# GitHub Repo Details: stars, forks, license, topics, bulk (`steadydata/github-repo-details`) Actor

Details of any public GitHub repository, up to 500 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, from GitHub's own API. No profiles, no emails. Pay per repository.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/steadydata/github-repo-details.md
- **Developed by:** [Steadydata Team](https://apify.com/steadydata) (community)
- **Categories:** Developer tools, Business, Automation
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

$0.40 / 1,000 repository detaileds

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?

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 Repo Details: stars, forks, license, topics, bulk

Details of any public GitHub repository, up to 500 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, from GitHub's own API. 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 example

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

### Output example

```json
{
    "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.

### Output fields

- `fullName`
- `owner`
- `name`
- `url`
- `description`
- `stars`
- `forks`
- `watchers`
- `openIssues`
- `language`
- `license`
- `topics`
- `defaultBranch`
- `sizeKb`
- `homepage`
- `createdAt`
- `pushedAt`
- `updatedAt`
- `isArchived`
- `isFork`
- `isTemplate`
- `hasIssues`
- `hasWiki`

Error codes: `INVALID_REPO`, `NOT_FOUND`, `RATE_LIMITED`, `FETCH_FAILED`.

### Related actors from steadydata

- [website-tech-stack](https://apify.com/steadydata/website-tech-stack): which technologies a project's own site runs on
- [sec-edgar-filings](https://apify.com/steadydata/sec-edgar-filings): the filings of the company behind a repository
- hacker-news-search (publishing soon): 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.

# Changelog

This Actor's version history is a separate document: https://apify.com/steadydata/github-repo-details/changelog.md

# Actor input Schema

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

One per row, up to 500: 'owner/name' or a GitHub URL (https://github.com/python/cpython).

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

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.

## Actor input object example

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

# 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": [
        "python/cpython",
        "https://github.com/apify/crawlee-python"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("steadydata/github-repo-details").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": [
        "python/cpython",
        "https://github.com/apify/crawlee-python",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("steadydata/github-repo-details").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": [
    "python/cpython",
    "https://github.com/apify/crawlee-python"
  ]
}' |
apify call steadydata/github-repo-details --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

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

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/OfaDz2zwPqHspZI6U/builds/Z3Agzy7F29EuaNf1E/openapi.json