# GitHub Trending Scraper — Repos by Language, Day, Week, Month (`northbell/github-trending-scraper`) Actor

Scrape GitHub Trending repositories for today, this week or this month, for any programming language and spoken language: repo, description, language, total stars, forks and stars gained, with rank changes and newly trending repos since your last run. No login.

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

## Pricing

from $0.80 / 1,000 repositories

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.
Since this Actor supports Apify Store discounts, the price gets lower the higher subscription plan you have.

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

## What's an Apify Actor?

An Actor is a serverless cloud program that runs on the Apify platform. It has two run modes.
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.

Apify vocabulary and the platform model are defined once, in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md.

## 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.

Do not guess an integration path. Every one of them is in the agent quickstart at https://apify.com/agents.md: the Apify MCP server, Agent Skills with the Apify CLI, the JavaScript and Python clients, the REST API, and the account-free path for an agent with no human to sign in. It also carries the rule on stating cost before the first paid run.

For examples already wired to this Actor's own input schema, see the [API](#api) section below.

Each client library has reference documentation the quickstart does not restate: [JavaScript/TypeScript](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md) (`npm install apify-client`) and [Python](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md) (`pip install apify-client`).

# README

## GitHub Trending Scraper — Repos by Language, Day, Week, Month

Get **GitHub Trending** as clean JSON: for **today, this week or this month**, for **any programming language** (and optionally the README's spoken language), every trending repository with its **description, language, total stars, forks and stars gained in the period**. Run it on a schedule and each row also carries its **rank change** and whether the repo is **new to the list** since your last run.

### What you get

| Field | What it is |
|---|---|
| `list`, `period`, `languageFilter` | which trending list the row comes from |
| `rank`, `previousRank`, `rankChange`, `isNewInList` | position now and since your previous run (`null` on the first run) |
| `repo`, `owner`, `name`, `url` | the repository |
| `description`, `language` | what it is |
| `stars`, `forks`, `starsInPeriod` | totals, and stars gained today / this week / this month |

The "Built by" contributor avatars and handles are **not** collected.

### Use it for

- **Developer newsletters and social posts** — a daily list of what is trending in Python, TypeScript or Rust
- **Tech and VC scouting** — catch fast-rising open-source projects early with *Only repos new to the list*
- **Market research** — which languages and topics are gaining stars week by week

### Input

```json
{ "periods": ["daily", "weekly"], "languages": ["python", "rust"], "onlyNew": true }
```

Measured on October 7, 2026: 6 lists (2 periods × 3 languages) returned 55 repositories in 15 seconds. GitHub shows about 12–25 repositories per list. Data comes from the public github.com/trending pages — no login, no token.

### Pricing

**$1.00 per 1,000 repositories**, plus $0.01 per run. Error rows are free. The $0.01 run-start fee is the one charge every run pays, even one that returns nothing.

### For AI agents

`{"languages": ["typescript"]}` returns today's trending TypeScript repositories. Rows have `type`: `repo` or `error`.

# Actor input Schema

## `periods` (type: `array`):

Empty = today.

## `languages` (type: `array`):

As GitHub writes them: "python", "typescript", "rust", "go", "c++", "jupyter-notebook". Empty = all languages.

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

Two-letter code for the README language, e.g. "en", "zh", "ja".

## `onlyNew` (type: `boolean`):

From the second run on, return only repos that were not in the same list last time. Schedule it daily for a "newly trending" feed.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "periods": [
    "daily"
  ],
  "languages": [
    "python",
    "typescript"
  ],
  "onlyNew": false
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `repos` (type: `string`):

Repositories with rank, stars and stars gained.

# 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 = {
    "periods": [
        "daily"
    ],
    "languages": [
        "python",
        "typescript"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("northbell/github-trending-scraper").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 = {
    "periods": ["daily"],
    "languages": [
        "python",
        "typescript",
    ],
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("northbell/github-trending-scraper").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 '{
  "periods": [
    "daily"
  ],
  "languages": [
    "python",
    "typescript"
  ]
}' |
apify call northbell/github-trending-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

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/2yErjNOfAkegnHbnl/builds/UXKYWScSCdKhGwgjL/openapi.json