# GitHub Search Scraper — Repos, Users & Issues (`ponderable_hydrometer/github-search-scraper`) Actor

Search GitHub repos, users & issues, or fetch repo details — stars, forks, topics, language, license, dates. Free GitHub API, add a token for higher rate. For lead-gen & research.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/ponderable\_hydrometer/github-search-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Ponderable Hydrometer](https://apify.com/ponderable_hydrometer) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools, Lead generation, Automation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.00 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

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

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are a software tools running on the Apify platform, for all kinds of web data extraction and automation use cases.
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.

In JavaScript/TypeScript projects, use official [JavaScript/TypeScript client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js.md):

```bash
npm install apify-client
```

In Python projects, use official [Python client library](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python.md):

```bash
pip install apify-client
```

In shell scripts, use [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md):

````bash
# MacOS / Linux
curl -fsSL https://apify.com/install-cli.sh | bash
# Windows
irm https://apify.com/install-cli.ps1 | iex
```bash

In AI frameworks, you might use the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/platform/integrations/mcp.md).

If your project is in a different language, use 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 Search Scraper — Repos, Users & Issues

**Search all of GitHub and get clean, structured rows — repositories, users, issues/PRs or code — plus full repo detail lookups by `owner/name`.** Built on GitHub's official REST API with rate-limit backoff. Add a free personal access token to run reliably at 5,000 req/h.

Perfect for developer lead-gen, open-source market research, star/trend tracking, dependency analysis, or feeding a dataset.

### What you get

Output depends on `searchType` (or the `repos` lookup):

- **Repositories** — `fullName`, `owner`, `description`, `url`, `homepage`, `language`, `stars`, `forks`, `watchers`, `openIssues`, `topics`, `license` (SPDX), `isFork`, `archived`, `defaultBranch`, `createdAt`, `updatedAt`, `pushedAt`
- **Users** — `login`, `url`, `userType`, `name`, `company`, `blog`, `location`, `bio`, `publicRepos`, `followers`, `following`
- **Issues / PRs** — `number`, `title`, `url`, `state`, `user`, `labels`, `comments`, `createdAt`, `updatedAt`, `closedAt`, `body` (a `type` of `issue` or `pull_request`)
- **Code** — `name`, `path`, `repository`, `url`, `sha`

Every row carries a `type` field so mixed exports stay unambiguous.

### Modes

- **Search** — pass a `query` in GitHub search syntax and choose `searchType` (`repositories`, `users`, `issues`, `code`). Sort and order supported. GitHub caps search itself at 1,000 results.
- **Repo detail** — pass `repos` (e.g. `["facebook/react"]`) to fetch full repository objects directly, no search needed.

### Input

| Field | Type | Default | Description |
|-------|------|---------|-------------|
| `searchType` | string | `repositories` | `repositories`, `users`, `issues`, `code` |
| `query` | string | — | GitHub search syntax, e.g. `stars:>10000 language:rust` |
| `sort` | string | best match | Repos: `stars`/`forks`/`updated`. Users: `followers`/`repositories`/`joined`. Issues: `created`/`updated`/`comments` |
| `order` | string | `desc` | `desc` or `asc` |
| `repos` | array | — | Fetch specific repos by `owner/name` |
| `token` | string (secret) | — | GitHub PAT → 5,000 req/h (read-only `public_repo` scope is enough) |
| `maxResults` | integer | `100` | Cap on results (GitHub search maxes at 1,000) |

Provide at least one of `query` or `repos`.

### Example input

```json
{
  "searchType": "repositories",
  "query": "stars:>50000 language:typescript",
  "sort": "stars",
  "maxResults": 100
}
````

Devs in a city (lead-gen):

```json
{
  "searchType": "users",
  "query": "location:berlin followers:>500",
  "sort": "followers",
  "maxResults": 50
}
```

### Example output (one repository)

```json
{
  "type": "repository",
  "id": 10270250,
  "fullName": "facebook/react",
  "name": "react",
  "owner": "facebook",
  "description": "The library for web and native user interfaces.",
  "url": "https://github.com/facebook/react",
  "homepage": "https://react.dev",
  "language": "JavaScript",
  "stars": 228000,
  "forks": 46700,
  "watchers": 228000,
  "openIssues": 970,
  "topics": ["javascript", "react", "frontend", "ui"],
  "license": "MIT",
  "isFork": false,
  "archived": false,
  "defaultBranch": "main",
  "createdAt": "2013-05-24T16:15:54Z",
  "updatedAt": "2026-07-11T09:12:00Z",
  "pushedAt": "2026-07-11T08:03:22Z"
}
```

### Why this actor

- **Four entities + detail lookups in one actor** — repos, users, issues/PRs, code, and direct `owner/name` fetches, all normalized.
- **Full GitHub search syntax** — every qualifier works (`stars:`, `language:`, `location:`, `repo:`, `state:`, …).
- **Reliable at scale** — primary and secondary rate-limit backoff; add a token for dependable 5,000 req/h throughput.
- **Flat, fair pricing** — no credit gating.

### Notes

- **Token (recommended, BYO):** without a token GitHub limits unauthenticated use to ~10 search req/min and lower per-hour caps — fine for small runs, unreliable at scale. A read-only PAT (`public_repo` scope) lifts you to 5,000 req/h. It's stored as a secret. The actor still runs keyless; it just warns and may throttle.
- GitHub search returns at most 1,000 results per query regardless of `maxResults` — narrow the query to page deeper.
- Not affiliated with or endorsed by GitHub, Inc.

### Pricing

Pay per result — **$2.00 per 1,000 results**. No subscription or platform fees; you only pay for the results you get.

### Related actors

- **Hacker News Scraper** — stories & comments for dev-community monitoring.
- **Stack Exchange Scraper** — Q\&A across Stack Overflow and sibling sites.
- **Package Registry Scraper** — npm / PyPI / crates package metadata.

# Actor input Schema

## `searchType` (type: `string`):

What to search: repositories, users, issues (incl. pull requests) or code.

## `query` (type: `string`):

GitHub search query, e.g. "stars:>10000 language:rust", "location:berlin followers:>500", "repo:apify/crawlee state:open".

## `sort` (type: `string`):

Sort field. Repos: stars, forks, updated. Users: followers, repositories, joined. Issues: created, updated, comments. Empty = best match.

## `order` (type: `string`):

"desc" or "asc".

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

Fetch full details for specific repositories, e.g. \["apify/crawlee", "facebook/react"].

## `token` (type: `string`):

A GitHub PAT lifts the rate limit to 5000 req/h (vs ~10 search/min unauthenticated). Read-only 'public\_repo' scope is enough. Kept secret.

## `maxResults` (type: `integer`):

Cap on search results (GitHub search itself caps at 1000).

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "searchType": "repositories",
  "query": "stars:>50000 language:typescript",
  "order": "desc",
  "maxResults": 100
}
```

# 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 = {
    "query": "stars:>50000 language:typescript"
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("ponderable_hydrometer/github-search-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 = { "query": "stars:>50000 language:typescript" }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("ponderable_hydrometer/github-search-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "query": "stars:>50000 language:typescript"
}' |
apify call ponderable_hydrometer/github-search-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=ponderable_hydrometer/github-search-scraper",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

```json
{
    "openapi": "3.0.1",
    "info": {
        "title": "GitHub Search Scraper — Repos, Users & Issues",
        "description": "Search GitHub repos, users & issues, or fetch repo details — stars, forks, topics, language, license, dates. Free GitHub API, add a token for higher rate. For lead-gen & research.",
        "version": "0.1",
        "x-build-id": "e5GrJP0wIYqIM4M7f"
    },
    "servers": [
        {
            "url": "https://api.apify.com/v2"
        }
    ],
    "paths": {
        "/acts/ponderable_hydrometer~github-search-scraper/run-sync-get-dataset-items": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-get-dataset-items-ponderable_hydrometer-github-search-scraper",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for its completion, and returns Actor's dataset items in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/ponderable_hydrometer~github-search-scraper/runs": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "runs-sync-ponderable_hydrometer-github-search-scraper",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor and returns information about the initiated run in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK",
                        "content": {
                            "application/json": {
                                "schema": {
                                    "$ref": "#/components/schemas/runsResponseSchema"
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        },
        "/acts/ponderable_hydrometer~github-search-scraper/run-sync": {
            "post": {
                "operationId": "run-sync-ponderable_hydrometer-github-search-scraper",
                "x-openai-isConsequential": false,
                "summary": "Executes an Actor, waits for completion, and returns the OUTPUT from Key-value store in response.",
                "tags": [
                    "Run Actor"
                ],
                "requestBody": {
                    "required": true,
                    "content": {
                        "application/json": {
                            "schema": {
                                "$ref": "#/components/schemas/inputSchema"
                            }
                        }
                    }
                },
                "parameters": [
                    {
                        "name": "token",
                        "in": "query",
                        "required": true,
                        "schema": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "description": "Enter your Apify token here"
                    }
                ],
                "responses": {
                    "200": {
                        "description": "OK"
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    },
    "components": {
        "schemas": {
            "inputSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                    "searchType": {
                        "title": "Search type",
                        "enum": [
                            "repositories",
                            "users",
                            "issues",
                            "code"
                        ],
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "What to search: repositories, users, issues (incl. pull requests) or code.",
                        "default": "repositories"
                    },
                    "query": {
                        "title": "Query (GitHub search syntax)",
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "GitHub search query, e.g. \"stars:>10000 language:rust\", \"location:berlin followers:>500\", \"repo:apify/crawlee state:open\"."
                    },
                    "sort": {
                        "title": "Sort by",
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "Sort field. Repos: stars, forks, updated. Users: followers, repositories, joined. Issues: created, updated, comments. Empty = best match."
                    },
                    "order": {
                        "title": "Order",
                        "enum": [
                            "desc",
                            "asc"
                        ],
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "\"desc\" or \"asc\".",
                        "default": "desc"
                    },
                    "repos": {
                        "title": "Specific repos (owner/name)",
                        "type": "array",
                        "description": "Fetch full details for specific repositories, e.g. [\"apify/crawlee\", \"facebook/react\"].",
                        "items": {
                            "type": "string"
                        }
                    },
                    "token": {
                        "title": "GitHub personal access token (optional)",
                        "type": "string",
                        "description": "A GitHub PAT lifts the rate limit to 5000 req/h (vs ~10 search/min unauthenticated). Read-only 'public_repo' scope is enough. Kept secret."
                    },
                    "maxResults": {
                        "title": "Max results",
                        "minimum": 1,
                        "type": "integer",
                        "description": "Cap on search results (GitHub search itself caps at 1000).",
                        "default": 100
                    }
                }
            },
            "runsResponseSchema": {
                "type": "object",
                "properties": {
                    "data": {
                        "type": "object",
                        "properties": {
                            "id": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "actId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "userId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "startedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "finishedAt": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "format": "date-time",
                                "example": "2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z"
                            },
                            "status": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "READY"
                            },
                            "meta": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "origin": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "API"
                                    },
                                    "userAgent": {
                                        "type": "string"
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "stats": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "inputBodyLen": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2000
                                    },
                                    "rebootCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "restartCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "resurrectCount": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "computeUnits": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "options": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "build": {
                                        "type": "string",
                                        "example": "latest"
                                    },
                                    "timeoutSecs": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 300
                                    },
                                    "memoryMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1024
                                    },
                                    "diskMbytes": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 2048
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "buildId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultKeyValueStoreId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultDatasetId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "defaultRequestQueueId": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "buildNumber": {
                                "type": "string",
                                "example": "1.0.0"
                            },
                            "containerUrl": {
                                "type": "string"
                            },
                            "usage": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 1
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            },
                            "usageTotalUsd": {
                                "type": "number",
                                "example": 0.00005
                            },
                            "usageUsd": {
                                "type": "object",
                                "properties": {
                                    "ACTOR_COMPUTE_UNITS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATASET_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "number",
                                        "example": 0.00005
                                    },
                                    "KEY_VALUE_STORE_LISTS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_READS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "REQUEST_QUEUE_WRITES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_INTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "DATA_TRANSFER_EXTERNAL_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_RESIDENTIAL_TRANSFER_GBYTES": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    },
                                    "PROXY_SERPS": {
                                        "type": "integer",
                                        "example": 0
                                    }
                                }
                            }
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    }
}
```