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How to load data from GitHub to CSV File

How to Export GitHub Pull Requests to CSV: Step-by-Step Guide

Learn how to use Airbyte to synchronize your GitHub data into CSV File within minutes.

TL;DR

This can be done by building a data pipeline manually, usually a Python script (you can leverage a tool as Apache Airflow for this). This process can take more than a full week of development. Or it can be done in minutes on Airbyte in three easy steps:

  1. set up GitHub as a source connector (using Auth, or usually an API key)
  2. set up CSV File as a destination connector
  3. define which data you want to transfer and how frequently

You can choose to self-host the pipeline using Airbyte Open Source or have it managed for you with Airbyte Cloud.

This tutorial’s purpose is to show you how.

What is GitHub

GitHub is a renowned and respected development platform that provides code hosting services to developers for building software for both open source and private projects. It is a heavily trafficked platform where users can store and share code repositories and obtain support, advice, and help from known and unknown contributors. Three features in particular—pull request, fork, and merge—have made GitHub a powerful ally for developers and earned it a place as a (developers’) household name.

What is CSV File

A CSV (Comma Separated Values) file is a type of plain text file that stores tabular data in a structured format. Each line in the file represents a row of data, and each value within a row is separated by a comma. CSV files are commonly used for exchanging data between different software applications, such as spreadsheets and databases. They are also used for importing and exporting data from web applications and for data analysis. CSV files can be easily opened and edited in any text editor or spreadsheet software, making them a popular choice for data storage and transfer.

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Prerequisites

  1. A GitHub account to transfer your customer data automatically from.
  2. A CSV File account.
  3. An active Airbyte Cloud account, or you can also choose to use Airbyte Open Source locally. You can follow the instructions to set up Airbyte on your system using docker-compose.

Airbyte is an open-source data integration platform that consolidates and streamlines the process of extracting and loading data from multiple data sources to data warehouses. It offers pre-built connectors, including GitHub and CSV File, for seamless data migration.

When using Airbyte to move data from GitHub to CSV File, it extracts data from GitHub using the source connector, converts it into a format CSV File can ingest using the provided schema, and then loads it into CSV File via the destination connector. This allows businesses to leverage their GitHub data for advanced analytics and insights within CSV File, simplifying the ETL process and saving significant time and resources.

Step 1: Set up GitHub as a source connector

1. Open the Airbyte platform and navigate to the "Sources" tab on the left-hand side of the screen.

2. Click on the "GitHub" source connector and select "Create a new connection."

3. Enter a name for the connection and click "Next."

4. Enter your GitHub credentials, including your username and personal access token. If you do not have a personal access token, you can create one by following the instructions provided in the Airbyte documentation.

5. Select the repositories you want to connect to Airbyte and click "Test Connection" to ensure that the connection is successful.

6. Once the connection is successful, click "Create Connection" to save the connection.

7. You can now use the GitHub source connector to extract data from your selected repositories and integrate it with other data sources in Airbyte.

Step 2: Set up CSV File as a destination connector

1. Open the Airbyte platform and navigate to the "Sources" tab on the left-hand side of the screen.
2. Click on the "CSV File" source connector and select "Create new connection."
3. Enter a name for your connection and click "Next."
4. In the "Configuration" tab, select the CSV file you want to connect to by clicking on the "Choose File" button and selecting the file from your local machine.
5. In the "Schema" tab, you can customize the schema of your data by selecting the appropriate data types for each column.
6. In the "Credentials" tab, enter the necessary credentials to access your CSV file. This may include a username and password or other authentication details.
7. Once you have entered your credentials, click "Test Connection" to ensure that Airbyte can successfully connect to your CSV file.
8. If the connection is successful, click "Create Connection" to save your settings and start syncing your data.
9. You can monitor the progress of your sync in the "Connections" tab and view your data in the "Destinations" tab.

Step 3: Set up a connection to sync your GitHub data to CSV File

Once you've successfully connected GitHub as a data source and CSV File as a destination in Airbyte, you can set up a data pipeline between them with the following steps:

  1. Create a new connection: On the Airbyte dashboard, navigate to the 'Connections' tab and click the '+ New Connection' button.
  2. Choose your source: Select GitHub from the dropdown list of your configured sources.
  3. Select your destination: Choose CSV File from the dropdown list of your configured destinations.
  4. Configure your sync: Define the frequency of your data syncs based on your business needs. Airbyte allows both manual and automatic scheduling for your data refreshes.
  5. Select the data to sync: Choose the specific GitHub objects you want to import data from towards CSV File. You can sync all data or select specific tables and fields.
  6. Select the sync mode for your streams: Choose between full refreshes or incremental syncs (with deduplication if you want), and this for all streams or at the stream level. Incremental is only available for streams that have a primary cursor.
  7. Test your connection: Click the 'Test Connection' button to make sure that your setup works. If the connection test is successful, save your configuration.
  8. Start the sync: If the test passes, click 'Set Up Connection'. Airbyte will start moving data from GitHub to CSV File according to your settings.

Remember, Airbyte keeps your data in sync at the frequency you determine, ensuring your CSV File data warehouse is always up-to-date with your GitHub data.

Use Cases to transfer your GitHub data to CSV File

Integrating data from GitHub to CSV File provides several benefits. Here are a few use cases:

  1. Advanced Analytics: CSV File’s powerful data processing capabilities enable you to perform complex queries and data analysis on your GitHub data, extracting insights that wouldn't be possible within GitHub alone.
  2. Data Consolidation: If you're using multiple other sources along with GitHub, syncing to CSV File allows you to centralize your data for a holistic view of your operations, and to set up a change data capture process so you never have any discrepancies in your data again.
  3. Historical Data Analysis: GitHub has limits on historical data. Syncing data to CSV File allows for long-term data retention and analysis of historical trends over time.
  4. Data Security and Compliance: CSV File provides robust data security features. Syncing GitHub data to CSV File ensures your data is secured and allows for advanced data governance and compliance management.
  5. Scalability: CSV File can handle large volumes of data without affecting performance, providing an ideal solution for growing businesses with expanding GitHub data.
  6. Data Science and Machine Learning: By having GitHub data in CSV File, you can apply machine learning models to your data for predictive analytics, customer segmentation, and more.
  7. Reporting and Visualization: While GitHub provides reporting tools, data visualization tools like Tableau, PowerBI, Looker (Google Data Studio) can connect to CSV File, providing more advanced business intelligence options. If you have a GitHub table that needs to be converted to a CSV File table, Airbyte can do that automatically.

Wrapping Up

To summarize, this tutorial has shown you how to:

  1. Configure a GitHub account as an Airbyte data source connector.
  2. Configure CSV File as a data destination connector.
  3. Create an Airbyte data pipeline that will automatically be moving data directly from GitHub to CSV File after you set a schedule

With Airbyte, creating data pipelines take minutes, and the data integration possibilities are endless. Airbyte supports the largest catalog of API tools, databases, and files, among other sources. Airbyte's connectors are open-source, so you can add any custom objects to the connector, or even build a new connector from scratch without any local dev environment or any data engineer within 10 minutes with the no-code connector builder.

We look forward to seeing you make use of it! We invite you to join the conversation on our community Slack Channel, or sign up for our newsletter. You should also check out other Airbyte tutorials, and Airbyte’s content hub!

What should you do next?

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Exporting data from GitHub pull requests to a CSV file is a common requirement for businesses and data professionals. Whether you're looking to analyze your data in spreadsheet software, feed it into another system, or simply create a backup, CSV files offer a versatile and widely-compatible solution.

This guide explores two methods to accomplish this task: a manual approach and an automated solution using Airbyte. We'll compare these methods to help you choose the one that best fits your needs and workflow.

By the end of this article, you'll understand:

  • The basics of exporting data from GitHub pull requests to CSV
  • Step-by-step instructions for manual export
  • How to set up automated, scheduled exports using Airbyte
  • The benefits and use cases of GitHub pull requests to CSV integration

Let's dive into the details.

About GitHub

GitHub is a web-based platform for version control and collaboration using Git. It allows developers to store, manage, track and control changes to their code repositories.

About CSV File

CSV (Comma-Separated Values) files are a simple, universal format for storing tabular data. Their simplicity and widespread support make them an excellent choice for data exchange between different systems and applications. CSV files can be easily opened and manipulated in various tools, including spreadsheet software like Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets, as well as programming languages and data analysis tools.

How to export GitHub pull requests data to CSV?

Let's explore two methods to export your GitHub pull requests data to CSV: a manual approach and an automated solution using Airbyte.

Method 1: Automate or Schedule the export of GitHub pull requests data to CSV using Airbyte

Airbyte provides a robust, scalable solution for exporting GitHub pull requests data to CSV format. This method not only automates the process but also allows for scheduled, consistent updates. Here's how to set it up:

1. Configure GitHub as an Airbyte source

  • Log in to your Airbyte account.
  • Go to the 'Sources' tab and click 'New Source'.
  • Select 'GitHub' from the list of available integrations.
  • Enter your GitHub credentials to configure the connection.
  • Test the connection to ensure proper setup.

2. Set up CSV as your destination

  • Go to the 'Destinations' section in Airbyte.
  • Choose 'Local CSV' as your destination.
  • For local CSV, specify the directory path where files will be saved.

3. Create a connection

  • In the 'Connections' tab, click 'New Connection'.
  • Link your GitHub source to your CSV destination.
  • In the 'Streams' section, choose which data you want to export from GitHub.
  • Configure your sync settings:some text
    • Choose between full refresh or incremental sync modes.
    • Set your desired sync frequency (e.g., hourly, daily, weekly).
  • Configure transformations or mappings if necessary.
  • Save and run your connection to start the initial sync.

Once complete, verify the exported CSV files in your specified location.

By employing Airbyte for your GitHub pull requests to CSV exports, you're not just automating a task – you're implementing a scalable, maintainable data pipeline. With this setup, your GitHub pull requests data will be regularly exported to CSV format without manual intervention, allowing you to focus on data analysis and decision-making rather than repetitive export tasks.

{{COMPONENT_CTA2}}

Method 2: Manually exporting GitHub pull requests data to CSV

Here's a step-by-step process to export GitHub pull requests to a CSV file without using any third-party data integration tools. This process will involve using the GitHub API and a script to fetch the data and create the CSV file.

Step 1: Set up GitHub API access

1. Go to your GitHub account settings

2. Navigate to "Developer settings" > "Personal access tokens"

3. Generate a new token with the "repo" scope

4. Copy and save the token securely

Step 2: Choose a programming language

For this example, we'll use Python, but you can use any language that can make HTTP requests and handle JSON data.

Step 3: Install required libraries

Install the requests library for making API calls:

```

pip install requests

```

Step 4: Write the script

Create a new Python file (e.g., `github_pr_export.py`) and add the following code:

```python

import requests

import csv

from datetime import datetime

# GitHub API configuration

github_api_url = "https://api.github.com"

owner = "your_github_username"

repo = "your_repository_name"

access_token = "your_personal_access_token"

# Set up headers for API requests

headers = {

    "Authorization": f"token {access_token}",

    "Accept": "application/vnd.github.v3+json"

}

# Function to fetch pull requests

def fetch_pull_requests(state="all"):

    url = f"{github_api_url}/repos/{owner}/{repo}/pulls"

    params = {"state": state, "per_page": 100}

    all_prs = []

    while url:

        response = requests.get(url, headers=headers, params=params)

        response.raise_for_status()

        prs = response.json()

        all_prs.extend(prs)

        url = response.links.get("next", {}).get("url")

    return all_prs

# Function to write pull requests to CSV

def write_to_csv(pull_requests, filename):

    with open(filename, mode='w', newline='', encoding='utf-8') as file:

        writer = csv.writer(file)

        writer.writerow(["Number", "Title", "State", "Created At", "Updated At", "Closed At", "Author", "URL"])

        for pr in pull_requests:

            writer.writerow([

                pr['number'],

                pr['title'],

                pr['state'],

                pr['created_at'],

                pr['updated_at'],

                pr['closed_at'],

                pr['user']['login'],

                pr['html_url']

            ])

# Main execution

if __name__ == "__main__":

    pull_requests = fetch_pull_requests()

    timestamp = datetime.now().strftime("%Y%m%d_%H%M%S")

    filename = f"github_prs_{timestamp}.csv"

    write_to_csv(pull_requests, filename)

    print(f"Exported {len(pull_requests)} pull requests to {filename}")

```

Step 5: Configure the script

Replace the following variables in the script with your own values:

- `owner`: Your GitHub username

- `repo`: The name of the repository you want to export pull requests from

- `access_token`: Your personal access token generated in Step 1

Step 6: Run the script

Execute the script by running:

```

python github_pr_export.py

```

Step 7: Verify the output

The script will create a CSV file in the same directory with a name like `github_prs_20230515_120000.csv` (timestamp will vary). Open the file to verify that the pull request data has been exported correctly.

Additional considerations:

  • This script fetches all pull requests (open, closed, and merged). You can modify the `fetch_pull_requests` function to filter by state if needed.
  • The script uses pagination to fetch all pull requests, even if there are more than 100.
  • You may want to add error handling and rate limit checking for more robust operation.
  • You can customize the CSV output by adding or removing fields in the `write_to_csv` function.

By following these steps, you can export GitHub pull requests to a CSV file without using any third-party data integration tools. This method gives you full control over the data you're exporting

Use cases for exporting GitHub pull requests data to CSV

1. Performance Analysis and Reporting

  • Managers or team leads can use the exported data to analyze team performance and generate reports.
  • The CSV file can include metrics such as the number of PRs opened/closed, average time to merge, and contributors' activity.
  • This data can be imported into spreadsheet software or data visualization tools to create charts and graphs for presentations or team meetings.
  • It allows for tracking trends over time, identifying bottlenecks in the development process, and making data-driven decisions to improve workflow efficiency.

2. Code Review Process Improvement

  • Exporting PR data can help in analyzing the code review process.
  • The CSV file can contain information about reviewers, comments, review duration, and number of iterations per PR.
  • This data can be used to identify patterns, such as which types of PRs take longer to review or which team members might need additional support.
  • It can help in balancing workloads among reviewers and identifying areas where the review process can be streamlined or improved.
  • The insights gained can be used to establish or refine code review guidelines and best practices.

3. Integration with External Tools and Systems

  • Exporting PR data to CSV allows for easy integration with other tools and systems used by the organization.
  • The data can be imported into project management tools to correlate PR activity with overall project progress and timelines.
  • It can be used in continuous integration/continuous deployment (CI/CD) systems to track the relationship between PRs and build/deployment processes.
  • The CSV format makes it easy to import the data into custom dashboards or reporting systems that aggregate information from multiple sources.
  • This integration can provide a more comprehensive view of the development process, linking code changes to broader project goals and metrics.

Why choose Airbyte for connecting GitHub pull requests to CSV?

  1. Unified data integration: Airbyte provides a single platform to manage all your data connections, eliminating the need for multiple tools or scripts.
  2. Flexible scheduling: Set up exports to run at intervals that suit your business needs, from real-time syncs to daily or weekly updates.
  3. Data integrity: Airbyte ensures consistent, reliable data transfers, reducing the risk of corruption or incomplete exports often associated with manual processes.
  4. Scalability: As your data volume grows, Airbyte effortlessly scales to handle larger datasets without compromising performance.
  5. Seamless integration with data tools: Airbyte's CSV outputs can be easily integrated with various data analysis tools and platforms, enhancing your overall data ecosystem.

Conclusion

Exporting data from GitHub pull requests to CSV is crucial for many businesses to leverage their data effectively. While manual export is possible, using a tool like Airbyte can significantly streamline this process, saving time and reducing errors. By automating your data exports with Airbyte, you can ensure that your CSV files from GitHub pull requests are always up-to-date, allowing you to focus on analyzing and deriving insights from your data rather than managing exports.

Ready to simplify your GitHub pull requests to CSV exports? Try Airbyte for free.

What should you do next?

Hope you enjoyed the reading. Here are the 3 ways we can help you in your data journey:

flag icon
Easily address your data movement needs with Airbyte Cloud
Take the first step towards extensible data movement infrastructure that will give a ton of time back to your data team. 
Get started with Airbyte for free
high five icon
Talk to a data infrastructure expert
Get a free consultation with an Airbyte expert to significantly improve your data movement infrastructure. 
Talk to sales
stars sparkling
Improve your data infrastructure knowledge
Subscribe to our monthly newsletter and get the community’s new enlightening content along with Airbyte’s progress in their mission to solve data integration once and for all.
Subscribe to newsletter

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Frequently Asked Questions

What data can you extract from GitHub?

GitHub's API provides access to a wide range of data related to repositories, users, organizations, and more. Some of the categories of data that can be accessed through the API include:  

- Repositories: Information about repositories, including their name, description, owner, collaborators, issues, pull requests, and more.

- Users: Information about users, including their username, email address, name, location, followers, following, organizations, and more.

- Organizations: Information about organizations, including their name, description, members, repositories, teams, and more.

- Commits: Information about commits, including their SHA, author, committer, message, date, and more.

- Issues: Information about issues, including their title, description, labels, assignees, comments, and more.

- Pull requests: Information about pull requests, including their title, description, status, reviewers, comments, and more.

- Events: Information about events, including their type, actor, repository, date, and more.  

Overall, the GitHub API provides a wealth of data that can be used to build powerful applications and tools for developers, businesses, and individuals.

What data can you transfer to CSV File?

You can transfer a wide variety of data to CSV File. This usually includes structured, semi-structured, and unstructured data like transaction records, log files, JSON data, CSV files, and more, allowing robust, scalable data integration and analysis.

What are top ETL tools to transfer data from GitHub to CSV File?

The most prominent ETL tools to transfer data from GitHub to CSV File include:

  • Airbyte
  • Fivetran
  • Stitch
  • Matillion
  • Talend Data Integration

These tools help in extracting data from GitHub and various sources (APIs, databases, and more), transforming it efficiently, and loading it into CSV File and other databases, data warehouses and data lakes, enhancing data management capabilities.