# GitHub Scraper (`opendata-labs/github-scraper`) Actor

Extract GitHub user profiles and repositories via the official GitHub API. Build developer lead lists for tech
recruiting, B2B prospecting and market research. Clean structured data (JSON/CSV).

- **URL**: https://apify.com/opendata-labs/github-scraper.md
- **Developed by:** [Joao Paulo](https://apify.com/opendata-labs) (community)
- **Categories:** Lead generation, Developer tools, Jobs
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.00 / 1,000 results

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/platform/actors/running/actors-in-store#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 Scraper

Extract GitHub user profiles and repositories at scale through the official GitHub REST API.
Build developer lead lists, power tech-recruiting pipelines, and run market research — clean rows, no HTML parsing, no breakage.

### What it does

This GitHub Scraper queries the official **GitHub REST API** (`https://api.github.com`) and returns structured data in four modes:

- **Search users** — find developer profiles by query (e.g. `location:berlin language:python`) and enrich each with full profile details.
- **User profiles** — fetch complete profiles for a list of usernames.
- **User repositories** — list all repositories owned by given usernames.
- **Search repositories** — find repos by query (e.g. `machine-learning stars:>1000`).

Results are flattened into clean, spreadsheet-ready rows and stored in the dataset (export to JSON, CSV, Excel, or API).

### Features

- Four scraping modes covering both **GitHub users** and **GitHub repositories**.
- Optional **GitHub token** support — raises the rate limit from 60 to 5000 requests/hour.
- Automatic pagination across result pages.
- Rate-limit aware: reads `X-RateLimit-Remaining` and stops gracefully instead of crashing.
- Profile enrichment in user search (name, company, location, public email, bio, followers).
- `maxItems` cap to control run size and cost.
- Polite request pacing with retries on transient errors.

### Input

| Field | Type | Description |
|-------|------|-------------|
| `mode` | enum | `search_users`, `user_profile`, `user_repos`, or `search_repos`. |
| `query` | string | Search query for `search_users` / `search_repos`. Supports GitHub search qualifiers. |
| `usernames` | array | List of GitHub usernames for `user_profile` / `user_repos`. |
| `githubToken` | string (secret) | Optional. A read-only token raises the rate limit to 5000 req/h. |
| `maxItems` | integer | Maximum rows to return. Default `1000`. |

#### Example input

```json
{
  "mode": "search_users",
  "query": "location:berlin language:python",
  "maxItems": 500
}
```

### Output

#### User row (lead-gen use case)

```json
{
  "login": "torvalds",
  "name": "Linus Torvalds",
  "company": "Linux Foundation",
  "location": "Portland, OR",
  "email": null,
  "blog": null,
  "bio": null,
  "followers": 200000,
  "following": 0,
  "publicRepos": 8,
  "profileUrl": "https://github.com/torvalds",
  "createdAt": "2011-09-03T15:26:22Z"
}
```

#### Repository row

```json
{
  "fullName": "facebook/react",
  "description": "The library for web and native user interfaces.",
  "language": "JavaScript",
  "stars": 225000,
  "forks": 46000,
  "openIssues": 700,
  "topics": ["react", "javascript", "frontend", "ui"],
  "htmlUrl": "https://github.com/facebook/react",
  "updatedAt": "2026-06-28T10:00:00Z",
  "ownerLogin": "facebook"
}
```

### Use cases

- **Developer lead generation & tech recruiting** — source candidates by location, language, and activity, complete with public contact details.
- **B2B prospecting** — find companies and maintainers behind popular tools and libraries.
- **Market & ecosystem research** — track repositories, languages, stars, and trends in any technology niche.
- **AI training data** — collect structured datasets of profiles and repositories for analysis or model training.

### Why this actor

- **Official GitHub REST API** — stable, documented, and compliant. No fragile HTML scraping that breaks on UI changes.
- **Higher limits when you need them** — drop in an optional token to go from 60 to 5000 requests/hour.
- **Clean, ready-to-use output** — flattened rows that drop straight into your CRM, ATS, or spreadsheet.

***

**Search terms:** GitHub scraper, GitHub API, scrape GitHub users, developer leads, GitHub profiles, tech recruiting data.

# Actor input Schema

## `mode` (type: `string`):

What to scrape. 'search\_users' and 'user\_profile' return developer profiles (great for recruiting and lead gen). 'user\_repos' and 'search\_repos' return repositories.

## `query` (type: `string`):

GitHub search query. Used by 'search\_users' and 'search\_repos'. Supports GitHub search qualifiers, e.g. 'location:berlin language:python' for users, or 'machine-learning stars:>1000' for repositories.

## `usernames` (type: `array`):

List of GitHub usernames (logins). Used by 'user\_profile' and 'user\_repos'.

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

Optional GitHub personal access token. Without a token GitHub limits you to 60 requests/hour; with a token the limit rises to 5000 requests/hour. A read-only token with no scopes is enough.

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

Maximum number of rows to push to the dataset. The actor stops once this limit is reached.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "mode": "user_profile",
  "query": "location:berlin language:python",
  "usernames": [
    "torvalds",
    "gaearon"
  ],
  "maxItems": 1000
}
```

# 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 = {
    "query": "location:berlin language:python",
    "usernames": [
        "torvalds",
        "gaearon"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("opendata-labs/github-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 = {
    "query": "location:berlin language:python",
    "usernames": [
        "torvalds",
        "gaearon",
    ],
}

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("opendata-labs/github-scraper").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print("💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/" + run["defaultDatasetId"])
for item in client.dataset(run["defaultDatasetId"]).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "query": "location:berlin language:python",
  "usernames": [
    "torvalds",
    "gaearon"
  ]
}' |
apify call opendata-labs/github-scraper --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "command": "npx",
            "args": [
                "mcp-remote",
                "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=opendata-labs/github-scraper",
                "--header",
                "Authorization: Bearer <YOUR_API_TOKEN>"
            ]
        }
    }
}

```

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/acts/mmHnRbkJ4olZfFXUH/builds/Qlxr0AUCiYa6UbdQe/openapi.json