SourceHut Projects Scraper

SourceHut Projects Scraper

Scrape SourceHut projects from any username, up to a million per run. Every project comes with its name, description, visibility, and last-updated timestamp. No login or API key. Export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.

SourceHut's official API requires OAuth and rate-limits you. This reads the public project listings directly, filtered by username, and returns each match in one fixed schema. It is the fastest way to get a clean dataset of SourceHut projects for research, monitoring, or backup.

Who uses it	What they scrape SourceHut for
Open-source researchers	Which projects a developer or organization maintains on SourceHut
Dev tool companies	Which SourceHut projects are active and what they are about
Recruiters	What a candidate has built and shared publicly on SourceHut
Security analysts	Which repositories belong to a given SourceHut account

What it does

This Actor collects SourceHut projects by username and returns each one as a flat row.

• 👤 Username input: scrape projects for one or more SourceHut usernames, with or without the leading tilde.
• 🔢 Max items: cap the number of projects collected per run, from 1 to 1,000,000.
• 📦 Flat output: every project is returned as a single row with a consistent schema, ready for export.

Results export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML, or straight from the API.

What you can do with SourceHut data

📊 Monitor open-source activity.

A researcher runs the Actor weekly on a list of SourceHut usernames to see which projects are new or recently updated.

🧑‍💻 Build a developer profile.

A recruiter scrapes a candidate's SourceHut projects to understand their coding interests and activity.

🔍 Discover niche projects.

A dev tool company scrapes projects from known SourceHut users to find potential integrations or competitors.

🗄️ Back up project metadata.

An archivist exports project names, descriptions, and timestamps for a set of SourceHut accounts to preserve a snapshot.

Why choose this scraper

	What you get
No API key	Scrape public SourceHut project listings without registering an OAuth app or dealing with rate limits.
Multiple usernames	Pass a list of SourceHut usernames and get all their public projects in one run.
Clean schema	Every project is returned as a flat row with the same fields, so you can export and analyze immediately.

How it compares

No other Store actor targets SourceHut the same way, so the honest comparison is with the alternatives teams actually weigh.

	SourceHut Projects Scraper	Build it in-house	By hand
Setup	Run it now, zero config	Days of engineering	None, but hours per pull
When SourceHut changes	Maintained for you	You fix it	You re-learn the page
Proxies, retries, anti-bot	Built in	Your problem	Browser only
Output	Fixed JSON schema, CSV/Excel export	Whatever you build	Copy-paste
Cost	Pay per result	Engineering time	Analyst hours

Configure the run

Drive the Actor from SourceHut usernames, alone or together, and the max items limit runs as projects are read so only the first N matches reach your dataset. The Input tab lists every parameter.

A first run with the defaults:

{
 "usernames": [
 "sircmpwn",
 "emersion"
 ],
 "maxItems": 10
}

A larger pull:

{
 "usernames": [
 "sircmpwn",
 "emersion"
 ],
 "maxItems": 200
}

Pricing

Pay-per-result: $0.0085 per result collected. You pay only for the results written to your dataset.

Results collected	Approximate cost
100 results	$0.85
1,000 results	$8.50
10,000 results	$85.00

New Apify accounts start with $5 in free credit.

Free users

Free-plan runs return up to 10 results as a preview. Upgrade your Apify plan to collect up to 1,000,000 results per run.

Run it

1. Create a free Apify account with $5 in credit.
2. Open the SourceHut Projects Scraper.
3. Set your inputs and any filters, then click Start.
4. Export the results as CSV, Excel, JSON, or XML from the Dataset tab.

Run it programmatically through the Apify API (run-sync-get-dataset-items) or the ApifyClient for JavaScript and Python.

Use with AI agents (MCP)

Give an AI agent live access to SourceHut through the Model Context Protocol. Add the Actor to Claude, Cursor, or any MCP client:

claude mcp add --transport http apify "https://mcp.apify.com?tools=parseforge/sourcehut-projects-scraper"

Then prompt it in plain language to run the scraper and read back the results.

Troubleshooting

Why am I getting no results?

Check that the usernames are spelled correctly and that they have public projects. Also ensure the max items limit is not set too low.

Why did the run stop before collecting all projects?

The max items limit was reached. Increase the 'Maximum projects' input to collect more.

Why are some projects missing?

Only public projects are returned. If a project was recently made private, it will not appear.

Why do I get an error about invalid username?

Make sure the username does not include the leading tilde if you are using the plain form. Both 'sircmpwn' and '~sircmpwn' are accepted, but other characters may cause issues.

Why is the run slow?

Scraping many usernames or a high max items limit can take time. Reduce the number of usernames or lower the limit.

FAQ

Question	Answer
Do I need a SourceHut account or API key?	No. The Actor reads public project listings directly, so no login or API key is required.
Can I scrape projects from multiple usernames at once?	Yes. Pass a list of usernames in the input, and the Actor will collect projects for all of them in a single run.
What does the output look like?	Each project is returned as a flat row with fields like name, description, visibility, and last-updated timestamp. You can export to CSV, JSON, Excel, or XML.
How do I limit the number of projects?	Set the 'Maximum projects' input to the number you want. The Actor stops after collecting that many projects.
Can I scrape private projects?	No. Only public projects are accessible. Private projects are not returned.
What if a username does not exist?	The Actor will skip that username and continue with the others. No error is thrown.
Does the Actor follow pagination?	Yes, it automatically pages through all public projects for each username until the max items limit is reached.
Can I schedule this Actor to run regularly?	Yes, you can set up a schedule in Apify to run it daily, weekly, or at any interval you need.
Is the data returned in real time?	Yes, the Actor fetches the latest public project listings at the time of the run.
What is SourceHut?	SourceHut is a suite of open-source tools for software development, including Git hosting, bug tracking, and mailing lists. This Actor scrapes its public project listings.

Related actors

Browse the full ParseForge collection for more scrapers.

🆘 Need help? Email parseforge@protonmail.com with your run ID, your input, and what you expected.

⚠️ Disclaimer. This Actor is unofficial and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by SourceHut, LLC. It collects only publicly available data. You are responsible for using the collected data in compliance with the source's terms of service and applicable data-protection laws, including GDPR, CCPA, and PIPL. Do not use it to collect personal data unlawfully.