# GitHub Release Notes & Changelog Scraper (`w3crawler/github-changelogs-scraper`) Actor

- **URL**: https://apify.com/w3crawler/github-changelogs-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [w3crawler](https://apify.com/w3crawler) (community)
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $2.99 / 1,000 release notes

This Actor is paid per event and usage. You are charged both the fixed price for specific events and for Apify platform usage.

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 Release Notes & Changelog Scraper

Collect public GitHub release records for one or more repositories. The Actor reads the public releases listing, follows the next-page link for bounded pagination, and can enrich selected rows with the corresponding public release-detail page. It does not require a GitHub token and does not access private repositories, authenticated pages, CAPTCHA-protected pages, or undocumented APIs.

### What it extracts

Each normal dataset row represents one published GitHub release and can include the repository, release title and URL, tag, author, source timestamps, release notes, structured note sections, tag commit, compare information, commit messages with repository-scoped pull-request metadata, security-advisory links, release assets, and source-page provenance. The Atom feed remains a bounded compatibility fallback when a public releases listing cannot be parsed. The normal output contract intentionally avoids internal record labels, transport flags, retry counters, and other instrumentation fields.

When a listing or feed request fails, the run summary in the `OUTPUT_SUMMARY` key-value record keeps the operational outcome. Set `includeDiagnostics` to `true` only when a minimal diagnostic row is useful; such rows contain `url`, `error`, `errorCode`, and `scrapedAt`, and never masquerade as release records. Detail-page failures keep the listing row and are counted in `detailFailures`.

### Input

The default input targets `nodejs/node`, collects up to 20 releases across two listing pages, enriches up to 20 detail pages, includes commits and assets, and keeps GitHub's newest-first source order. `repositories` accepts up to 50 public `owner/name` values or public GitHub repository URLs. `maxItems` is the final row bound. `maxPages` is the per-repository listing-page bound, while `maxDetailItems`, `maxCommits`, and `maxAssets` bound enrichment work. Set `includeDetails` to `false` for a listing-only run. Set `sortBy` to `oldest` to sort the selected rows by public release timestamps. `requestDelayMs`, `maxRequestRetries`, and `requestTimeoutSecs` provide bounded request pacing and timeout controls.

All limits are enforced locally: `maxItems` 1–1000, `maxPages` 1–20, detail pages 0–1000, commits 0–200 per release, assets 0–100 per release, retries 0–4, and timeouts 5–120 seconds. Input keys outside the schema are rejected. A `fixtureFile` is an explicit repository-relative test fixture and is never used as a silent live fallback.

#### Minimal input

```json
{
  "repositories": ["nodejs/node"],
  "maxItems": 20
}
```

#### Multi-repository pagination input

```json
{
  "repositories": ["nodejs/node", "python/cpython"],
  "maxItems": 40,
  "maxPages": 4,
  "maxDetailItems": 12,
  "requestDelayMs": 250
}
```

#### Listing-only input

```json
{
  "repositories": ["example/project"],
  "maxItems": 10,
  "includeDetails": false,
  "includeCommits": false,
  "includeAssets": false
}
```

#### Synthetic fixture input

```json
{
  "repositories": ["example/sample"],
  "maxItems": 2,
  "includeDetails": false,
  "fixtureFile": "fixtures/sample.xml"
}
```

The fixture is synthetic and exists for deterministic local validation; live runs use GitHub's public web pages. You can download the dataset in various formats such as JSON, HTML, CSV, or Excel.

### Output examples

#### Release row

```json
{
  "repository": "nodejs/node",
  "repositoryUrl": "https://github.com/nodejs/node",
  "releaseId": "release-v26.8.1",
  "releaseTitle": "Version 26.8.1",
  "releaseUrl": "https://github.com/nodejs/node/releases/tag/v26.8.1",
  "tagName": "v26.8.1",
  "releaseStatus": "latest",
  "publishedAt": "2026-08-26T22:10:37Z",
  "author": { "login": "aduh95", "url": "https://github.com/aduh95" },
  "releaseNotes": "Notable Changes ...",
  "commits": [{
    "sha": "7be6d3a",
    "url": "https://github.com/nodejs/node/commit/7be6d3a",
    "message": "src: improve release handling",
    "pullRequestNumber": 65568,
    "pullRequestUrl": "https://github.com/nodejs/node/pull/65568"
  }],
  "sourceUrl": "https://github.com/nodejs/node/releases",
  "pageNumber": 1,
  "scrapedAt": "2026-08-28T10:00:00.000Z"
}
```

#### Optional diagnostic row

```json
{
  "url": "https://github.com/example/project/releases",
  "error": "GitHub returned HTTP 429",
  "errorCode": "RATE_LIMITED_OR_BLOCKED",
  "scrapedAt": "2026-08-28T10:00:00.000Z"
}
```

### Run summary

`OUTPUT_SUMMARY` contains `status`, `source`, repositories, item counts, whether normal data was available, pages and requests processed, detail failures, fallback usage, error count, and start/completion timestamps. This is the right place to inspect operational coverage without adding debug fields to every dataset row.

### Responsible use

Use the Actor only for public GitHub content and respect GitHub's terms, robots guidance, and request limits. Keep pagination and detail bounds reasonable, use request pacing for larger runs, and do not attempt to bypass access controls. The Actor reports blocked or rate-limited sources honestly instead of fabricating release data.

# Actor input Schema

## `repositories` (type: `array`):

Public GitHub repositories in owner/name form, or public GitHub repository/release URLs.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Maximum dataset rows.

## `maxPages` (type: `integer`):

Maximum releases-list pages to follow using GitHub's next-page link.

## `includeDetails` (type: `boolean`):

Fetch selected release pages for notes, commits, tags, assets, and security references.

## `maxDetailItems` (type: `integer`):

Bound the number of release detail pages requested.

## `includeCommits` (type: `boolean`):

Include commit links observed on release pages.

## `maxCommits` (type: `integer`):

Bound commit links retained for each release.

## `includeAssets` (type: `boolean`):

Include public source archive asset links when present.

## `maxAssets` (type: `integer`):

Bound public asset links retained for each release.

## `sortBy` (type: `string`):

Keep GitHub's newest-first order or sort selected rows oldest-first.

## `includeDiagnostics` (type: `boolean`):

Emit a minimal diagnostic row for a failed listing or fallback request.

## `requestDelayMs` (type: `integer`):

Pause between public GitHub requests.

## `maxRequestRetries` (type: `integer`):

Bound retries for rate-limited or transient requests.

## `requestTimeoutSecs` (type: `integer`):

Timeout for each public GitHub request.

## `fixtureFile` (type: `string`):

Optional repository-relative Atom, releases-listing HTML, or release-detail HTML fixture.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "repositories": [
    "nodejs/node"
  ],
  "maxItems": 20,
  "maxPages": 2,
  "includeDetails": true,
  "maxDetailItems": 20,
  "includeCommits": true,
  "maxCommits": 50,
  "includeAssets": true,
  "maxAssets": 20,
  "sortBy": "newest",
  "includeDiagnostics": false,
  "requestDelayMs": 0,
  "maxRequestRetries": 2,
  "requestTimeoutSecs": 30
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `dataset` (type: `string`):

No description

## `runSummary` (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 = {};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("w3crawler/github-changelogs-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 = {}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("w3crawler/github-changelogs-scraper").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 '{}' |
apify call w3crawler/github-changelogs-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,w3crawler/github-changelogs-scraper"
        }
    }
}
```

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/IQ6YdOa2UUkoRuRkM/builds/DabTtL6TKLnr77HbJ/openapi.json