Explain clones info in Github's Traffic tab

Question

In a recent question I made, one of the answers pointed to another answer in another question where a way to explore the forks and clones of a public Github repo was shared.

I went ahead and did that with my own public repo and came up with this information in the Git clones section under the Traffic tab in the Graphs section:

I'm not really sure I understand what this information means. Are there 6 clones of the repo in total with 4 of them made on the 09/08? Did only 3 unique cloners cloned it?, in which case, does that mean they cloned it more than once? Do those numbers include myself and any clones I might have made in different systems (ie: home PC, work PC, laptop, etc)? Any help is much appreciated.

Gujranwala

Given that the Github help center page about the Traffic graphs doesn't clear up your question, I'm not sure you'll find a definitive answer. – Racemose

Why not? Are you saying no one can expand on what that page says? – Gujranwala

Probably not without offering opinion or personal research, and that's begging to have the question closed as primarily opinion-based. – Racemose

Ok. I've seen lots of answers here that are 100% opinion based and as far as I know there's no "reliable source needed" requirement (as in Wikipedia for example), but I'll take your word for it. – Gujranwala

also see e.g. this discussion about unique cloners – Scientist

Answer 1

I believe part of the confusion is that the graph shows 4 cloners (blue line), and the label is saying 3 unique cloners. Other than that, it should be interpreted as:

• 6 clones in the past 14 days, 4 made on 9/8 ... this may not indicate the "total" as you ask, as this graph only ever goes back 14 days
• 3 unique cloners cloned it, some of them may have cloned it more than once...
• ...For example, on 9/8, it could have been cloners:clones of 1:1 and 1:3 ... it doesn't give you that level of information
• It should include every time the git clone command was executed against the repo, so all of your different devices, yes.
• You would be identified as a unique user or not based on if it could determine "unique GitHub users (or anonymous IP addresses)" + confirmation from GitHub support

Klute

As per GitHub's chart, BLUE is unique clones whereas GREEN is the number of clones. By looking at the graph, "4 made on 9/8" - I believe this statement might be wrong ( I am not saying it's definitely wrong, but it may be wrong ). The value 4 is against the GREEN line and the green line is not showing any indications on 9/8. It's the blue line which has a hike on this given date and that indicates 2 clones (value on the right side). You can correct me if I am wrong. – Macymad

There are bots that try to clone all recently active public repos, looking for carelessly committed API keys and other credentials. Easily could amount to half a dozen unique cloners. Thar be dragons ... now AI bots can autocomplete your dev projects ... – Clint

Answer 2

This might also be happening: if you are using Github actions or have other "apps" connected to your Github account (for instance Netlify). Those may also clone your repo to build or test your code.

Let's say you have a Github action defined that runs a few tests when you push to your repository. Github will start a virtual machine or a container. It will clone your code, install it and run the tests. After that you get a fail or pass and the VM or container is shut down.

Also when you have netlify integrated with for instance a React app repository. When you push new code something simular will happen. But then Netlify will try to build the app. That also results in your repo being cloned.

Carmon

Your answer is not completely clear to me. Would you mind rephrasing it a bit? – Plain

He @BenjaminZach, I have rephrased it a little. Let me know if it's not clear enough. – Carmon

thanks for the explanation, i was worried i was having my final project randomly cloned by several people on a daily basis but i think it is a combination of my use of netlify and github archival programs – Roane

Phew! I was going bonkers there. My repo has like 3k+ clones in the past 14 days. Yet it only had like 4 stars haha. Guess I'm not an internet sensation after all. I have 5 separate Github workflows hooked up to the repo. That explains it. Thanks!! – Integration

Answer 3

It is happened to my repositories as well. And while I am trying to figure out what is happening I came up with the following assumption.

Without discarding the idea of an individual cloning the repository for personal use (through the download button maybe), I believe that must be bots out there that are attracted by the labels that you gave or other parts of your activity and cloning the code.

Something like that I guess is useful for the people that are working on something specific and they are looking for a specific piece of code, (through the tags or the programming language etc), without giving much thought about the owner.

William

by bots cloning your repo, you mean, for example, the TabNine tool for android studii team programmed a book that clones random repos from github with a specific language tag to learn from it? – Gastrectomy

i mean mostly that something is attracted by the labels and it simply clones stuff without doing anything else. The only thing that I can confirm is the correlation of tags and cloning, and that it is not an one time thing, (the cloning becomes a regular thing in labeled repos). It can be anything, some sort of search engine, a bot, or just a search tool, (TabNine could be as well). – William