RX Search — GitHub Advanced Search CLI
Overview
GitHub search is powerful, but advanced filtering is often hidden, slow, and inconvenient for developers who need fast and precise repository discovery.
Searching for things like:
- small compiler repositories under 50KB
- active parser implementations in C
- toy interpreters for learning
- maintained backend projects with specific topics
- niche open-source tooling projects
usually requires memorizing GitHub search syntax like:
size:1..30 language:C topic:compiler stars:>10
and navigating through GitHub’s web UI.
That creates unnecessary friction.
RX Search solves this problem by bringing GitHub Advanced Search directly to the terminal with a cleaner workflow, better filtering, and faster developer productivity.
This project is designed for:
- Compiler Engineers
- Backend Engineers
- Infrastructure Engineers
- OSS Contributors
- Security Researchers
- Reverse Engineers
- Technical Recruiters
- Developer Tools Engineers
Features
Core Features
- Search repositories by keyword
- Language filtering
- Minimum stars filter
- Minimum forks filter
- Min/Max repository size filtering
- Multi-topic filtering
- Updated-after date filtering
- Sort by stars / forks / updated
- Order by desc / asc
Stability Features
- Input validation
- Better formatted terminal output
- GitHub API validation error handling
- Timeout handling
- Rate limit detection
- Clean terminal UX
- Optional filters (only repository name is required)
Example Use Cases
Find tiny C compiler repositories
Keyword: compiler Language: C Min Size: 1 Max Size: 30 Topic: compiler
Find active parser projects
Keyword: parser Language: C++ Stars: 100 Updated After: 2025-01-01
Find toy interpreters for learning
Keyword: interpreter Language: C Topic: compiler interpreter
Installation
Ubuntu / Debian
Install required libraries:
sudo apt update sudo apt install libcurl4-openssl-dev sudo apt install nlohmann-json3-dev
Compile
g++ github_search.cpp -o ghsearch -lcurl
Run
./ghsearch
Usage
Input Fields
[1] Repository Name / Keyword (Required)
Main search keyword.
Examples:
compiler parser interpreter database virtual machine
[2] Language (Optional)
Programming language filter.
Examples:
C C++ Rust Go Python Java JavaScript
[3] Minimum Stars (Optional)
Only show repositories with at least this number of stars.
Example:
10 100 500
[4] Minimum Forks (Optional)
Only show repositories with at least this number of forks.
Example:
5 20 100
[5] Min Repo Size KB (Optional)
Minimum repository size in KB.
Example:
1 10 100
[6] Max Repo Size KB (Optional)
Maximum repository size in KB.
Example:
30 100 1000
[7] Topics (Optional)
GitHub topics separated by spaces.
Examples:
compiler interpreter parser lexer virtual-machine runtime
Do not use "#".
Wrong:
#compiler
Correct:
compiler
[8] Updated After (Optional)
Filter repositories updated after a specific date.
Format:
YYYY-MM-DD
Example:
2025-01-01
[9] Sort (Optional)
Available options:
stars forks updated
[10] Order (Optional)
Available options:
desc asc
Example Full Search
[1] Repository Name / Keyword: compiler [2] Language: C [3] Minimum Stars: 10 [4] Minimum Forks: [5] Min Repo Size KB: 1 [6] Max Repo Size KB: 30 [7] Topics: compiler interpreter [8] Updated After: [9] Sort: [10] Order:
Example Output
[1] minilang
Language : C Stars : 47 Forks : 7 Size : 29 KB Updated : 2025-10-22T09:31:08Z URL : https://github.com/2bt/minilang
Description: Bootstrapped compiler of a C-like but Python-looking language
Why This Project Exists
This project was built from a real developer problem:
GitHub advanced search is powerful, but using it repeatedly through the browser is frustrating.
The goal of RX Search is simple:
Reduce Developer Friction
Less clicking. Less hidden filters. Less syntax memorization. More productive engineering.
This is not just a portfolio project.
It is a real developer productivity tool.
Future Roadmap (v5)
Planned improvements:
- GitHub Personal Access Token support
- Pagination support
- CSV export
- JSON export
- TXT export
- Retry logic
- Better terminal UI
- Interactive page navigation
- Saved search presets
- Search history
License
GPL License
Author
Built for engineers who are tired of fighting GitHub search.