What it does
Google site: dorking	Queries github.com and github.io through the Apify GOOGLE_SERP proxy
Query expansion	Runs base, quoted and intitle: variants plus one variant per query modifier; base queries run first
Domain-filtered extraction	Keeps only emails ending in your customDomains values
Global deduplication	One row per unique email across every query and every page of the run
Obfuscation handling	Understands name [at] domain [dot] com, name (at) domain, name @ domain.com, domain .com, zero-width characters and the full-width ＠
Junk filter	Rejects placeholders such as email@, yourname@, test@, xxx@ and single-character locals
Boundary-correct matching	@gmail.com never matches inside @gmail.company or @gmail.com.br
Soft-wrap repair	Drops a hit that is only the tail of another email in the same result block
Structural parsing	Locates the <h3> title then the smallest surrounding block, instead of relying on Google's CSS class names
Whole-page fallback	If Google's markup changes, the run degrades to "emails without account details" rather than "no emails"
Block detection	CAPTCHA, "unusual traffic" and consent pages are detected and retried, not counted as empty
Retries and backoff	Up to 3 attempts per page with exponential backoff and a fresh proxy session per request
Requeue of failures	Blocked or failed queries are re-queued once at the end of the run
Async concurrency	An asyncio worker pool with a shared stop signal on maxEmails
Resumable state	Progress is stored in the key-value store keyed by a hash of the input, with throttled saves plus saves on PERSIST_STATE, MIGRATING and ABORTING
Streaming output	Every lead is pushed to the dataset immediately, so partial results survive an abort
Run summary	Logs pages fetched, blocked pages, retries and emails per page

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How the GitHub Email Scraper works

The GitHub Email Scraper pipeline is deliberately simple, which is why it is fast and hard to break.

1. The GitHub Email Scraper reads your input: keywords, location, email domains and limits.
2. It builds Google queries with the site: operator, for example site:github.com maintainer "@gmail.com" "Berlin".
3. It fetches Google result pages asynchronously through the Apify GOOGLE_SERP proxy using aiohttp.
4. It parses each result block structurally, finding the <h3> title and the smallest block around it.
5. It extracts emails from the block text with a domain-filtered regex.
6. It deduplicates globally and pushes each lead straight to the Apify dataset.

Why query expansion exists

Google caps a single query at roughly 300 results. One query therefore has a hard ceiling no matter how many pages you allow.

Query expansion is how the GitHub Email Scraper gets past that ceiling: every keyword is combined with every email domain in several phrasings, and each variant is a separate query with its own 300-result budget.

The default queryModifiers for this Actor are tuned for GitHub - email, contact, maintainer, author, support - because those are the words that actually appear next to addresses in repository documentation.

What the GitHub Email Scraper does not do

It does not log into GitHub, use GitHub's API, open github.com directly, render JavaScript, read commit history, or access anything that is not already public in Google's index. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by GitHub.

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GitHub Email Scraper input fields

Every field below is optional except keywords. Defaults are the ones shipped in the Actor's input schema.

Field	Type	Default	Meaning
keywords	array (required)	["developer", "maintainer"]	Search terms describing the GitHub accounts you want (niche, job title, industry)
location	string	""	Optional location phrase added to every query
customDomains	array	["@gmail.com", "@yahoo.com"]	Only emails on these domains are kept; the leading @ is optional
maxEmails	integer 1-10000	20	Stop after this many unique emails
countryCode	string	""	Two-letter country for the search proxy (US, GB, DE...)
expandQueries	boolean	true	Search each keyword x domain pair in several phrasings
queryModifiers	array	["email", "contact", "maintainer", "author", "support"]	Extra words combined with each keyword when expansion is on
maxPagesPerQuery	integer 1-50	30	Page cap per query
maxConcurrency	integer 1-20	5	Parallel queries

Example GitHub Email Scraper input

{
  "keywords": ["rust developer", "open source maintainer", "devops engineer"],
  "location": "Berlin",
  "customDomains": ["@gmail.com", "@protonmail.com"],
  "maxEmails": 500,
  "countryCode": "DE",
  "expandQueries": true,
  "queryModifiers": ["email", "contact", "maintainer", "author", "support"],
  "maxPagesPerQuery": 30,
  "maxConcurrency": 5
}

Tuning the GitHub Email Scraper for better yield

Specific keywords beat generic ones in the GitHub Email Scraper. kubernetes operator maintainer will out-perform developer because it matches the language people actually write in their profiles and docs.

Add more domains rather than more keywords when a run comes back thin. Each extra domain multiplies the number of distinct queries, and each query brings its own result budget.

Leave expandQueries on. Turning it off gives you one query per keyword and domain, which is faster but caps out quickly.

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GitHub Email Scraper output fields

Every dataset item produced by the GitHub Email Scraper carries all 14 fields below. Fields are never omitted; they are empty or null when GitHub did not expose the value in Google's result.

Field	Meaning
network	Platform name
keyword	The keyword that produced the lead
query	The exact Google query used
title	Raw result title
accountName	Account label Google prints (handle, display name, or organisation)
fullName	Display name parsed from a profile-style title; empty for repository or doc pages
username	URL-safe GitHub handle when one is exposed; otherwise null
profileUrl	Canonical https://github.com/{username} URL when a handle is known; otherwise empty
url	Direct platform link when exposed, else the profile URL
description	Bio or snippet text, cleaned of labels and engagement counters
email	Lower-cased email address
emailDomain	The matched domain, for example @gmail.com
possiblyTruncated	true when Google's snippet ellipsis touched the email - verify before sending
foundAt	ISO 8601 UTC timestamp

Example GitHub Email Scraper output

[
  {
    "network": "GitHub",
    "keyword": "rust developer",
    "query": "site:github.com rust developer \"@gmail.com\" \"Berlin\"",
    "title": "Lena Hoffmann (lhoffmann) - GitHub",
    "accountName": "lhoffmann",
    "fullName": "Lena Hoffmann",
    "username": "lhoffmann",
    "profileUrl": "https://github.com/lhoffmann",
    "url": "https://github.com/lhoffmann",
    "description": "Rust and systems engineer in Berlin. Maintainer of a few crates. Reach me at lena.hoffmann.dev@gmail.com",
    "email": "lena.hoffmann.dev@gmail.com",
    "emailDomain": "@gmail.com",
    "possiblyTruncated": false,
    "foundAt": "2026-08-31T09:14:22.481Z"
  },
  {
    "network": "GitHub",
    "keyword": "open source maintainer",
    "query": "site:github.com intitle:\"open source maintainer\" \"@gmail.com\"",
    "title": "orbital-tools/orbital-cli: README - maintainers and contact",
    "accountName": "orbital-tools",
    "fullName": "",
    "username": "orbital-tools",
    "profileUrl": "https://github.com/orbital-tools",
    "url": "https://github.com/orbital-tools/orbital-cli",
    "description": "Maintainers: security reports to orbital.maintainers@gmail.com. Please do not open public issues for ...",
    "email": "orbital.maintainers@gmail.com",
    "emailDomain": "@gmail.com",
    "possiblyTruncated": true,
    "foundAt": "2026-08-31T09:14:29.113Z"
  },
  {
    "network": "GitHub",
    "keyword": "devops engineer",
    "query": "site:github.io devops engineer contact \"@protonmail.com\"",
    "title": "Docs - Contact the team",
    "accountName": "Docs",
    "fullName": "",
    "username": null,
    "profileUrl": "",
    "url": "https://kestrel-ops.github.io/docs/contact/",
    "description": "For consulting or incident support, email kestrel.ops@protonmail.com",
    "email": "kestrel.ops@protonmail.com",
    "emailDomain": "@protonmail.com",
    "possiblyTruncated": false,
    "foundAt": "2026-08-31T09:15:03.902Z"
  }
]

The third row is the honest case: a GitHub Pages site under github.io carries a real email but no GitHub handle, so username is null and profileUrl is empty. That is a Google limitation, not a bug.

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Use cases for the GitHub Email Scraper

Use case	How the GitHub Email Scraper helps
Technical recruiting	Build a sourcing list of engineers by stack, role and city, with a profile URL to review before you write
Developer relations	Find maintainers of projects adjacent to yours before a launch or a beta programme
Open-source outreach	Reach the people listed as contacts in README, CONTRIBUTING and SECURITY docs
Developer lead generation	Feed a devtools or API product pipeline with accounts that match a technical niche
Partnership research	Identify organisations publishing tooling in your category and the address they publish for contact
Security disclosure	Collect published security contact addresses for projects you depend on
Market and ecosystem research	Measure how many projects in a niche publish a public contact channel at all
Conference and community programmes	Assemble a speaker or contributor shortlist from a technology keyword

Recruiting and sourcing engineers

Recruiters use the GitHub Email Scraper because GitHub is where engineers demonstrate skill rather than describe it. A keyword like kubernetes plus a city gives you evidence and a contact route in one row.

Always review profileUrl before contacting someone. The GitHub Email Scraper gives you the address; qualifying the person is still your job.

Developer relations and launch lists

DevRel teams pair the GitHub Email Scraper with the npm Email Scraper and the PyPI Email Scraper to reach the same maintainers through the registries they publish to.

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Expected results from the GitHub Email Scraper

In live test runs against Google, roughly 7 out of 10 parsed GitHub results carried an account identity - a handle, a display name, or both - and profile URLs resolved well.

That is a strong ratio for this family of Actors, because GitHub profile and repository titles are unusually well structured in Google's index.

The remaining rows are still useful leads: they carry email, emailDomain, url, description and query, just without a resolved handle. Volume itself always depends on your keywords, domains and location - no yield is guaranteed.

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Limitations of the GitHub Email Scraper

Read this section before you plan a campaign around GitHub Email Scraper output.

• Publicly indexed emails only. The GitHub Email Scraper finds an address only when it is already visible in Google's index. Addresses hidden behind GitHub's noreply setting, private profiles or unindexed pages are out of reach.
• No git history and no API. Commit author emails, .patch endpoints and API responses are not read. Only Google result titles and snippets are parsed.
• Google's ~300-result cap. A single query returns about 300 results maximum, which is exactly why expandQueries exists and why turning it off reduces volume.
• possiblyTruncated. When this is true, Google's snippet ellipsis touched the email and it may be cut off. Verify those rows before sending anything.
• username and profileUrl can be empty. They are populated only when GitHub exposes a handle in the result. github.io pages and some repository documents show only a display name, leaving accountName filled but username null and profileUrl empty.
• Apify GOOGLE_SERP proxy required. The Actor cannot run without Apify proxy credentials.
• Free plan cap. Free Apify plans are limited to 100 emails per run. Paid plans are uncapped.
• Variable results. Output depends on keywords, domains and location, and Google's index changes over time. Two runs of the GitHub Email Scraper a month apart will not be identical.

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Responsible use

Developer emails collected by the GitHub Email Scraper are published for project correspondence - bug reports, security disclosures, maintenance questions. Treat them that way.

If you contact people in the EU or UK, GDPR applies: have a lawful basis, identify yourself, say where you got the address, and honour opt-outs immediately. Respect GitHub's community norms and any "no recruiters" note in a profile or README.

Bulk unsolicited email to maintainers is the fastest way to get your domain blocked and your company remembered badly. Small, relevant, personal beats large and generic every time.

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GitHub Email Scraper FAQ

Does the GitHub Email Scraper read git commit history?

No. It does not read git history, clone repositories or call the GitHub API. It parses Google search results for pages on github.com and github.io that Google has already indexed.

Does it need a GitHub login or token?

No. There is no authentication, no browser, no JavaScript rendering and no cookies. The only credential needed is your Apify account's GOOGLE_SERP proxy access.

Where do the emails come from?

From the text Google prints in result titles and snippets - profile bios, README and CONTRIBUTING files, package manifests, issue threads and github.io project sites that expose an address publicly.

How many emails can the GitHub Email Scraper return?

maxEmails accepts 1 to 10000 and defaults to 20. Free Apify plans are capped at 100 emails per run; paid plans are uncapped. Actual volume depends on your keywords and domains.

Why is username sometimes null?

Because Google did not expose a GitHub handle for that result. The row still carries email, accountName, url and description. This happens most often on github.io pages and documentation files.

What does possiblyTruncated: true mean?

Google's snippet ellipsis touched the email, so the address may be incomplete. Verify those rows before you use them.

Can I restrict the GitHub Email Scraper to corporate domains?

Yes. Put the domains you want in customDomains - for example ["@acme.io", "@example.com"]. Only emails ending in those domains are kept, and the leading @ is optional.

Does it handle obfuscated addresses like name [at] gmail [dot] com?

Yes. The extractor normalises [at], (at), spaced @, spaced .com, zero-width characters and the full-width ＠, and it filters placeholders such as test@ and yourname@.

Can I run it for a specific country?

Set countryCode to a two-letter code such as US, GB or DE to steer the search proxy, and put a city or region in location to add it to every query.

What happens if the run is interrupted?

Progress is saved in the key-value store keyed by a hash of your input, with saves on PERSIST_STATE, MIGRATING and ABORTING. Leads are pushed to the dataset as they are found, so nothing already collected is lost.

Will it break when Google changes its HTML?

Parsing is structural rather than class-name based, and there is a whole-page fallback parser. A layout change degrades the GitHub Email Scraper to "emails without account details" rather than "no emails".

Is the GitHub Email Scraper affiliated with GitHub?

No. It is an independent Apify Actor and is not supported, endorsed or affiliated with GitHub or Microsoft.

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Related Actors

The GitHub Email Scraper is part of a Developer & Technology family of Apify Actors that all work the same way on different platforms. Run several to cover an ecosystem rather than a single site.

Actor	What it collects
GitHub Email and Phone Number Scraper	Emails and phone numbers from GitHub
GitHub Phone Number Scraper	Public phone numbers from GitHub
App Store Email Scraper	Public contact emails from App Store
Atlassian Marketplace Email Scraper	Public contact emails from Atlassian Marketplace
Bitbucket Email Scraper	Public contact emails from Bitbucket
Chrome Web Store Email Scraper	Public contact emails from Chrome Web Store
CodePen Email Scraper	Public contact emails from CodePen
Confluence Email Scraper	Public contact emails from Confluence
Dev.to Email Scraper	Public contact emails from DEV Community
Docker Hub Email Scraper	Public contact emails from Docker Hub
Figma Community Email Scraper	Public contact emails from Figma Community
Firefox Add-ons Email Scraper	Public contact emails from Firefox Add-ons
GitLab Email Scraper	Public contact emails from GitLab
Google Play Email Scraper	Public contact emails from Google Play
Hashnode Email Scraper	Public contact emails from Hashnode
HubSpot Marketplace Email Scraper	Public contact emails from HubSpot Marketplace
Hugging Face Email Scraper	Public contact emails from Hugging Face
Jira Email Scraper	Public contact emails from Jira
Maven Central Email Scraper	Public contact emails from Maven Central
Microsoft AppSource Email Scraper	Public contact emails from Microsoft AppSource
Salesforce AppExchange Email Scraper	Public contact emails from Salesforce AppExchange
Shopify App Store Email Scraper	Public contact emails from Shopify App Store
Slack App Directory Email Scraper	Public contact emails from Slack App Directory
SourceForge Email Scraper	Public contact emails from SourceForge
Stack Overflow Email Scraper	Public contact emails from Stack Overflow
Unity Asset Store Email Scraper	Public contact emails from Unity Asset Store
Unreal Engine Marketplace Email Scraper	Public contact emails from Unreal Engine Marketplace
WordPress Plugin Directory Email Scraper	Public contact emails from WordPress Plugin Directory
WordPress Theme Directory Email Scraper	Public contact emails from WordPress Theme Directory
Zapier App Directory Email Scraper	Public contact emails from Zapier App Directory
App Store Email and Phone Number Scraper	Emails and phone numbers from App Store
Atlassian Marketplace Email and Phone Number Scraper	Emails and phone numbers from Atlassian Marketplace
Bitbucket Email and Phone Number Scraper	Emails and phone numbers from Bitbucket
Chrome Web Store Email and Phone Number Scraper	Emails and phone numbers from Chrome Web Store
CodePen Email and Phone Number Scraper	Emails and phone numbers from CodePen
Confluence Email and Phone Number Scraper	Emails and phone numbers from Confluence
DEV Community Email and Phone Number Scraper	Emails and phone numbers from DEV Community
Docker Hub Email and Phone Number Scraper	Emails and phone numbers from Docker Hub
Figma Community Email and Phone Number Scraper	Emails and phone numbers from Figma Community
Firefox Add-ons Email and Phone Number Scraper	Emails and phone numbers from Firefox Add-ons
GitLab Email and Phone Number Scraper	Emails and phone numbers from GitLab
Google Play Email and Phone Number Scraper	Emails and phone numbers from Google Play

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Support

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