What You'll Learn
- • Setting up your development environment
- • Installing the required HTTP client
- • Authenticating with the ScrapeCreators API
- • Making requests to GitHub
- • Handling responses and errors
- • Best practices for production use
Tutorial · GitHub
🌐 JavaScript Step-by-step
How to scrape GitHub contributions
with JavaScript.
Extract contributions data from GitHub. Real code, real responses, real production patterns — paste it into your project and ship.
Overview
Learn how to scrape GitHub contributions using JavaScript. This comprehensive guide will walk you through the entire process, from setup to implementation.
What You'll Get
- • Access to contributions data
- • JSON formatted responses
- • Real-time data access
- • Scalable solution
- • Error handling patterns
- • Performance optimization tips
Prerequisites
1. API Key
First, you'll need a ScrapeCreators API key to authenticate your requests.
Sign up at app.scrapecreators.com to get your free API key with 100 requests.
2. Development Environment
Make sure you have the following installed:
- • JavaScript and its dependencies
- • A code editor (VS Code, Sublime, etc.)
- • Basic understanding of API requests
- • Command line interface access
Step 1: Install HTTP Client
Axios is a promise-based HTTP client for Node.js
npm
npm install axiosStep 2: API Implementation
Now let's make a request to the GitHub API using JavaScript. Replace YOUR_API_KEY with your actual API key.
JavaScript
import axios from 'axios';
const API_KEY = 'YOUR_API_KEY';
async function scrape() {
try {
const response = await axios.get(`https://api.scrapecreators.com/v1/github/user/contributions?handle=torvalds&url=https://github.com/torvalds&year=2026`, {
headers: {
'x-api-key': API_KEY,
'Content-Type': 'application/json'
}
});
console.log('Response:', response.data);
return response.data;
} catch (error) {
console.error('Error:', error.response?.data || error.message);
}
}
// Usage
scrape();Step 3: Testing Your Code
API Parameters
This endpoint accepts the following parameters:
handleOptional(string)GitHub handle
Example: torvalds
urlOptional(string)GitHub profile URL
Example: https://github.com/torvalds
yearOptional(number)Contribution graph year. Defaults to the current year.
Example: 2026
Run Your Code
Execute your script to test the API connection. You should see a JSON response with GitHub contributions data.
✅ Success: You should receive a structured JSON response containing the requested data.
Expected Response
Here's an example of the JSON response you'll receive:
Sample Response
{
"success": true,
"credits_remaining": 49997684481,
"contributions": {
"username": "torvalds",
"year": 2026,
"total_contributions": 1214,
"days": [
{
"date": "2026-01-01",
"contribution_count": 4,
"color": null,
"intensity": 1
},
{
"date": "2026-01-02",
"contribution_count": 16,
"color": null,
"intensity": 2
},
{
"date": "2026-01-03",
"contribution_count": 3,
"color": null,
"intensity": 1
},
{
"date": "2026-01-04",
"contribution_count": 7,
"color": null,
"intensity": 1
},
{
"date": "2026-01-05",
"contribution_count": 3,
"color": null,
"intensity": 1
},
{
"date": "2026-01-06",
"contribution_count": 2,
"color": null,
"intensity": 1
},
{
"date": "2026-01-07",
"contribution_count": 11,
"color": null,
"intensity": 2
}
]
}
}Verify Response Structure
Check that your response includes the expected fields:
- ✓
success(boolean) - ✓
credits_remaining(number) - ✓
contributions(object)
Best Practices
1
Error Handling
Implement comprehensive error handling and retry logic for failed requests. Log errors properly for debugging.
2
Caching
Cache responses when possible to reduce API calls and improve performance. Consider data freshness requirements.
3
Security
Never expose your API key in client-side code. Use environment variables and secure key management practices.
Performance Tips
Batch Requests
When scraping multiple contributions, consider batching requests to maximize throughput while staying within rate limits.
Async Processing
Use asynchronous processing in JavaScript to handle multiple requests concurrently and improve overall performance.
Common Use Cases
Market Research
Analyze GitHub contributions to understand market trends, competitor analysis, and audience insights.
Content Analytics
Track performance metrics, engagement rates, and content trends across GitHub contributions.
Lead Generation
Identify potential customers and business opportunities throughGitHub data analysis.
Troubleshooting
Common Errors
401 Unauthorized
Check your API key is correct and properly formatted in the x-api-key header.
402 Payment Required
You ran out of credits and need to buy more.
404 Not Found
The resource might not exist or be private.
500 Server Error
Temporary server issue. Implement retry logic with exponential backoff.
Need Help?
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does it cost to scrape GitHub contributions?
ScrapeCreators offers 100 free API calls to get started. After that, pricing starts at $10 for 5k requests with volume discounts available.
Is it legal to scrape GitHub data?
Scraping publicly available data is fair game, and we only collect public data. So anything that you can see in an incognito browser is what we collect.
How fast can I scrape GitHub contributions?
There is no rate limit! So you can scrape as fast as you want!
What data format does the API return?
All API responses are returned in JSON format, making it easy to integrate with any programming language or application.
Can I use this with other JavaScript frameworks?
Yes! This tutorial focuses on core JavaScript HTTP concepts that work with any framework. The API calls remain the same regardless of your specific JavaScript setup.
How do I handle large datasets?
For large datasets, implement pagination, use streaming responses where available, and consider storing data in a database for efficient querying.
Related Tutorials
Ready to ship?
Get the API key. Run the code.
100 free API calls. No credit card. Same endpoint, same response shape.
Same endpoint, different language