Packagist Scraper - PHP Packages, Downloads & Stars

Scrape the Packagist PHP package registry in bulk. Extract package name, vendor, description, repository, total downloads, favers, GitHub stars and forks, language, maintainers and release history to CSV/JSON. No API key.

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What does the Packagist Scraper do?

This Actor turns Packagist data into a structured dataset. You point it at the registry with full details or several topics, names only, it walks the result pages one after another, and it writes one clean row per package into your dataset — ready to export as JSON, CSV or Excel, or to pull straight from the Apify API.

Packagist is the registry behind Composer and every PHP project that uses it, and it answers a keyless search API covering more than 368,000 packages. The search response carries only six fields, so the Actor optionally enriches each row from the package's own endpoint — GitHub stars, language, maintainers and release history — which is what turns a name list into usable ecosystem data. 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 package.

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?

• PHP library authors sizing a niche before building.
• Agencies and CTOs vetting dependencies before adopting them.
• Market researchers measuring the PHP ecosystem.
• Security teams finding widely used but unmaintained packages.
• Developer-relations teams tracking competing libraries.

Use cases

• Export every package for a tag and rank by download count.
• Find high-download packages with no release in years.
• Compare stars against downloads to spot hype versus real use.
• Measure how crowded a package category already is.
• Build a dependency shortlist with maintainer and licence context.

Why use this Packagist Scraper?

• 🔑 Keyless — no account, no API token, no cookies to paste.
• 📦 23 fields per package — 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 package, with these fields:

Field	Type	Description
name	string	Full package name, vendor and package
vendor	string	Vendor part of the package name
packageName	string	Package part of the name
description	string	Package description
packageUrl	string	Packagist page for the package
repository	string	Source repository URL
downloads	number	Total downloads reported by Packagist
favers	number	Number of users who favourited the package
packageType	string	Composer package type, e.g. library or symfony-bundle
language	string	Primary language reported by the repository host
githubStars	number	Stars on the source repository
githubForks	number	Forks on the source repository
githubOpenIssues	number	Open issues on the source repository
maintainers	string	Maintainer usernames, separated by a pipe
latestVersion	string	Most recent published version
versionCount	number	Number of published versions
lastReleaseAt	string	Timestamp of the most recent release
dependentCount	number	Packages that depend on this one
suggesterCount	number	Packages that suggest this one
isAbandoned	boolean	Whether the package is marked abandoned
query	string	Search term or filter this row came from
page	number	Result page the package appeared on
scrapedAt	string	ISO timestamp of extraction

Output example

{
  "name": "symfony/polyfill-mbstring",
  "vendor": "symfony",
  "packageName": "polyfill-mbstring",
  "description": "Symfony polyfill for the Mbstring extension",
  "packageUrl": "https://packagist.org/packages/symfony/polyfill-mbstring",
  "repository": "https://github.com/symfony/polyfill-mbstring",
  "downloads": 1285711537,
  "favers": 7832,
  "packageType": "library",
  "language": "PHP",
  "githubStars": 7817,
  "githubForks": 39,
  "githubOpenIssues": 1,
  "maintainers": "fabpot",
  "latestVersion": "v1.38.2",
  "versionCount": 50,
  "lastReleaseAt": "2026-05-27T06:59:30+00:00",
  "dependentCount": 548,
  "suggesterCount": 33,
  "isAbandoned": false,
  "query": "type: library",
  "page": 1,
  "scrapedAt": "2026-09-20T12:41:55.203Z"
}

How to use

Option A — the registry with full details

{
  "includeDetails": true,
  "maxItems": 300,
  "maxPagesPerSearch": 3,
  "packageType": "library",
  "searchTerms": []
}

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 — several topics, names only

{
  "includeDetails": false,
  "maxItems": 2000,
  "maxPagesPerSearch": 20,
  "searchTerms": [
    "logging",
    "orm",
    "http"
  ]
}

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
searchTerms	array	[]	Terms to search Packagist for, e.
packageType	string	library	Composer type used when no search term is given.
tag	string	–	Narrow to a Packagist tag such as logging, testing or http.
includeDetails	boolean	true	Fetch stars, language, maintainers and release history for each package.
maxPagesPerSearch	integer	3	How many result pages to walk for each search.
maxItems	integer	300	Stop after this many packages.
maxConcurrency	integer	2	Parallel requests.
proxyConfiguration	object	{"useApifyProxy": true}	Proxy used to fetch pages.

Tips for best results

• Leave the search term empty to walk the whole registry by package type.
• Package type library covers the bulk of Packagist — over 368,000 entries.
• Tag narrows to a topic such as logging, orm or testing.
• The search API returns 100 packages per page but only six fields per package.
• Include package details adds stars, language, maintainers and versions at roughly a third of a second per package, so it is the setting that decides run length.
• Turn details off for a fast name-and-downloads sweep of a large category.
• High downloads with an old lastReleaseAt is the classic abandoned-but-depended-on signal.
• isAbandoned is set explicitly by maintainers and is worth filtering on.
• githubStars is empty for packages hosted outside GitHub — that is the source, not extraction.
• Pair with the npm and PyPI scrapers to compare ecosystems side by side.

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~packagist-php-package-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items?token=<YOUR_TOKEN>" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"includeDetails": true, "maxItems": 300, "maxPagesPerSearch": 3, "packageType": "library", "searchTerms": []}'

Node.js

import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

const client = new ApifyClient({ token: '<YOUR_TOKEN>' });
const run = await client.actor('logiover/packagist-php-package-scraper').call({"includeDetails": true, "maxItems": 300, "maxPagesPerSearch": 3, "packageType": "library", "searchTerms": []});
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/packagist-php-package-scraper').call(run_input={"includeDetails": true, "maxItems": 300, "maxPagesPerSearch": 3, "packageType": "library", "searchTerms": []})
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 Packagist Scraper on demand — for example: "Pull the first 500 packages from Packagist and summarise what you find." The agent receives the same structured rows you would get from the UI.

FAQ

Do I need a Packagist account or API key?

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

How many packages 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 packages. That is normal for narrow searches — broaden the query or add more targets to one run.

Are results de-duplicated?

Yes. Each package 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?

Packagist does not publish every attribute for every package. 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?

Packagist 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 Packagist — 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

• npm Package Intelligence — JavaScript registry
• PyPI Package Scraper — Python registry
• crates.io Scraper — Rust registry
• WordPress Plugin Scraper — PHP-adjacent ecosystem