GitHub Repository Stats

Embed live GitHub repository statistics (stars, forks, watchers, etc.) on your website without authentication.

Overview

The GitHub Stats API allows you to fetch and display current information about any public GitHub repository.

Features:

• No Authentication Required: Works with public repositories
• Cached Responses: Results are cached for 1 hour to minimize API calls
• CORS Enabled: Can be called from any website
• Multiple Fields: Access stars, forks, watchers, open issues, and more
• Lightweight: Small, fast responses ideal for embedding

Getting Started

Fetch Repository Stats

Make a GET request to fetch repository statistics:

GET https://wynglet.your-server.com/github/v1/{user}/{repo}/{field}

URL Parameters:

• {user} — GitHub username (e.g., chimbori)
• {repo} — Repository name (e.g., wynglet)
• {field} — What to fetch (see Available Fields below)

Available Fields

• name — Repository name
• description — Repository description
• stars — Number of stars (stargazers_count)
• forks — Number of forks
• issues — Number of open issues
• watchers — Number of watchers (subscribers_count)

Examples

Get Star Count:

https://wynglet.your-server.com/github/v1/chimbori/wynglet/stars

Response:

{
  "stars": 42
}

Display in HTML:

<p>
  Wynglet has
  <span id="stars">--</span>
  stars on GitHub
</p>

<script>
fetch('https://wynglet.your-server.com/github/v1/chimbori/wynglet/stars')
  .then(r => r.json())
  .then(data => {
    document.getElementById('stars').textContent = data.stars.toLocaleString();
  });
</script>

CORS

The GitHub Stats endpoint is fully CORS-enabled and can be called directly from any website. No preflight requests are needed.

All requests receive permissive CORS headers:

Access-Control-Allow-Origin: *
Access-Control-Allow-Headers: *
Access-Control-Allow-Methods: GET, OPTIONS

Caching

Results are cached for 1 hour to minimize requests to GitHub’s API. If you need fresh data before the cache expires, you can:

1. Wait for the cache to expire (1 hour)
2. Deploy a new instance with cleared caches
3. Query multiple times to get the most recent data

Error Handling

If a request fails (invalid repository, network error, etc.), the API returns an error status with details.

Example Error Response:

{
  "error": "Repository not found"
}

Use Cases

• Portfolio Sites: Show your most popular projects
• Documentation: Display project health and community stats
• Team Pages: Showcase your open-source projects
• Dashboards: Monitor GitHub activity across repositories

Limitations

• Only works with public repositories (GitHub API limitation)
• Results are cached for 1 hour, not real-time
• Rate-limited by GitHub’s public API limits (60 requests/hour per IP)

Configuration

The GitHub stats endpoint requires no special configuration. It uses a local disk cache to minimize GitHub API requests.

github:
  # Cache TTL is fixed at 1 hour for GitHub stats
  cache:
    ttl: 1h
    location: cache/github

Best Practices

• Cache on Your Side Too: Don’t fetch on every page load; cache results in your site’s cache or in JavaScript sessionStorage
• Handle Errors Gracefully: Provide fallback values if GitHub stats are unavailable
• Don’t Over-Request: The endpoint is cached; requesting multiple times quickly won’t get you fresher data
• Use Appropriate Fields: Only request the fields you need

Next Steps

• Installation
• Home — Start here
• Security & Abuse Protection
• Dashboard