Open source guruOpen Source GuruHow Open Source Guru watches repositories, and how long an email takes.
GitHub only sends live updates (webhooks) to a repository's owners, so Open Source Guru checks each repository you follow every couple of minutes through the GitHub API instead.
Each repository is checked once, however many people follow it, then every matching subscription is notified. Checks use GitHub's conditional requests: when nothing changed, the check is almost free. That's what keeps the service running for a few euros a month.
At each check, we compare the repository's recently updated issues with what we saw last time:
Pull requests are skipped.
No flood when you subscribe
The first time a repository is checked, we only take note of its current issues: nothing is sent. And a new subscription only receives issues detected after it was created, never the repository's past issues.
From an issue being opened (or labeled) on GitHub to the email in your inbox:
So expect emails sent right away within about 5 to 10 minutes.
We also keep track of each issue's assignees and state. Emails and your feed show whether an issue is not assigned yet, assigned to someone, or closed, as of the latest check, so you don't spend time on issues already taken.