Gitea & Forgejo Scraper - Repos, Stars & Languages

Scrape any Gitea or Forgejo instance in bulk, including Codeberg. Extract repository name, owner, description, language, stars, forks, open issues, size, licence, topics and timestamps to CSV/JSON. No API key, no login.

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What does the Gitea Scraper do?

This Actor turns Gitea data into a structured dataset. You point it at an instance by stars or a language search, it walks the result pages one after another, and it writes one clean row per repositorie into your dataset — ready to export as JSON, CSV or Excel, or to pull straight from the Apify API.

Gitea and its fork Forgejo expose the same versioned REST API, and the repository search endpoint answers without a token on public instances such as Codeberg. One configuration therefore works across the whole self-hosted Git ecosystem, which is where projects that left the large platforms tend to live. Pagination is followed automatically until it runs out of results, hits your page limit or hits your Max items cap, whichever comes first. Every row is de-duplicated across the whole run, so you are never billed twice for the same repositorie.

There is no API key, no login and no browser involved. That keeps runs fast and cheap, and it means you can schedule the Actor without worrying about credentials expiring.

Who is it for?

• Developer-relations teams tracking projects outside the big platforms.
• Security researchers surveying self-hosted code at scale.
• Open-source analysts measuring activity on alternative forges.
• Recruiters and sourcers finding maintainers of niche projects.
• Developers mirroring or indexing an instance's public repositories.

Use cases

• Export every public repository on an instance and rank by stars.
• Find the most active projects in a language on Codeberg.
• Track how a self-hosted forge grows over time.
• Locate archived or mirrored repositories for cleanup.
• Build a catalogue of open-source projects outside GitHub.

Why use this Gitea Scraper?

• 🔑 Keyless — no account, no API token, no cookies to paste.
• 📦 33 fields per repositorie — everything the source exposes, already typed.
• 📄 Real pagination — it walks page after page instead of returning the first screen.
• 🎯 Precise caps — Max items stops the run exactly where you want it, so the bill is predictable.
• 📊 Export anywhere — JSON, CSV, Excel or HTML, plus the Apify API and integrations.
• 💸 Pay per result — you pay for rows you actually receive, with no platform fees to calculate.

What data can you extract?

Every run produces one row per repositorie, with these fields:

Field	Type	Description
instanceDomain	string	Domain of the Gitea or Forgejo instance
repoId	string	Repository ID on the instance
fullName	string	Owner and repository name
name	string	Repository name
owner	string	Owner login
ownerFullName	string	Owner display name when published
description	string	Repository description
repoUrl	string	Web link to the repository
cloneUrl	string	HTTPS clone URL
website	string	Project website when set
defaultBranch	string	Default branch name
language	string	Primary language detected by the forge
starsCount	number	Number of stars
forksCount	number	Number of forks
watchersCount	number	Number of watchers
openIssuesCount	number	Open issues
openPullsCount	number	Open pull requests
releaseCount	number	Published releases
sizeKb	number	Repository size in kilobytes
topics	string	Topics, separated by a pipe
isFork	boolean	Whether the repository is a fork
isMirror	boolean	Whether it mirrors another repository
isArchived	boolean	Whether it is archived
isEmpty	boolean	Whether it has no commits
isTemplate	boolean	Whether it is a template repository
hasIssues	boolean	Whether the issue tracker is enabled
hasWiki	boolean	Whether the wiki is enabled
hasPullRequests	boolean	Whether pull requests are enabled
createdAt	string	ISO timestamp the repository was created
updatedAt	string	ISO timestamp of the last update
query	string	Search term this row came from, or the whole instance
page	number	Result page the repository appeared on
scrapedAt	string	ISO timestamp of extraction

Output example

{
  "instanceDomain": "codeberg.org",
  "repoId": "948270",
  "fullName": "ziglang/zig",
  "name": "zig",
  "owner": "ziglang",
  "ownerFullName": "Zig Software Foundation",
  "description": "General-purpose programming language and toolchain for maintaining robust, optimal, and reusable software.",
  "repoUrl": "https://codeberg.org/ziglang/zig",
  "cloneUrl": "https://codeberg.org/ziglang/zig.git",
  "website": "https://ziglang.org",
  "defaultBranch": "master",
  "language": "Zig",
  "starsCount": 6638,
  "forksCount": 916,
  "watchersCount": 353,
  "openIssuesCount": 824,
  "openPullsCount": 316,
  "releaseCount": 0,
  "sizeKb": 699943,
  "topics": null,
  "isFork": false,
  "isMirror": false,
  "isArchived": false,
  "isEmpty": false,
  "isTemplate": false,
  "hasIssues": true,
  "hasWiki": false,
  "hasPullRequests": true,
  "createdAt": "2025-11-25T18:51:45+01:00",
  "updatedAt": "2026-09-20T09:37:41+02:00",
  "query": "whole instance",
  "page": 1,
  "scrapedAt": "2026-09-20T12:41:55.203Z"
}

How to use

Option A — an instance by stars

{
  "maxItems": 1000,
  "maxPagesPerInstance": 20,
  "sortBy": "stars",
  "instanceUrls": [
    "https://codeberg.org"
  ]
}

1. Open the Actor and fill in the first field.
2. Set the page limit and Max items to bound the run.
3. Click Start, then export from the Output tab.

Option B — a language search

{
  "maxItems": 500,
  "maxPagesPerInstance": 10,
  "searchQuery": "rust",
  "sortBy": "updated",
  "instanceUrls": [
    "https://codeberg.org"
  ]
}

Everything in the first field is processed independently, so you can batch several targets into one run and split them apart afterwards.

Input parameters

Parameter	Type	Default	Description
instanceUrls	array	–	Home pages of the instances to scrape, e.
searchQuery	string	–	Restrict to repositories matching this term.
sortBy	string	updated	Which order to walk the repository list in.
maxPagesPerInstance	integer	8	How many result pages to walk for each instance.
maxItems	integer	500	Stop after this many repositories.
maxConcurrency	integer	2	Parallel requests.
proxyConfiguration	object	{"useApifyProxy": true}	Proxy used to fetch pages.

Tips for best results

• Paste the instance home page, e.g. https://codeberg.org — the Actor appends the API path.
• Leave the search term empty to walk every public repository on the instance.
• Sort switches between recently updated, most starred and newest.
• Each page returns up to 50 repositories, so plan page counts accordingly.
• starsCount on self-hosted forges is far lower than on GitHub; judge it relative to the instance.
• isMirror true means the code is hosted elsewhere and only copied here.
• sizeKb separates real projects from placeholder repositories.
• Private repositories never appear — the Actor reads only public data.
• Forgejo instances answer the same API, so the Actor works on those unchanged.
• Keep concurrency low — most instances are small community servers.

Integrations

Send results straight into the tools you already use: Google Sheets, Slack, Zapier, Make, Airtable or any Webhook. You can also schedule the Actor to run hourly, daily or weekly and have each run append to the same dataset, which is how you build a price or availability history rather than a one-off snapshot.

API usage

Run the Actor and collect results from any language. Replace <YOUR_TOKEN> with your Apify API token.

cURL

curl -X POST "https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/logiover~gitea-repository-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=<YOUR_TOKEN>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"maxItems": 1000, "maxPagesPerInstance": 20, "sortBy": "stars", "instanceUrls": ["https://codeberg.org"]}'

Node.js

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '<YOUR_TOKEN>' });
const run = await client.actor('logiover/gitea-repository-scraper').call({"maxItems": 1000, "maxPagesPerInstance": 20, "sortBy": "stars", "instanceUrls": ["https://codeberg.org"]});
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
console.log(items);

Python

from apify_client import ApifyClient

client = ApifyClient('<YOUR_TOKEN>')
run = client.actor('logiover/gitea-repository-scraper').call(run_input={"maxItems": 1000, "maxPagesPerInstance": 20, "sortBy": "stars", "instanceUrls": ["https://codeberg.org"]})
for item in client.dataset(run['defaultDatasetId']).iterate_items():
    print(item)

Use with AI agents (MCP)

This Actor is available through the Apify MCP server, so an AI agent can call it as a tool. Point your agent at https://mcp.apify.com and it can run the Gitea Scraper on demand — for example: "Pull the first 500 repositories from Gitea and summarise what you find." The agent receives the same structured rows you would get from the UI.

FAQ

Do I need a Gitea account or API key?

No. The Actor reads publicly available data only. There is nothing to authenticate and no credentials to rotate.

How many repositories can I get in one run?

As many as the source exposes. Raise the page limit and Max items together; the run stops at whichever limit it reaches first.

Why did I get fewer rows than I asked for?

The source ran out of repositories. That is normal for narrow searches — broaden the query or add more targets to one run.

Are results de-duplicated?

Yes. Each repositorie is emitted once per run, even when it appears on several pages, so you are never billed twice for the same record.

Why are some fields empty?

Gitea does not publish every attribute for every repositorie. Empty means the source did not supply it, not that extraction failed.

What export formats are supported?

JSON, CSV, Excel, HTML and RSS from the Output tab, plus the Apify API and any integration you connect.

How fast is it?

It is pure HTTP with no browser, so a page of results typically takes a second or two. Raise Max concurrency carefully — the source rate-limits aggressive crawling.

Can I schedule it?

Yes. Use the Apify scheduler to run it on any interval and append each run to the same dataset for time-series analysis.

Does it work behind a proxy?

It uses Apify Proxy automatically. You can switch groups or supply your own proxies in Proxy configuration.

How often does the data change?

Gitea updates continuously. Re-run whenever you need current data; the Actor always reads the live source, never a cache.

Is the output schema stable?

Yes. Field names and types are fixed, so downstream pipelines will not break between runs.

What if the source changes its format?

Open an issue on the Issues tab and it gets fixed. The Actor is actively maintained.

Is it legal?

This Actor reads only publicly available data from Gitea — the same content any visitor or client sees without logging in. It does not bypass authentication, does not collect private data and does not attempt to defeat access controls. You are responsible for how you use the output: respect the source's terms of service, applicable copyright, and data-protection law such as GDPR where personal data is involved. Scraping public data is generally lawful in the EU and the US, but the responsibility for the downstream use of that data sits with you.

Related scrapers

• GitHub Repository Scraper — The largest forge
• GitLab Scraper — GitLab projects
• Docker Hub Scraper — Container images
• crates.io Scraper — Rust packages