GitHub user distiller

A small Python project for distilling a GitHub user's public repositories into a concise profile.

Overview

The current workflow uses a single script, github_user_distiller.py, which:

1. Fetches a GitHub user's public repositories.
2. Clones a small sample of them into a temporary directory.
3. Extracts lightweight signals from README files, manifests, and source file types.
4. Produces a profile using the GitHub Copilot SDK when available, with a heuristic fallback otherwise.

Prerequisites

• Python 3.10+
• Git
• A GitHub Copilot CLI installation that is authenticated for the current user

The Copilot CLI must be installed and signed in before the SDK-backed path can work.

Windows setup

Create and activate a virtual environment:

py -3 -m venv .venv
.\.venv\Scripts\Activate.ps1

Install dependencies:

pip install -r requirements.txt

If you do not yet have a requirements file, install the SDK directly:

pip install github-copilot-sdk

Default command behavior

Run the distiller with a GitHub username:

.\.venv\Scripts\python.exe .\github_user_distiller.py octocat

Default behavior:

• analyzes up to 5 repositories
• writes output to stdout
• does not write a JSON file unless requested

Flags

.\.venv\Scripts\python.exe .\github_user_distiller.py USERNAME [options]

Available flags:

• --max-repos N: limit the number of repositories to inspect (default: 5)
• --output PATH: write the JSON result to the given file
• --model MODEL: optionally request a specific Copilot model name; if the model is unavailable, the script falls back to the runtime default

Example:

.\.venv\Scripts\python.exe .\github_user_distiller.py octocat --max-repos 2 --output profile.json

Copilot CLI note

The script can work in heuristic mode without the Copilot SDK being fully available, but the richer Copilot-backed profile path requires:

• the Copilot CLI to be installed
• the CLI to be authenticated for the current environment/user

If the CLI is missing or not authenticated, the script will still run and produce a heuristic profile.

Project structure

flowchart TD
    A[github_user_distiller.py] --> B[Fetch GitHub repos]
    B --> C[Clone sample repos]
    C --> D[Extract repo signals]
    D --> E[Build profile]
    E --> F[Write stdout or JSON output]

Loading

Future direction

This repository is currently focused on the Windows workflow. The design is intended to be portable in future iterations, but the current commands and setup target Windows first.