# GitHub Repo Monitor - releases, stars, activity (`sbr35/github-repo-monitor`) Actor

Input: repositories as owner/name. Output: stars, forks, open issues, latest release and tag, licence, language, topics and an abandonment flag. Use when you need to check whether a project is active, popular or stale.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/sbr35/github-repo-monitor.md
- **Developed by:** [Alexandre de La Fayette](https://apify.com/sbr35) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools, Automation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $5.00 / 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.

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

## 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 Repo Monitor

Check whether an open-source project is **active, popular, or quietly abandoned** — across as
many repositories as you like, in one run.

Reads GitHub's documented public REST API. No scraping, no login.

### What you get

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| `fullName` / `owner` / `name` | Repository identity |
| `description` / `homepage` / `url` | What it is and where it lives |
| `stars` / `forks` / `watchers` | Popularity signals |
| `openIssues` | Open issue count |
| `language` / `topics` | Primary language and declared topics |
| `license` | SPDX identifier where declared |
| `createdAt` / `lastPushAt` | Age and most recent activity |
| `daysSincePush` | Days since the last commit landed |
| `isStale` | True if idle longer than your threshold |
| `isArchived` / `isFork` | Archived or fork status |
| `latestRelease` / `latestReleaseAt` | Newest non-prerelease tag and date |
| `releases` | Last 5 releases with tag, name, date |

### Input

```json
{
  "repos": ["facebook/react", "https://github.com/rust-lang/rust", "apify/crawlee"],
  "includeReleases": true,
  "staleAfterDays": 180,
  "githubToken": ""
}
```

| Option | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| `repos` | required | `owner/name` or a full GitHub URL — both work |
| `includeReleases` | `true` | Attach the last 5 releases |
| `staleAfterDays` | 180 | Days of no pushes before flagging stale |
| `githubToken` | empty | Optional. Raises GitHub's limit from 60/hour to 5,000/hour |

**On the token:** you do not need one for small batches. GitHub allows 60 unauthenticated
requests per hour, which covers roughly 30 repositories with releases enabled. Beyond that,
supply a personal access token — a read-only one with no scopes is enough. If the limit is
reached the run stops cleanly and tells you when it resets, rather than silently returning junk.

### Who this is for

- **Security and platform teams** auditing dependencies for abandonment — `isStale`,
  `isArchived` and `daysSincePush` together are a solid signal
- **Engineering managers** deciding whether a library is safe to adopt
- **Investors and analysts** tracking project momentum across an ecosystem
- **Developer-tool companies** monitoring competitors
- **Anyone** comparing many repositories on the same axes at once

Pairs naturally with our **Package Registry Monitor**: that one gives you a package's repository
URL, this one tells you whether that repository is still alive.

### Honest limits

- Private repositories return `not found` unless your token can see them.
- `watchers` is the true subscriber count, not the star count GitHub sometimes shows in that field.
- A repository with no releases returns empty `releases` — common and not an error.
- Without a token, large batches will hit the rate limit. The run stops and says so.

### Pricing

Pay per event. Charged per repository resolved. Failed lookups cost nothing.

### Changelog

**1.0** — First release. Popularity, activity, releases and staleness detection.

# Actor input Schema

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

Repositories as owner/name, or full GitHub URLs. Examples: facebook/react, https://github.com/rust-lang/rust

## `includeReleases` (type: `boolean`):

Attach the last 5 releases with tag, name and publish date.

## `staleAfterDays` (type: `integer`):

Mark a repository stale if there has been no push for this many days.

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

Optional personal access token. Without one GitHub allows 60 requests per hour; with one, 5000. Only needed for large batches.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "repos": [
    "facebook/react",
    "rust-lang/rust",
    "apify/crawlee"
  ],
  "includeReleases": true,
  "staleAfterDays": 180
}
```

# Actor output Schema

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

Popularity, activity, release and licence data per repository.

## `reposCsv` (type: `string`):

The same data as a spreadsheet-ready CSV.

# 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",
        "rust-lang/rust",
        "apify/crawlee"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("sbr35/github-repo-monitor").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",
        "rust-lang/rust",
        "apify/crawlee",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("sbr35/github-repo-monitor").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",
    "rust-lang/rust",
    "apify/crawlee"
  ]
}' |
apify call sbr35/github-repo-monitor --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,sbr35/github-repo-monitor"
        }
    }
}

```

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/jwHBEcfU8SahaPhaa/builds/bVDWi4CuEbuY7BQz1/openapi.json