github-tracker

# GitHub Tracker Monitor GitHub repositories and extract project health signals, contributor data, issue trends, and competitive intelligence. Uses GitHub's public REST API — no browser required for most data. **Optional**: Set `GITHUB_TOKEN` for higher rate limits (5000 req/hr vs 60) **Output directory**: `~/Desktop/{slug}_github_{YYYY-MM-DD}/` --- ## What It Extracts ### Repository Stats - Stars, forks, watchers, open issues - Star growth over time (is momentum increasing?) - License, language breakdown - Last commit date (is it actively maintained?) ### Community Health - Number of contributors - Top contributors (by commits) - PR merge rate and response time - Issue resolution rate and time ### Release History - Recent releases and changelog - Release frequency (how often do they ship?) - Version progression ### Code Signals - Primary language - Recent commit activity (commits per week) - Open vs closed issues ratio - PR open vs merged ratio --- ## Data Sources GitHub REST API (no auth needed for public repos): | Endpoint | Data | |----------|------| | `/repos/{owner}/{repo}` | Stars, forks, watchers, language | | `/repos/{owner}/{repo}/contributors` | Contributor list + commit count | | `/repos/{owner}/{repo}/releases` | Release history | | `/repos/{owner}/{repo}/commits` | Recent commit activity | | `/repos/{owner}/{repo}/issues` | Open issues + labels | | `/repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls` | PR status | | `/repos/{owner}/{repo}/stargazers` | Star count (paginated) | --- ## Pipeline ### Step 1: Basic Repo Stats ```bash OWNER="{owner}" REPO="{repo}" AUTH_HEADER="" [ -n "$GITHUB_TOKEN" ] && AUTH_HEADER="-H 'Authorization: Bearer $GITHUB_TOKEN'" curl -s $AUTH_HEADER \ "https://api.github.com/repos/${OWNER}/${REPO}" \ | node -e " const r = JSON.parse(require('fs').readFileSync('/dev/stdin','utf8')); console.log(JSON.stringify({ stars: r.stargazers_count, forks: r.forks_count, watchers: r.watchers_count, open_issues: r.open_issues_count, language: r.language, created: r.created_at, updated: r.updated_at, license: r.license?.name, description: r.description }, null, 2)); " ``` ### Step 2: Contributors ```bash curl -s "https://api.github.com/repos/${OWNER}/${REPO}/contributors?per_page=20" \ | node -e " const c = JSON.parse(require('fs').readFileSync('/dev/stdin','utf8')); c.forEach(x => console.log(x.contributions, x.login)); " ``` ### Step 3: Recent Releases ```bash curl -s "https://api.github.com/repos/${OWNER}/${REPO}/releases?per_page=10" \ | node -e " const r = JSON.parse(require('fs').readFileSync('/dev/stdin','utf8')); r.forEach(x => console.log(x.tag_name, x.published_at, x.name)); " ``` ### Step 4: Issue Health ```bash # Open issues curl -s "https://api.github.com/repos/${OWNER}/${REPO}/issues?state=open&per_page=20" # Closed issues (for resolution rate) curl -s "https://api.github.com/repos/${OWNER}/${REPO}/issues?state=closed&per_page=20" ``` ### Step 5: Commit Frequency ```bash curl -s "https://api.github.com/repos/${OWNER}/${REPO}/stats/commit_activity" \ | node -e " const w = JSON.parse(require('fs').readFileSync('/dev/stdin','utf8')); const recent = w.slice(-12); // last 12 weeks const avg = recent.reduce((s,x) => s+x.total, 0) / recent.length; console.log('Avg commits/week (last 12w):', avg.toFixed(1)); " ``` --- ## Output Format ```markdown --- repo: {owner}/{repo} url: https://github.com/{owner}/{repo} stars: {N} forks: {N} contributors: {N} researched_at: {ISO date} --- ## Repository Health | Metric | Value | Signal | |--------|-------|--------| | Stars | {N} | {growing/flat/declining} | | Forks | {N} | {assessment} | | Open Issues | {N} | {healthy/high} | | Last Commit | {date} | {active/stale} | | Release Cadence | {N}/month | {frequent/slow} | | Avg Commits/Week | {N} | {active/declining} | ## Top Contributors | Username | Commits | Company | |----------|---------|---------| | {username} | {N} | {company if known} | ## Recent Releases | Version | Date | Key Changes | |---------|------|-------------| | {tag} | {date} | {summary} | ## Issue Trends - Open: {N} | Closed: {N} | Resolution rate: {N}% - Common issue labels: {label1}, {label2} - Avg time to close: {N} days ## Competitive Assessment | Signal | Assessment | |--------|------------| | Project health | Active / Declining / Abandoned | | Community size | Large / Medium / Small | | Enterprise ready | Yes / No / Unknown | | Commercial backing | {company or OSS} | ``` --- ## Key Use Cases 1. **Open source competitive intel** — how healthy is the competing OSS project? 2. **Dependency tracking** — is this library actively maintained? 3. **Engineering signal for sales** — "we saw you contribute to {repo}..." 4. **Hiring research** — find engineers who contribute to relevant projects 5. **Build vs buy** — is the OSS alternative worth betting on?