name	fetching-github-user-data
description	Fetch comprehensive GitHub user data including profile, repositories, contributions, pull requests, issues, and statistics. Use when the user asks to fetch, download, or analyze GitHub user data.

Fetching GitHub User Data

Fetch comprehensive data about any GitHub user through the GitHub API, including profile information, repositories, contributions, social connections, and detailed statistics.

Quick start

Basic usage (without token)

Fetch public data for any GitHub user:

python scripts/fetch.py \
  --username "torvalds" \
  --output "./github_data"

With Personal Access Token (recommended)

Use a GitHub Personal Access Token to access more data and higher rate limits:

python scripts/fetch.py \
  --username "torvalds" \
  --token "ghp_YOUR_TOKEN_HERE" \
  --output "./github_data"

Or use environment variable:

export GITHUB_TOKEN="ghp_YOUR_TOKEN_HERE"
python scripts/fetch.py --username "torvalds"

What data is fetched

Basic data

✅ User profile (name, bio, location, email, etc.)
✅ All public repositories with details
✅ Gists
✅ Starred repositories

Social data

✅ Followers
✅ Following
✅ Organizations
✅ Subscribed repositories

Activity data

✅ Public events (last 30 days)
✅ Pull requests created
✅ Issues created

Statistics (computed)

✅ Programming language distribution
✅ Repository statistics (total stars, forks)
✅ Contribution calendar (requires token)

Output structure

Data is organized in a clean directory structure:

github_data/
└── {username}/
    ├── profile.json                    # User basic info
    ├── repositories/
    │   ├── list.json                   # Repository summary
    │   └── details/{repo}.json         # Each repository details
    ├── gists/
    │   ├── list.json
    │   └── details/{gist_id}.json
    ├── starred/repositories.json
    ├── social/
    │   ├── followers.json
    │   └── following.json
    ├── organizations.json
    ├── events/public_events.json
    ├── subscriptions.json
    ├── contributions/calendar.json     # Requires token
    ├── pull_requests/created.json
    ├── issues/created.json
    ├── statistics/
    │   ├── languages.json              # Language distribution
    │   └── repositories.json           # Repo stats
    └── metadata.json                   # Fetch metadata

Configuration

Getting a GitHub Personal Access Token

Go to GitHub Settings → Developer settings → Personal access tokens → Tokens (classic)
Click "Generate new token (classic)"
Select scopes: read:user, repo (for private repos if needed)
Copy the token and use it with --token or set as GITHUB_TOKEN environment variable

Why use a token?

Higher rate limits: 5,000 requests/hour vs 60 without token
Contribution calendar: Only available with authentication
More complete data: Access to some endpoints requires authentication

Advanced usage

Specify custom output directory

python scripts/fetch.py \
  --username "octocat" \
  --output "./my_custom_folder"

Using GitHub CLI token

If you have GitHub CLI (gh) installed and authenticated:

# The script will automatically detect gh CLI authentication
python scripts/fetch.py --username "username"

Use cases

Evaluating engineer capabilities

The fetched data provides comprehensive insights for evaluating:

Technical breadth: Programming language distribution
Project experience: Repository count and quality
Open source contribution: PRs, issues, starred repos
Community influence: Followers, stars, forks
Coding activity: Contribution calendar (with token)
Collaboration: PRs and issues created

Research and analysis

Analyze GitHub user behavior patterns
Study programming language trends
Track developer activity over time
Build developer profiles for recruitment

Personal archival

Backup your GitHub profile data
Track your own progress over time
Generate portfolio data

Examples

Example 1: Fetch data for Linux creator

python scripts/fetch.py \
  --username "torvalds" \
  --output "./linux_creator_data"

Example 2: Analyze your own data with token

export GITHUB_TOKEN="ghp_YOUR_TOKEN"
python scripts/fetch.py \
  --username "yourusername" \
  --output "./my_github_data"

Example 3: Batch fetch multiple users

for user in "torvalds" "gvanrossum" "dhh"; do
  python scripts/fetch.py --username "$user" --output "./github_users"
done

Error handling

The script handles common errors gracefully:

Rate limit exceeded: Shows clear error message
User not found: Reports invalid username
Network errors: Retries with exponential backoff
Missing token: Continues with public data only
API errors: Logs errors but continues fetching other data

Statistics summary

After fetching, the script displays:

Total API requests made
Data items fetched for each category
Total stars and forks
Programming languages detected
Any errors encountered

Performance

Typical fetch time: 30-120 seconds (depending on user data volume)
API requests: 15-50 requests (varies by user)
Storage: 1-50 MB per user (depending on repo count)

Limitations

Public events limited to last 300 events (30 days)
Contribution calendar requires Personal Access Token
Repository statistics limited for repos with 10,000+ commits
Search results limited to 100 items per query

Troubleshooting

"Rate limit exceeded"

Solution: Use a Personal Access Token for higher limits

"GraphQL request failed"

Solution: Ensure you have a valid Personal Access Token for contribution calendar

"No data fetched"

Solution: Check username spelling and network connection

fetching-github-user-data

Install Skill

SKILL.md