🚀 GitHub Profile Scraper ⚡ Extract Developer Profiles at Scale

Overview

The GitHub Profile Scraper is a powerful Apify Actor designed to extract comprehensive data from GitHub user profiles efficiently. Perfect for recruitment, developer research, competitive analysis, or building developer databases — this scraper provides detailed insights into GitHub users' professional profiles, repositories, and contributions.

✅ Bulk username processing | ✅ Comprehensive profile data | ✅ Email extraction (when public) | ✅ Repository analysis | ✅ Contribution tracking

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Complete Profile Data Extraction

• Basic Information — Name, username, bio, location, website
• Contact Details — Email addresses (when publicly visible)
• Professional Details — Company, Twitter/X handle
• Network Statistics — Followers, following counts
• Repository Data — Public repositories count, pinned repositories with details
• Activity Metrics — Contribution counts and contribution graph data
• Social Links — Website, social media profiles
• Starred Repositories — List of starred projects (when accessible)

Key Features

• Bulk Processing — Process multiple GitHub usernames in one run
• Smart Email Detection — Extracts emails using multiple methods including itemprop="email" elements (only for publicly visible emails)
• Proxy Support — Built-in Apify proxy integration for reliable scraping
• Error Handling — Robust error handling with detailed status reporting
• Clean JSON Output — Structured, ready-to-use data format
• Username Validation — Automatic username cleaning and validation with GitHub format requirements
• Format Flexibility — Accepts various username formats and automatically normalizes them

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🧾 Input Configuration

Submit an array of GitHub usernames via the input schema:

{
  "usernames": [
    "johndeveloper",
    "jane-coder", 
    "techexpert123",
    "@another-user",
    "https://github.com/some-developer"
  ],
  "max_threads": 5,
  "proxy_configuration": {
    "useApifyProxy": true,
    "apifyProxyGroups": ["RESIDENTIAL"]
  }
}

Note: The scraper automatically normalizes different username formats and validates them against GitHub's requirements. Invalid usernames will be skipped with warning messages.

Input Parameters

1. Usernames (required):

   • Array of GitHub usernames to scrape
   • Supported formats: username, @username, github.com/username, https://github.com/username
   • Username requirements: Must follow GitHub's username rules (alphanumeric characters and hyphens, no consecutive hyphens, cannot start/end with hyphen, max 39 characters)
   • Invalid usernames will be automatically filtered out with warnings

2. Max Threads (optional):

   • Number of concurrent threads for scraping (1-20)
   • Default: 5
   • Higher values = faster processing but may increase chance of rate limiting

3. Proxy Configuration (recommended):

   • Enable Apify proxy to avoid rate limiting
   • Recommended for bulk scraping operations

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📤 Output Format

Each GitHub profile returns structured data such as:

{
  "username": "johndeveloper",
  "status": "success",
  "name": "John Developer",
  "bio": "Full-stack developer passionate about open source",
  "location": "San Francisco, CA",
  "email": "john@example.com",
  "website": "https://johndeveloper.dev",
  "twitter": "john_codes",
  "followers": "1234",
  "following": "456",
  "repos_count": "42",
  "contribs": "567 contributions in the last year",
  "pinnedrepos": [
    {
      "name": "awesome-project",
      "url": "https://github.com/johndeveloper/awesome-project",
      "desc": "An innovative web application framework",
      "lang": "JavaScript",
      "stars": "2,500",
      "forks": "320"
    }
  ],
  "repos": [
    {
      "url": "https://github.com/johndeveloper/web-framework",
      "name": "web-framework",
      "desc": "Modern web development framework",
      "stars": "1850",
      "forks": "210",
      "languages": [
        {"lang": "JavaScript", "percent": "78.2%"},
        {"lang": "TypeScript", "percent": "18.5%"}
      ]
    }
  ],
  "starred_repos_list": [
    {
      "url": "https://github.com/example-org/popular-tool",
      "name": "popular-tool"
    }
  ],
  "contrib_matrix": [
    {
      "date": "2024-01-01",
      "count": "3",
      "level": "1"
    }
  ]
}

Error Handling

Failed profiles return structured error information:

{
  "username": "nonexistent-user",
  "status": "not_found",
  "message": "User not found"
}

Common Error Cases:

• not_found — User doesn't exist or profile is private
• error — Network issues or scraping errors
• Invalid usernames are filtered out before processing with warning logs

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💼 Common Use Cases

Recruitment & Talent Sourcing

• Research developer profiles and technical expertise
• Analyze contribution patterns and project involvement
• Build comprehensive talent pipelines with GitHub activity data
• Assess coding skills through repository analysis

Developer Research & Analysis

• Study open source community members and contributors
• Analyze technology trends through developer profiles
• Research competitor team structures and technical expertise
• Track developer career progression and project involvement

Lead Generation & Business Development

• Extract contact information for developer outreach
• Build databases of potential customers in tech sectors
• Identify decision-makers in technology companies
• Enrich existing contact databases with GitHub profiles

Community Building & Networking

• Find developers with specific skills or interests
• Build communities around particular technologies
• Identify potential collaborators for open source projects
• Research conference speakers and industry experts

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📊 Output & Export Options

Dataset Storage

• All extracted data stored in Apify dataset
• Each profile becomes one dataset item
• Status tracking for successful and failed extractions

Export Formats

• JSON — Raw structured data for API integration
• CSV — Spreadsheet-compatible format for analysis
• Excel — Formatted spreadsheet with profile data

Data Processing

• Clean, validated usernames
• Structured error reporting
• Comprehensive logging for troubleshooting

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⚡ Quick Start Guide

1. Configure Input:

   • Add GitHub usernames to the usernames array
   • Set desired max_threads (recommended: 5-10)
   • Enable proxy configuration for reliable scraping

2. Run the Actor:

   • Execute through Apify Console or API
   • Monitor progress through real-time logs
   • Review extracted data in the dataset

3. Export Results:

   • Download data in your preferred format
   • Integrate with your existing tools and workflows

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🛡️ Privacy & Compliance

• Public Data Only — Extracts only publicly visible profile information
• Respects Privacy Settings — Email extraction only works for publicly visible emails
• Rate Limiting — Built-in delays and proxy support to respect GitHub's terms
• Error Handling — Graceful handling of private or restricted profiles

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🔧 Technical Details

Built With

• Python & BeautifulSoup — Efficient HTML parsing and data extraction
• Apify SDK — Robust actor framework with built-in storage and proxy support
• Multi-threading — Concurrent processing for improved performance
• Request Handling — Smart retry mechanisms and error recovery

Performance

• Process hundreds of profiles per run
• Configurable concurrency for optimal speed
• Proxy rotation for reliable access
• Comprehensive error logging and recovery

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📈 Example Results

Successful Profile Extraction

{
  "username": "jane-coder",
  "status": "success",
  "name": "Jane Smith",
  "bio": "Frontend developer specializing in React and TypeScript. Open source enthusiast.",
  "location": "Austin, TX",
  "email": null,
  "website": "https://jane-codes.dev",
  "followers": "3456",
  "following": "234",
  "repos_count": "87",
  "pinnedrepos": [
    {
      "name": "react-toolkit",
      "desc": "Comprehensive React development toolkit",
      "stars": "8500",
      "lang": "TypeScript"
    }
  ]
}

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💡 Tips for Best Results

• Enable Proxies — Use Apify proxy configuration for reliable large-scale scraping
• Username Format — Ensure usernames follow GitHub's format rules:
  • Only alphanumeric characters and hyphens allowed
  • Cannot start or end with a hyphen
  • No consecutive hyphens (e.g., user--name is invalid)
  • Maximum 39 characters
  • Invalid usernames will be skipped with warnings
• Monitor Rate Limits — Use appropriate thread counts to avoid GitHub rate limiting
• Handle Private Profiles — Some data may not be available for users with privacy settings
• Email Availability — Email extraction only works for publicly visible emails (most users keep emails private)

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🆘 Support & Feedback

For questions, feature requests, or technical support:

• Visit the Apify Community Forum
• Contact us through the Apify platform
• Submit issues for improvements and bug reports

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🌟 Explore More Actors

✨ Need more scraping solutions? Discover additional actors on Apify for comprehensive web automation and data extraction. Explore our full range of tools at 🌐 Explore More Actors on Apify.

📧 For inquiries or custom development, reach out at apify@vulnv.com.