random-contributor

Research

Pick a random contributor from a GitHub repository using the GitHub API or repository pages (no auth required for public repos).

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How to use this skill

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Prompt to paste

I want to install this Agent Skill for this project in Codex.

Source SKILL.md: https://github.com/besoeasy/open-skills/blob/HEAD/skills/random-contributor/SKILL.md

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Random Contributor Skill

Purpose

Select a uniformly random contributor from a public GitHub repository. Useful for sampling, shoutouts, delegation, or fair assignment among contributors.

What it does

Uses GitHub REST API (public endpoints) to list contributors for a repo (handles pagination).
Falls back to scraping the repository's contributors page if API rate limits or CORS prevent API use.
Returns contributor info: login, name (if available), avatar URL, profile URL, contributions count.

When to use

Pick a random maintainer or contributor for tasks like "who should review" or "who to credit".
Should be used only on public repositories.

Prerequisites

curl and jq for Bash examples, or Node.js 18+ for JS examples.
Optional GitHub token (GH_TOKEN) increases rate limits; skill works without it for small repos.

Examples

Bash (uses GitHub API; paginates with per_page=100):

REPO_OWNER=besoeasy
REPO_NAME=open-skills

# Fetch contributor list (public API). Uses optional GH_TOKEN env for higher rate limit.
AUTH_HEADER=""
if [ -n "${GH_TOKEN:-}" ]; then
  AUTH_HEADER="-H \"Authorization: token ${GH_TOKEN}\""
fi

# Get contributors (first page); for large repos you'd page. Here we do simple pagination loop.
contributors=()
page=1
while true; do
  out=$(eval "curl -fsS ${AUTH_HEADER} \"https://api.github.com/repos/${REPO_OWNER}/${REPO_NAME}/contributors?per_page=100&page=${page}\"")
  count=$(echo "$out" | jq 'length')
  if [ "$count" -eq 0 ]; then break; fi
  logins=$(echo "$out" | jq -r '.[].login')
  while read -r l; do contributors+=("$l"); done <<< "$logins"
  if [ "$count" -lt 100 ]; then break; fi
  page=$((page+1))
done

# Pick random
idx=$((RANDOM % ${#contributors[@]}))
selected=${contributors[$idx]}
echo "$selected"

Node.js (recommended: uses native fetch and handles pagination):

async function getRandomContributor(owner, repo, token) {
  const headers = {};
  if (token) headers['Authorization'] = `token ${token}`;

  let page = 1;
  const per = 100;
  const all = [];

  while (true) {
    const url = `https://api.github.com/repos/${owner}/${repo}/contributors?per_page=${per}&page=${page}`;
    const res = await fetch(url, { headers });
    if (!res.ok) break;
    const data = await res.json();
    if (!Array.isArray(data) || data.length === 0) break;
    all.push(...data);
    if (data.length < per) break;
    page++;
  }

  if (!all.length) return null;
  const pick = all[Math.floor(Math.random() * all.length)];
  return {
    login: pick.login,
    avatar: pick.avatar_url,
    profile: pick.html_url,
    contributions: pick.contributions
  };
}

// Usage:
// getRandomContributor('besoeasy','open-skills', process.env.GH_TOKEN).then(console.log)

Agent prompt

"Find a random contributor for {owner}/{repo}. Use the GitHub API; if API rate limits block you, fall back to scraping the contributors page. Return JSON: {login, name?, avatar, profile, contributions}."

Notes & Caveats

For very large repos (>1000 contributors) consider streaming or reservoir sampling instead of fetching all contributors at once.
Respect GitHub API rate limits; provide an option to use GH_TOKEN to increase limits.
Public repos only; do not attempt to access private repos without appropriate credentials.