About github repository stats
Look up any public GitHub repository's stars, forks, open issues and recent activity.
Reading the numbers
- Stars show interest but not quality.
- Recent commits and releases show whether it is maintained.
- Open issues and response times show how healthy the community is.
Rate limits
GitHub limits unauthenticated API requests, so repeated lookups may be temporarily blocked.
A worked example
A search of a library shows 12,000 stars, 1,800 forks, 90 open issues and a last push two days ago. A project with many stars but no commits for two years may be abandoned, while a smaller, active project may be a safer choice.
Questions to ask before depending on a project
- How often are releases made and bugs fixed?
- How many maintainers does it have?
- What licence does it use?
Limits of statistics
Stars do not measure quality or security. Check the issue tracker, recent commits and the licence before relying on a repository.
