# GitHub Release Tracker — New Versions & Changelogs (`m_ctim/github-release-tracker`) Actor

Track new releases for the GitHub repos your team depends on. Get the version tag, changelog, publish date, and release URL the moment a new one ships — for engineering and security teams who can't check every repo by hand.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/m\_ctim/github-release-tracker.md
- **Developed by:** [Timothy Kelvin](https://apify.com/m_ctim) (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/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#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

## GitHub Release Tracker — New Versions & Changelogs

Track new releases for the GitHub repos you depend on. Get the version
tag, release name, changelog body, publish date, and release URL the
moment a new one ships — without checking each repo's Releases page by
hand.

Built for engineering teams monitoring critical dependencies and security
teams watching upstream projects for patch releases.

### Input

```json
{
  "repos": ["facebook/react", "nodejs/node"],
  "daysBack": 30,
  "includePrereleases": false,
  "maxResultsPerRepo": 10
}
```

| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| `repos` | array of strings | Repos to check, as `"owner/repo"`. One release lookup is billed per repo. |
| `daysBack` | number | Only return releases published within this many days of today. Default `30`, max `365`. |
| `includePrereleases` | boolean | Include betas/release candidates in addition to stable releases. Default `false`. |
| `maxResultsPerRepo` | number | Max releases to return per repo, most recent first. Default `10`, max `50`. |
| `githubToken` | string (optional) | A personal access token, kept secret. Not required for public repos — raises GitHub's unauthenticated rate limit (60 requests/hour) to 5,000/hour if you're checking many repos in one run. |

### Output

One record per release:

```json
{
  "repo": "facebook/react",
  "tagName": "v19.1.0",
  "name": "19.1.0",
  "publishedAt": "2026-07-14T18:22:03Z",
  "isPrerelease": false,
  "htmlUrl": "https://github.com/facebook/react/releases/tag/v19.1.0",
  "author": "gaearon",
  "body": "## What's Changed\n- ..."
}
```

A repo with no releases in the requested window returns no items but is
still billed once for the lookup.

### How it works

Direct calls to the official [GitHub REST API](https://docs.github.com/en/rest/releases/releases)
(`api.github.com`). No proxy, no scraping — public repo data only.

### Pricing note

Billed per **repo checked**, not per release returned — one charge per
repo whether it has 0 or 50 matching releases.

### Related products

- [Company Hiring Tracker](https://github.com/timmKal01/company-hiring-tracker) — same per-item pattern, for job board openings instead of releases
- [Vulnerability Alert](https://github.com/timmKal01/vulnerability-alert) — new CVEs by product, if you're watching for security issues rather than version bumps

# Actor input Schema

## `repos` (type: `array`):

GitHub repos to check, as "owner/repo" (e.g. "facebook/react"). One release lookup is billed per repo.

## `daysBack` (type: `integer`):

Only return releases published within this many days of today.

## `includePrereleases` (type: `boolean`):

Include releases marked as pre-release (betas, release candidates) in addition to stable releases.

## `maxResultsPerRepo` (type: `integer`):

Maximum number of releases to return per repo, most recent first.

## `githubToken` (type: `string`):

Optional personal access token. Not required for public repos, but raises GitHub's API rate limit from 60 to 5,000 requests/hour if you're checking many repos in one run.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "repos": [
    "facebook/react"
  ],
  "daysBack": 30,
  "includePrereleases": false,
  "maxResultsPerRepo": 10
}
```

# 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 = {
    "repos": [
        "facebook/react"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("m_ctim/github-release-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 = { "repos": ["facebook/react"] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("m_ctim/github-release-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 '{
  "repos": [
    "facebook/react"
  ]
}' |
apify call m_ctim/github-release-tracker --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,m_ctim/github-release-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/LdxDGkBs8xfuvYu6Z/builds/bXibeZm0erMqDfOWT/openapi.json