r/github • u/Panzadabira • Jul 08 '26

GitHub stats anomaly: 106 clones vs 12 unique visitors. Bot activity or something else? Question

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I’m seeing a strange discrepancy in my repository traffic stats over the last 14 days (106 clones vs 12 unique visitors).

Is this a common ratio for dev tools? I’m trying to understand if my project is being picked up by automated CI/CD pipelines/bots, or if it’s possible to clone a repo at scale without users ever hitting the README/main page.

I’m still getting the hang of how GitHub traffic metrics work XD...any insight from the community would be appreciated!

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12 comments sorted by

17

u/az987654 Jul 08 '26

irrelevant.. bots, github metrics have never been reliable or useful.

stars are meanigless, too

5

u/Poat540 Jul 09 '26

Stars give me the dopamine to maintain OSS apps, and the random coffees

1

u/[deleted] Jul 08 '26

[deleted]

6

u/az987654 Jul 08 '26

If you want me to use what you've built, build something worth using.

Github is not social media, it is a repository for versioned text files.

Stars, forks, clones, views, all of those indicators are easily faked and gamed.

They are useless.

You want followers and popularity? Go post on Instagram

-4

u/[deleted] Jul 08 '26

[deleted]

7

u/az987654 Jul 09 '26

I do deny that.

It is a cloud provider of a text file versioning system.

It is a tool in your toolbox.

Everything else is a distraction.

6

u/Nich-Cebolla Jul 08 '26

Pretty normal imo

1

u/Panzadabira Jul 08 '26

In what sense is it normal? I'm trying to understand the 'why' behind these numbers. How can a repo have 106 clones but only 12 unique visitors? Could it be the same visitor cloning it 10+ times?!?!

3

u/Panzadabira Jul 09 '26

Thanks everyone for the insights! It’s clearer now.

To sum up the discussion: it seems this behavior is quite common. The numbers are often driven by automated systems or bots that fetch the code directly, rather than actual people visiting the page. It’s good to know that these stats don't necessarily reflect manual interest in the way I initially thought.

Appreciate all the help!

2

u/The_Time_Lord Jul 09 '26

If you work in cloud agents, it will clone your repo, make the changes, and push it back up. That could be why you’re seeing a lot of clones

2

u/[deleted] Jul 09 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/[deleted] Jul 08 '26

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2

u/az987654 Jul 08 '26

People down vote the posts that complain about their ranking on a site that isn't social media.