gh-repo-stats-server

README

daily-stars-explorer

Table of Contents

• Introduction
• Features
• Project Limitations
• Contributing

Introduction

Do you ever wonder about the complete history of stars for GitHub repositories? GitHub's REST APIs come with certain limitations, allowing you to retrieve only up to 40,000 stars per repository. For those tracking a repository with more stars, this limitation can be quite frustrating.

Don't be blinded by stars! While they show popularity, they don't guarantee quality.
Underdog libraries with amazing potential often have low counts.
Remember, even high-starred repos can fizzle out - stars can decline, too!
In my quest for code, I've found hidden gems with few stars that were perfect, while some popular choices were bloated or on the way down.
A growing or stable star count, rather than just a total high number, suggests sustainable interest and community engagement.

Single repo

https://github.com/emanuelef/daily-stars-explorer/assets/48717/f5e96d63-3807-43fb-9838-3de56355124e

https://emanuelef.github.io/daily-stars-explorer/#/kubernetes/kubernetes

Compare

https://github.com/emanuelef/daily-stars-explorer/assets/48717/9b14f989-ffc2-4b54-a17c-03284f0327f5

https://emanuelef.github.io/daily-stars-explorer/#/compare

Run in Docker

docker run --restart=always --env-file .env -d -p 8080:8080 ghcr.io/emanuelef/daily-stars-explorer:latest

Articles

• How to get full history of GitHub stars
• Building a Cost-Free, Always-On Personal Project Stack
• Introducing My GitHub Stars History Project: Unlocking the Full Star Story Beyond 40K and Daily Trends

Features

Full History of Stars

My project offers you the ability to access the full history of stars for a GitHub repository. It not only shows you the stars per day but also provides a cumulative stars graph. This way, you can visualize how a repository's popularity has evolved over time.

Generate CSV and JSON

Easily save the star history as CSV or JSON files, with a daily and cumulative star count for each day since the repository's creation.

Caching and Data Refresh

To keep things efficient, I've implemented a caching mechanism. Once you've fetched the history of stars, the data is cached for seven days. During this period, you have the option to refresh the data up to the current day. Please note that the graph will display data up to the last complete UTC day.

Compare Repositories

For those curious about how two repositories stack up against each other, my project offers a comparison feature. While stars might not be the sole determinant of a project's worth, this comparison can provide valuable insights.

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Project Limitations

Fetching Time

The time it takes to retrieve all stars depends on the total number of stars. To overcome the 40,000-star limit, I leveraged the GitHub GraphQL API. Unfortunately, this doesn't allow for parallel requests. The workaround is to fetch the first half of the stars from the beginning and the other half from the end simultaneously, which can be time-consuming for large repositories.

Retrieving the complete star history for Kubernetes typically takes about 3 minutes.

Rate Limits

With a single Personal Access Token (PAT), you can query up to 500,000 stars per hour. If this limit has already been reached, you will need to wait until the next hourly refresh. In the future, I intend to implement the option to use your own PAT, similar to other star history tools.

Limited Error Handling

Currently, my project has limited error handling. I plan to improve this aspect, which includes implementing warnings to alert users when the rate limit might hinder the completion of the star retrieval.

UI and Code Quality

I'm aware that the user interface and code quality have room for improvement. Your feedback and suggestions are welcome as I continue to refine these aspects.

Contributing

Contributions are welcome! Feel free to open an issue or create a pull request.