Github Research

name: github-research description: Find reputable GitHub repositories with quality filters (stars, recency, license). Use when searching for code samples, reference implementations, libraries, or templates on GitHub. Prioritizes curated Awesome Lists, then searches with star thresholds to ensure code quality. Requires gh CLI (version 2.14+). tags: [github, research, discovery, repositories, open-source]

GitHub Research

Find reputable GitHub repositories using quality filters. Prioritize curated Awesome Lists, then search with star thresholds.

When to Use

• "Find GitHub repos for X"
• "Search GitHub for Y examples"
• "Find a good library for Z"
• Discovering quality open-source code, templates, or reference implementations

Workflow

Step 1: Check Awesome Lists First

Awesome Lists are community-curated collections of quality resources. Search them first:

gh search repos "awesome <topic>" --stars=">=5000" --limit=5 \
  --json name,stargazersCount,url,description

If a relevant Awesome List exists (e.g., awesome-python, awesome-react), recommend it as the primary source.

Step 2: Search with Quality Filters

gh search repos "<query>" \
  --language=<lang> \
  --stars=">=1000" \
  --archived=false \
  --limit=10 \
  --json name,url,stargazersCount,license,description,pushedAt

Star thresholds by use case:

Step 3: Apply Additional Filters

Step 4: Validate Top Results

For the top 3-5 candidates, check quality indicators:

gh api "repos/<owner>/<repo>" --jq '{
  stars: .stargazers_count,
  forks: .forks_count,
  issues: .open_issues_count,
  updated: .pushed_at,
  license: .license.spdx_id
}'

Quality indicators:

• Recent activity (updated within 6 months)
• Active issues/PRs (maintained)
• Multiple contributors
• Clear license (MIT, Apache-2.0 preferred)

Step 5: Save Results

Save research to docs/research/ as Markdown:

docs/research/YYYY-MM-DD-<topic>-github-repos.md

Include: repo name, stars, license, URL, and brief description.

Examples

# FastAPI templates
gh search repos "fastapi template" --language=python --stars=">=500" --archived=false --limit=10

# CLI tools in Go
gh search repos --topic=cli --language=go --stars=">=1000" --limit=10

# React component libraries (recent)
gh search repos "react component library" --language=typescript \
  --stars=">=1000" --updated=">2024-01-01"

Rate Limits

• Search API: 30 requests/minute (authenticated)
• Check remaining: gh api rate_limit --jq '.resources.search.remaining'

Prerequisites

• GitHub CLI version 2.14+ with gh search repos command
• Authenticated: gh auth status

Anti-Patterns

References

• Source: claude-skills/github-research (MIT License)
• Requires: GitHub CLI v2.14+