GitHub built a new API endpoint that returns up to 30 weeks of daily star counts in a single request, replacing a design that required tools to page through thousands of individual stargazer records to reconstruct a repository's star history1. The company also restricted stargazer and watcher lists to repository administrators and collaborators after bad actors scraped public stargazer identities for spam and phishing campaigns. The new endpoint filters stars by time before counting, reducing database load rather than just limiting returned data.
GitHub Cuts Star History API Calls from 2,500 to 24 with New Counts-Only Endpoint
GitHub launched a new API endpoint returning up to 30 weeks of daily star counts per request, eliminating identity exposure and reducing database load.