GitHub API Without a Token — What Public Data You Can Access for Free

GitHub's REST API lets you access a surprising amount of data without any authentication. Here's what you can query for free. Search Repositories curl 'https://api.github.com/search/repositories?q=web+scraping&sort=stars&per_page=5' Returns: repo name, description, stars, forks, language, owner, URL. Get User Profile curl 'https://api.github.com/users/torvalds' Returns: name, bio, company, location, followers, public repos count. List User Repos curl 'https://api.github.com/users/torvalds/repos?sort=stars&per_page=10' Search Code curl 'https://api.github.com/search/code?q=cheerio+scraper+language:javascript' Rate Limits Without token : 60 requests/hour (per IP) With token : 5,000 requests/hour Search API : 10 requests/minute (unauthenticated) For most research tasks, 60 requests/hour is enough. If you need more, generate a personal access token (free). Use Cases Technology landscape — what repos exist in your industry? Competitor analysis — what are competitors building? Hiring researc