GitHub Developer Data API & Scraper
The GitHub Developer Data API returns official GitHub REST data — profiles, repos, issues and more — as clean JSON.
🤖 Using an AI assistant? Copy this link into ChatGPT / Claude / Cursor — it reads every endpoint and parameter instantly and tells you if this API fits your use case.
The primary user endpoint returns a user's login, name, bio, company, blog, location, public-repo count, followers and creation date, and the actions cover a user's repos, followers, following and gists, plus a repo's issues, pulls, commits and contributors. It is a normalized, key-managed layer over the GitHub API for developer-analytics, recruiting and open-source-intelligence tools. One ReefAPI key, one shared credit pool, the standard envelope.
Which GitHub count means what
GitHub's repository payload carries the same number under three names, and the true watcher count under a fourth, which is why star and watcher figures get swapped in so many dashboards. This engine passes the official payload through unchanged, so the confusion is inherited and worth pinning down. Every figure below was measured on 2026-08-27.
| Field | What it actually counts | Measured 2026-08-27 |
|---|---|---|
| stargazers_count | Stars | 247,904 on the React repository |
| watchers_count | Stars again, despite the name. It is not watchers | 247,904, identical to stargazers_count |
| watchers | Stars a third time | 247,904 |
| subscribers_count | The real watcher count, the accounts receiving notifications | 6,601, about 2.7% of the star count |
| forks_count, forks, network_count | Forks, under three names | 51,254 in all three |
| open_issues_count and open_issues | Open issues plus open pull requests, counted together | 1,273 |
| license | An object with key, name, spdx_id, url, node_id. An unrecognized license is key "other", spdx_id "NOASSERTION", url null | React returned mit / MIT; torvalds/linux returned other / NOASSERTION |
| default_branch | Per repository, and not always main | React "main"; torvalds/linux "master" |
| node_id | Base64 of "010:Repository<id>" | MDEwOlJlcG9zaXRvcnkxMDI3MDI1MA== decodes to 010:Repository10270250 |
| full_name | Follows renames and transfers, so it can differ from the owner/repo you sent | Asking for facebook/react returned full_name "react/react", id 10270250 |
| parent and source | Present only when fork is true, absent otherwise | gaearon/react returned both, pointing at react/react |
repo_languages returns byte counts per language, and an empty object {} when a repository holds no code: github/gitignore returned {} while torvalds/linux returned 1,451,242,427 bytes of C. An empty object there is a valid answer, not a failure.
Real request and response JSON
Captured from the indexed primary action, user, on .
{
"method": "POST",
"url": "https://api.reefapi.com/github/v1/user",
"headers": {
"x-api-key": "$REEF_KEY",
"content-type": "application/json"
},
"body": {
"username": "torvalds"
}
}{
"ok": true,
"meta": {
"api": "github",
"endpoint": "user",
"mode": "live",
"latency_ms": 502.5,
"record_count": 1,
"bytes": 1224,
"cache_hit": false,
"rate_limit": 5000,
"rate_limit_remaining": 4996,
"rate_limit_used": 4,
"rate_limit_reset": 1784398550,
"rate_limit_resource": "core",
"has_more": false,
"auth_tier": "token"
},
"data": {
"login": "torvalds",
"id": 1024025,
"node_id": "MDQ6VXNlcjEwMjQwMjU=",
"avatar_url": "https://avatars.githubusercontent.com/u/1024025?v=4",
"gravatar_id": "",
"url": "https://api.github.com/users/torvalds",
"html_url": "https://github.com/torvalds",
"followers_url": "https://api.github.com/users/torvalds/followers",
"following_url": "https://api.github.com/users/torvalds/following{/other_user}",
"gists_url": "https://api.github.com/users/torvalds/gists{/gist_id}",
"starred_url": "https://api.github.com/users/torvalds/starred{/owner}{/repo}",
"subscriptions_url": "https://api.github.com/users/torvalds/subscriptions",
"organizations_url": "https://api.github.com/users/torvalds/orgs",
"repos_url": "https://api.github.com/users/torvalds/repos",
"events_url": "https://api.github.com/users/torvalds/events{/privacy}",
"received_events_url": "https://api.github.com/users/torvalds/received_events",
"type": "User",
"user_view_type": "public",
"site_admin": false,
"name": "[redacted-name]",
"company": "Linux Foundation",
"blog": "",
"location": "Portland, OR",
"email": null,
"hireable": null,
"bio": null,
"twitter_username": null,
"public_repos": 12,
"public_gists": 1,
"followers": 312266,
"following": 0,
"created_at": "[redacted-phone]T15:26:22Z",
"updated_at": "[redacted-phone]T07:26:01Z"
}
}What the GitHub Developer Data API does
| Action | Description | Concrete use case | Key params |
|---|---|---|---|
| user | GitHub user profile | Platform and DevOps teams call user to get gitHub user profile. | username, anon_tier |
| user_repos | repositories owned by a user | Security and supply-chain teams call user_repos to get repositories owned by a user. | username, type, sort, direction, page, ... |
| user_followers | followers for a user | Developer-tool builders call user_followers to get followers for a user. | username, page, per_page, cursor |
| user_following | accounts followed by a user | AI-agent developers call user_following to get accounts followed by a user. | username, page, per_page, cursor |
| user_gists | public gists for a user | Platform and DevOps teams call user_gists to get public gists for a user. | username, page, per_page, cursor |
| repo | repository metadata | Security and supply-chain teams call repo to get repository metadata. | owner, repo |
| repo_issues | repository issues | Developer-tool builders call repo_issues to get repository issues. | owner, repo, state, since, sort, ... |
| repo_pulls | repository pull requests | AI-agent developers call repo_pulls to get repository pull requests. | owner, repo, state, sort, direction, ... |
| repo_commits | repository commits | Platform and DevOps teams call repo_commits to get repository commits. | owner, repo, sha, path, author, ... |
| repo_contributors | repository contributors | Security and supply-chain teams call repo_contributors to get repository contributors. | owner, repo, anon, page, per_page, ... |
| repo_releases | repository releases | Developer-tool builders call repo_releases to get repository releases. | owner, repo, page, per_page, cursor |
| repo_stargazers | recent stargazers of a repository | AI-agent developers call repo_stargazers to get recent stargazers of a repository. | owner, repo, page, per_page |
| repo_forks | repository forks | Platform and DevOps teams call repo_forks to get repository forks. | owner, repo, sort, page, per_page, ... |
| repo_languages | repository language byte counts | Security and supply-chain teams call repo_languages to get repository language byte counts. | owner, repo |
| repo_contents | repository content metadata for a path | Developer-tool builders call repo_contents to get repository content metadata for a path. | owner, repo, path, ref |
| repo_readme | repository README metadata/content URL | AI-agent developers call repo_readme to get repository README metadata/content URL. | owner, repo, ref |
| org | organization profile | Platform and DevOps teams call org to get organization profile. | org |
| org_repos | organization repositories | Security and supply-chain teams call org_repos to get organization repositories. | org, type, sort, direction, page, ... |
| org_members | public organization members | Developer-tool builders call org_members to get public organization members. | org, filter, role, page, per_page, ... |
| search_repos | search repositories | AI-agent developers call search_repos to search repositories. | q, sort, order, page, per_page |
| search_users | search users | Platform and DevOps teams call search_users to search users. | q, sort, order, page, per_page |
| search_code | search code (token required by GitHub) | Security and supply-chain teams call search_code to search code (token required by GitHub). | q, sort, order, page, per_page |
| search_issues | search issues and pull requests | Developer-tool builders call search_issues to search issues and pull requests. | q, sort, order, page, per_page |
| search_topics | search GitHub topics | AI-agent developers call search_topics to search GitHub topics. | q, page, per_page |
| search_commits | search commits across GitHub | Platform and DevOps teams call search_commits to search commits across GitHub. | q, sort, order, page, per_page |
| repo_branches | repository branches | Security and supply-chain teams call repo_branches to get repository branches. | owner, repo, page, per_page, cursor |
| repo_tags | repository tags | Developer-tool builders call repo_tags to get repository tags. | owner, repo, page, per_page, cursor |
| repo_topics | repository topics (labels) | AI-agent developers call repo_topics to get repository topics (labels). | owner, repo |
| issue_detail | single issue detail | Platform and DevOps teams call issue_detail to get single issue detail. | owner, repo, number |
| issue_comments | comments on an issue or PR | Security and supply-chain teams call issue_comments to get comments on an issue or PR. | owner, repo, number, since, page, ... |
| pull_detail | single pull request detail | Developer-tool builders call pull_detail to get single pull request detail. | owner, repo, number |
| pull_reviews | reviews on a pull request | AI-agent developers call pull_reviews to get reviews on a pull request. | owner, repo, number, page, per_page, ... |
| pull_files | files changed in a pull request | Platform and DevOps teams call pull_files to get files changed in a pull request. | owner, repo, number, page, per_page, ... |
| pull_commits | commits in a pull request | Security and supply-chain teams call pull_commits to get commits in a pull request. | owner, repo, number, page, per_page, ... |
| commit_detail | single commit detail with diff stats and changed files | Developer-tool builders call commit_detail to get single commit detail with diff stats and changed files. | owner, repo, sha |
| user_events | public activity events for a user | AI-agent developers call user_events to get public activity events for a user. | username, page, per_page, cursor |
| user_orgs | organizations a user belongs to (public) | Platform and DevOps teams call user_orgs to get organizations a user belongs to (public). | username, page, per_page, cursor |
| user_starred | repositories a user has starred | Security and supply-chain teams call user_starred to get repositories a user has starred. | username, sort, direction, page, per_page, ... |
| rate_limit | current token/IP rate-limit status | Developer-tool builders call rate_limit to get current token/IP rate-limit status. | none |
Call user from your stack
curl -X POST https://api.reefapi.com/github/v1/user \
-H "x-api-key: $REEF_KEY" \
-H "content-type: application/json" \
-d '{"username":"torvalds"}'import requests
r = requests.post(
"https://api.reefapi.com/github/v1/user",
headers={"x-api-key": REEF_KEY},
json={
"username": "torvalds"
},
)
print(r.json()["data"])const res = await fetch("https://api.reefapi.com/github/v1/user", {
method: "POST",
headers: {
"x-api-key": process.env.REEF_KEY,
"content-type": "application/json",
},
body: JSON.stringify({
"username": "torvalds"
}),
});
const { ok, data, meta, error } = await res.json();Ask your MCP-connected assistant: call reefapi.github.user with {"username":"torvalds"}.Who uses this API and why
- Developer-analytics tools call user and user_repos to profile a developer's activity and stack.
- Technical recruiters use user_repos and repo_contributors to find and evaluate open-source talent.
- OSS-intelligence products use repo_issues and repo_commits to track a project's health and velocity.
Questions developers ask before integrating
Does watchers_count mean the number of watchers?
No, and this is GitHub's own long-standing quirk rather than something this API introduces. Measured on 2026-08-27, the React repository returned stargazers_count 247,904, watchers_count 247,904 and watchers 247,904, three names for the star count. The number of accounts actually watching the repository is subscribers_count, which was 6,601. If a chart shows identical star and watcher lines, this is why.
Why does full_name come back different from the owner and repo I sent?
Because GitHub follows renames and transfers, and so does this engine. Asking for owner facebook and repo react on 2026-08-27 returned full_name "react/react" with owner login "react" and id 10270250: the same repository, at its current location. The numeric id is the stable identifier across a move; full_name and html_url are not. Read full_name back from the response rather than assuming the string you sent.
Are pull requests included in repo_issues?
Yes. GitHub treats every pull request as an issue, so repo_issues returns both, and open_issues_count counts both as well. The way to tell them apart is the pull_request key, which exists only on PR rows: on one measured page of facebook/react, 7 of 8 rows carried it, along with a draft boolean. Filter those rows out if you want issues only, and expect your count to be smaller than open_issues_count says.
What is different about a fork?
fork is true and two extra objects appear: parent, the repository it was forked from, and source, the root of the fork network. Measured on gaearon/react, both pointed at react/react. Neither key is present at all on a non-fork, so check for existence rather than for null. A fork's own counts are its own: that fork reported 87 stars and 26 forks, nothing inherited from the 247,904-star parent.
Why does repo_stargazers return only a handful of users for a popular repository?
GitHub restricted the full stargazer list to repository admins and collaborators on 2026-06-30, so these rows are rebuilt from the repository's public event stream, which GitHub caps at roughly 300 events and 90 days. meta says so explicitly, with coverage "recent_only" and events_scanned. On React that meant the three returned rows had starred_at timestamps inside the previous hour, against an authoritative meta.stargazer_count of 247,904. Use meta.stargazer_count for the total and treat the rows as a recent-activity feed.
How do I read a README or a file, and why is it base64?
repo_readme and repo_contents return GitHub's content metadata, which encodes the file body rather than inlining it: content is base64 with encoding set to "base64", plus name, path, sha, size in bytes and download_url. React's README measured 5,317 bytes. Decode content yourself, or fetch download_url for the raw file. Pointing repo_contents at a directory returns a list of entries with name, path, type and size instead of a single file object.
What rate limit applies, and how do I see what is left?
Every response carries GitHub's own limit in meta: rate_limit, rate_limit_remaining, rate_limit_used, rate_limit_reset as a unix timestamp, and rate_limit_resource. Authenticated calls measured on 2026-08-27 showed rate_limit 5000 against the core resource. Search is metered separately by GitHub under its own resource, and is additionally capped at the first 1,000 results per query however you page, so a search reporting a large total_count will still stop handing you rows at 1,000.
How does pagination work across the list actions?
Every list action takes page (1-based) and per_page (1 to 100, default 100), and meta answers with has_more, next_page and an opaque next_cursor. The cursor is the more reliable of the two for long or fast-changing lists, and is passed straight back in the cursor parameter. The search_ actions ignore cursor entirely and page by number only. repo, org, user, repo_languages and repo_readme return a single object and take no pagination at all.
What is the GitHub Developer Data API?
GitHub Developer Data API is a ReefAPI endpoint group for github developer data It returns live JSON through POST requests under /github/v1.
Is the GitHub Developer Data API free to try?
Yes. ReefAPI starts with 1,000 free credits, no card required. GitHub Developer Data calls use the same shared credit balance as every other ReefAPI engine.
Do I need a GitHub Developer Data login or account?
No login to GitHub Developer Data is needed for the API response. You call ReefAPI with your x-api-key header, and the playground can run live examples before you create a production key.
How fresh is the GitHub Developer Data data?
The page example is captured from a live user call, and production requests fetch live data through ReefAPI rather than a static sample.
How many credits does the GitHub Developer Data API use?
GitHub Developer Data actions currently cost 1-3 credits per successful call. Failed or blocked calls are free, and all APIs draw from one credit pool.
Can I call GitHub Developer Data from an AI assistant or MCP client?
Yes. Connect ReefAPI once through MCP and your assistant can call github actions with the same key, credit pool and JSON envelope used by normal REST requests.