Scrape GitHub Repository Data: stars, forks, license

Scrape GitHub repository data for up to 500 repositories per run: stars, forks, watchers, open issues, primary language, license, topics, default branch, size, homepage, created and last push dates, and the archived and fork flags. No profiles, no emails. Pay per repository.

Why this scraper

• Only delivered results are charged. A repository that does not exist, or a request the rate limit refuses, comes back as a clear error row at no cost.
• GitHub's own API, not the web page. One repository is a 6 KB JSON call, so a list of 500 is a few seconds of runtime rather than 500 page loads. Nothing here is scraped from HTML, so a redesign of github.com cannot break it.
• watchers is the real number. GitHub's watchers_count is a copy of the star count; this actor reports subscribers_count, the people who actually asked for notifications. Measured on python/cpython, 19-09-2026: 77,217 stars, 77,217 in watchers_count, and 1,656 actual subscribers. Anything that copies watchers_count reports the star count twice.
• No profiles, no e-mail addresses, no contributor lists. The owner name is the namespace from the URL, nothing more.

Who this is for

Anyone holding a list of repositories who needs the same columns for all of them: comparing libraries before picking one, keeping a dashboard of the projects a team depends on, checking licences across a dependency list, or watching whether a project is still maintained (pushedAt and isArchived answer that in one column each).

Who this is not for

Private repositories: this actor reads only what is public, and a token with private access changes nothing about that. Commits, issues, pull requests, releases and contributor lists are not delivered. Neither are people: no profiles, no e-mail addresses, no follower counts. Without a token GitHub allows 60 requests per hour per IP, so a list longer than that needs your own token, which lifts it to 5,000.

Input fields

Field	Type	Required or default	What it does
repos	list of text	required	One per row, up to 500: 'owner/name' or a GitHub URL (https://github.com/python/cpython).
githubToken	text	your own key	Your own GitHub token lifts the limit from 60 to 5,000 requests per hour. Leave empty for small lists. The token is only used for these requests.

Input example

{
    "repos": [
        "python/cpython",
        "https://github.com/apify/crawlee-python"
    ],
    "githubToken": ""
}

Output example

Field	Type	What it holds	Example
fullName	text	The repository as owner/name, the way it is addressed everywhere.
owner	text	The user or organisation that owns the repository; fullName holds owner and name together.
name	text	The repository name without the owner.	cpython
url	text	The repository page on GitHub.	https://github.com/python/cpython
description	text	Filled when the repository has a description; empty when the owner left it blank.	The Python programming language
stars	number	How many stars the repository has, the usual measure of its reach.	77365
forks	number	How many times it has been forked.	37028
watchers	number	How many people subscribed to notifications. GitHub's own watchers_count is a copy of the star count; this column holds subscribers_count, which is the real number.	1655
openIssues	number	How many issues and pull requests are open; GitHub counts both together here.	9745
language	text	The language GitHub counts as the largest in the repository; empty for a repository with no code it recognises.	Python
license	text	Filled when GitHub recognises a licence file; empty for a repository without one, which matters for reuse.	Other
topics	list	The topics the owner set; empty for a repository without any.	["apify", "automation"]
defaultBranch	text	The branch a clone lands on, usually main or master.	main
sizeKb	number	The repository size as GitHub reports it, in kilobytes.	881037
homepage	text	Filled when the owner set a homepage on the repository.	https://www.python.org
createdAt	text	When the repository was created, in UTC.	2017-02-10T19:23:51Z
pushedAt	text	The last push, which says more about activity than updatedAt: metadata changes move updatedAt too.	2026-09-30T05:47:43Z
updatedAt	text	The last change of any kind, including settings and description.	2026-09-30T06:27:25Z
isArchived	true/false	Whether the owner archived the repository, which means it is read-only.	False
isFork	true/false	Whether the repository is a fork of another one.	False
isTemplate	true/false	Whether the repository is marked as a template to start from.	False
hasIssues	true/false	Whether the issue tracker is switched on.	True
hasWiki	true/false	Whether the wiki is switched on.	False

{
    "fullName": "python/cpython",
    "owner": "python",
    "name": "cpython",
    "url": "https://github.com/python/cpython",
    "description": "The Python programming language",
    "stars": 77217,
    "forks": 35906,
    "watchers": 1656,
    "openIssues": 9686,
    "language": "Python",
    "license": "Other",
    "topics": [],
    "defaultBranch": "main",
    "isArchived": false,
    "isFork": false,
    "status": "ok"
}

Every row carries every column. A repository that does not exist returns a NOT_FOUND row with the data columns empty, and is not charged.

Error codes: INVALID_REPO, NOT_FOUND, RATE_LIMITED, FETCH_FAILED.

Related actors from steadydata

• website-tech-stack: which technologies a project's own site runs on
• sec-edgar-filings: the filings of the company behind a repository
• hacker-news-search: what was said about a project on Hacker News

Pricing

Pay per event: one repo-detailed event per delivered result. No charge for inputs that fail, no separate platform-usage surcharge.

Free Apify plan: this actor delivers up to 25 rows per run for accounts on the Apify free plan, and then stops with a message. That limit is set by us, not by Apify. It exists so the actor keeps paying for itself for the people who do pay. Any paid Apify plan runs it at full size, billed per delivered row, with failed rows never charged.

Reviews: if this actor saves you time, a short review on this page is the one thing that helps most. Ratings are what other buyers look at first, and we have no other way to ask.

FAQ

Do I need a token? Not for a short list. Without one, GitHub allows 60 requests per hour per IP address, which is 60 repositories. With your own token that becomes 5,000 per hour. The token field is stored encrypted by Apify and is used for nothing but these requests.

What happens when a repository does not exist, or was renamed? A renamed repository is followed by GitHub itself, so you get the new name in fullName. One that is gone or was made private comes back as a NOT_FOUND error row, and is not charged.

Why does watchers differ from the number on the GitHub page? Because the page shows stars there. GitHub's API field watchers_count is a copy of stargazers_count; the real subscriber count is subscribers_count, and that is what this column holds.

Is personal data collected? No. The owner name is the namespace in the repository URL, which is also in every link to it. No profiles, no e-mail addresses, no contributor lists, no follower counts.

Can I get commits, issues or releases? Not with this actor. It delivers repository-level facts only, one row per repository.

What happens when the source changes? Sources change from time to time; that is the nature of this work. The actor is monitored daily and fixed fast, and while it is broken you are not charged, because only delivered results cost anything.