Topics / #reference
Reference projects on GitHub
Reference manuals, cheat sheets and checklists
As of , the most-starred Reference projects on GitHub are awesome (521.2K stars), public-apis (490.2K stars) and awesome-python (328.6K stars). GitHub.Locker tracks 306 Reference repositories with 7.8M stars combined. The fastest-growing on October 18 was HowToLiveBetter, with +632 stars in a day.
Hot right now
Most stars gained in a day · Oct 18
+632HowToLiveBetter
eternity4719/HowToLiveBetter · ★ 66.4KAn evidence-based life guide for mainland China: 677 tips across 34 sections covering health, money, law, work and family, ranked by cost-effectiveness, each citing only journal papers or official documents.
awesome
sindresorhus/awesome · ★ 521.2KIt is 'awesome', the original curated directory of awesome lists maintained by Sindre Sorhus: a hand-picked index of lists about all kinds of interesting topics, from programming languages and platforms to gaming, security, and business.
+375public-apis
public-apis/public-apis · ★ 490.2KA collective list of free APIs: a huge, manually curated catalog of public APIs for developers, maintained by the community for years. You do not call it — you browse the catalog and pick third-party APIs to use in your own product.
+293awesome-python
vinta/awesome-python · ★ 328.6KAwesome Python is a curated, opinionated guide to the best Python frameworks, libraries, and tools, organized by category — the classic answer to 'I want to do X in Python, which tool should I use?'
The all-time top
Top 100 of 306 · by stars
- 521.2K
#1 · sindresorhus/awesome
awesome
It is 'awesome', the original curated directory of awesome lists maintained by Sindre Sorhus: a hand-picked index of lists about all kinds of interesting topics, from programming languages and platforms to gaming, security, and business.
- 490.2K
#2 · public-apis/public-apispublic-apis
A collective list of free APIs: a huge, manually curated catalog of public APIs for developers, maintained by the community for years. You do not call it — you browse the catalog and pick third-party APIs to use in your own product.
- 328.6K
#3 · vinta/awesome-pythonawesome-python
Awesome Python is a curated, opinionated guide to the best Python frameworks, libraries, and tools, organized by category — the classic answer to 'I want to do X in Python, which tool should I use?'
- 4

gitignore
176Kgithub/gitignoreGitHub's official collection of .gitignore templates: ready-made ignore rules for popular languages, tools and operating systems, and the list behind the .gitignore choosers on GitHub.com.
- 5

30-seconds-of-code
129.3KChalarangelo/30-seconds-of-code · JavaScript30 seconds of code is a collection of short coding articles, each with code snippets, an explanation and examples, published on the project's own website.
- 6

nodebestpractices
105.7Kgoldbergyoni/nodebestpractices · DockerfileA curated, community-maintained list that summarizes the top Node.js best practices, style guides, and architectural tips, organized into chapters covering architecture, error handling, code style, testing, production readiness, security, performance, and Docker.
- 7
java-design-patterns
94.8Kiluwatar/java-design-patterns · JavaA collection of Java implementations for classic software design patterns (Creational, Structural, Behavioral and more), each shown as a well-commented, runnable code example.
- 8

servers
91.4Kmodelcontextprotocol/servers · TypeScriptThis is a collection of reference server implementations for the Model Context Protocol (MCP), showing how to give LLMs secure, controlled access to tools and data sources.
- 9

cs-video-courses
83.7KDeveloper-Y/cs-video-coursesA curated list of university-level Computer Science courses that have publicly available video lectures, covering topics from intro programming to machine learning, security, robotics, and more.
- 10

Apollo-11
75.5Kchrislgarry/Apollo-11 · AssemblyThe original Apollo 11 Guidance Computer (AGC) source code: the 1969 flight software for the Command Module (Comanche055) and the Lunar Module (Luminary099).
- 11

Front-End-Checklist
74.5Kthedaviddias/Front-End-Checklist · MDXFront-End Checklist is an open-source front-end quality system that turns front-end best practices into a practical review workflow, usable by humans and AI agents via web, MCP server, or this README.
- 12
Java
66.4KTheAlgorithms/Java · JavaA GitHub collection of classic algorithms and data structures, each implemented in Java for educational purposes as part of The Algorithms project.
- 13

HowToLiveBetter
66.4Keternity4719/HowToLiveBetter · HTMLAn evidence-based life guide for mainland China: 677 tips across 34 sections covering health, money, law, work and family, ranked by cost-effectiveness, each citing only journal papers or official documents.
- 14

tldr
64Ktldr-pages/tldr · Markdowntldr-pages is a community-maintained collection of simplified help pages for command-line tools, meant as a more approachable complement to traditional man pages.
- 15

chinese-independent-developer
61.9K1c7/chinese-independent-developerA massive curated list of indie projects made by Chinese independent developers, aggregating apps, SaaS tools, and websites that others are building on the side.
- 16

atom
60.7Katom/atom · JavaScriptAtom is a hackable text editor for the 21st century, built on Electron.
- 17

awesome-rust
60Krust-unofficial/awesome-rust · RustIt is the Rust community's awesome-list: a curated catalog of Rust code and resources, where every entry is a link to a project with a one-line description.
- 18
github-cheat-sheet
59.8Ktiimgreen/github-cheat-sheetThis is a cheat sheet that collects cool, hidden and not-so-hidden features of Git and GitHub, like URL tricks, keyboard shortcuts, task lists and diff tricks, each explained with a short example.
- 19

project-layout
56.7Kgolang-standards/project-layout · MakefileIt is a reference collection of common Go project directory patterns (like /cmd, /pkg, /internal, /api) for structuring real-world Go applications. It is explicitly not an official standard from the core Go team, just a documented set of community conventions.
- 20
design-patterns-for-humans
48.9Knilbuild/design-patterns-for-humansIt is a plain-English, real-world-analogy explanation of classic software design patterns (Creational, Structural, Behavioral), each paired with a short PHP code example.
- 21

big-list-of-naughty-strings
47.7Kminimaxir/big-list-of-naughty-strings · PythonIt is a curated collection of strings with a high probability of breaking software when used as user input, meant to help QA testing of input validation.
- 22

react
47.1Ktypescript-cheatsheets/react · TypeScriptA maintained cheatsheet for experienced React developers adopting TypeScript, packed with opinionated best practices and copy-pastable examples you can drop straight into your code.
- 23

awesome-cheatsheets
46.6KLeCoupa/awesome-cheatsheets · JavaScriptA curated collection of cheatsheets covering popular programming languages, frameworks, databases, and development tools, each condensed into a single reference file.
- 24

learn-regex
46.1Kziishaned/learn-regexA free, concise guide that teaches regular expressions (regex) from scratch using plain-language explanations and live-testable examples for each concept.
- 25

CppCoreGuidelines
45.4Kisocpp/CppCoreGuidelines · CSSThe C++ Core Guidelines are a collaborative set of best-practice rules for writing modern C++ (C++11 and later), covering interfaces, resource management, memory management, and concurrency, with the goal of making code type-safe, leak-free, and fast.
- 26

what-happens-when
43.4Kalex/what-happens-whenA long-form, extremely detailed walkthrough answering the classic interview question of what happens when you type google.com into your browser and press enter, tracing the whole path from keypress to rendered page.
- 27

python-patterns
43.1Kfaif/python-patterns · PythonA collection of design patterns and idioms implemented in Python, covering Creational, Structural, Behavioral, and other categories (like Borg, Observer, Factory, Visitor), plus a section on anti-patterns to avoid in Python.
- 28

git-flight-rules
42.6Kk88hudson/git-flight-rulesGit Flight Rules is a crowdsourced troubleshooting guide: for almost any git 'uh-oh' moment, it tells you exactly what happened and the commands to fix it, modeled on NASA's astronaut flight rules.
- 29

cheat.sh
41.8Kchubin/cheat.sh · Pythoncheat.sh is a unified cheat-sheet service: ask about a UNIX command or a programming language and get a concise answer right in your terminal, browser or editor. It aggregates the best community-driven cheat sheet repositories, on par with StackOverflow.
- 30

pure-bash-bible
41.7Kdylanaraps/pure-bash-bible · ShellA reference collection of pure Bash functions that replace external tools like sed, awk, cut, and grep for common string, array, file, and terminal tasks.
- 31

zju-icicles
41.3KQSCTech/zju-icicles · HTMLA community-maintained collection of course materials for Zhejiang University (ZJU) students, including course-selection guides, electronic textbooks, homework answers, past exam papers, and review notes, shared on GitHub so future students don't have to hunt for the same resources all over again.
- 32

nw.js
41.1Knwjs/nw.js · JavaScriptNW.js is an app runtime based on Chromium and Node.js that lets you write native desktop apps using HTML, CSS and JavaScript, calling Node.js modules directly from the DOM.
- 33

styleguide
39.7Kgoogle/styleguide · HTMLThis is a collection of style guides Google uses for its own and Google-originated open-source code, covering languages like C++, Java, Python, Go, JavaScript, TypeScript, HTML/CSS, Shell, Swift, and more.
- 34

devdocs
39.6KfreeCodeCamp/devdocs · RubyDevDocs combines documentation from many programming languages, frameworks, and tools into one fast, searchable web interface with offline support, a mobile version, dark theme, and keyboard shortcuts.
- 35

engineering-blogs
38.8Kkilimchoi/engineering-blogs · RubyA curated list of engineering blogs written by tech companies and individual software engineers, organized alphabetically.
- 36

python-cheatsheet
38.7Kgto76/python-cheatsheet · PythonA comprehensive reference sheet covering Python syntax, built-in types, standard library modules, and common pip packages, organized into topics like Collections, Data Types, Syntax Rules, System Calls, Data Formats, and Multimedia.
- 37

interview
38.2Khuihut/interview · C++A large Chinese-language knowledge base summarizing core C/C++ interview topics — language features, STL, data structures, algorithms, operating systems, networking, databases, design patterns, and the linker/loader — aimed at students and job seekers preparing for C/C++ technical interviews.
- 38

REKCARC-TSC-UHT
37.9KPKUanonym/REKCARC-TSC-UHT · HTMLA crowd-sourced guide to courses in Tsinghua University's Department of Computer Science and Technology, with course-selection tips, exam strategies, and recommended reading for each class.
- 39

deeplearningbook-chinese
37.8Kexacity/deeplearningbook-chinese · TeXThis is the official Chinese translation of the book 'Deep Learning' by Goodfellow, Bengio, and Courville, produced by a group of volunteer translators and later published in print by People's Posts and Telecommunications Press.
- 40
wtfjs
37.7Kdenysdovhan/wtfjs · JavaScriptIt is a curated handbook (WTFJS) of funny and tricky JavaScript examples, each snippet showing surprising behavior followed by a step-by-step explanation and links to the ECMAScript spec.
- 41
linux-command
37.2Kjaywcjlove/linux-command · MarkdownA non-profit, ad-free searchable reference of 600+ Linux commands — manuals, detailed explanations and learning notes collected into one bookmarkable website.
- 42
wtfpython
37.1Ksatwikkansal/wtfpython · PythonA free, hugely popular collection of surprising, counter-intuitive Python snippets, each with its real output and an explanation of what happens under the hood.
- 43

leetcode
36.7Kdoocs/leetcode · JavaA massive collection of LeetCode solutions, plus solutions for two popular Chinese interview prep books (Coding Interviews, 2nd edition and Cracking the Coding Interview, 6th edition), each problem solved in multiple programming languages.
- 44

og-aws
36.5Kopen-guides/og-aws · ShellA free, community-maintained practical guide to Amazon Web Services — a living reference that consolidates links, tips, gotchas, and best practices, written by engineers who use AWS.
- 45

955.WLB
36.4Kformulahendry/955.WLBA community-maintained whitelist of companies offering around 955 working hours - a stand against China's notorious 996 culture, echoing the 996.ICU project to help people escape overtime.
- 46

How-To-Ask-Questions-The-Smart-Way
35.9Kryanhanwu/How-To-Ask-Questions-The-Smart-Way · JavaScriptA Traditional Chinese (繁體中文) translation of Eric S. Raymond and Rick Moen's classic essay 'How To Ask Questions The Smart Way', which teaches programmers how to phrase technical questions so experienced hackers will actually want to answer them.
- 47

awesome-javascript
35Ksorrycc/awesome-javascriptA curated list of browser-side JavaScript libraries, resources and 'shiny things' — one of the classic GitHub awesome-lists, with over 35,000 stars.
- 48

the-way-to-go_ZH_CN
35Kunknwon/the-way-to-go_ZH_CN · GoThis is the Chinese translation of the Go programming language book 'The Way to Go' by Ivo Balbaert, officially titled 'Go 入门指南' (Go Beginner's Guide) in Chinese.
- 49

awesome-awesomeness
33.7Kbayandin/awesome-awesomeness · RubyAn index of awesome lists: one page linking to hundreds of topic-specific awesome-* collections — from programming languages to DevOps, security and design — each maintained by its own curator.
- 50

linux-insides
33.7K0xAX/linux-insides · PythonThis is a free, work-in-progress book that explains the internals of the Linux kernel, covering topics like booting, memory management, and system calls in deep technical detail.
- 51

CheatSheetSeries
33.7KOWASP/CheatSheetSeries · JavaScriptA collection of concise, high-value cheat sheets covering specific application security topics, maintained by OWASP.
- 52

modern-unix
33Kibraheemdev/modern-unixA curated collection of modern, faster and saner alternatives to common Unix commands - an index of CLI tools like bat, ripgrep, fd, fzf and zoxide.
- 53

MS-DOS
32.3Kmicrosoft/MS-DOS · AssemblyThe original source code of MS-DOS v1.25, v2.0, and v4.00, published by Microsoft for reference. The v1.25 and v2.0 parts include compiled binaries too, and v4.00 was jointly developed by IBM and Microsoft.
- 54

run
32.1KThe-Run-Philosophy-Organization/runThis is the 'Run Philosophy' (润学) repository, a crowdsourced Chinese-language knowledge base that compiles the manifesto, theory, and real-life case studies about emigrating from China, aiming to answer why people leave, where they go, and how they do it.
- 55

GPTs
32Klinexjlin/GPTsA curated collection of leaked system prompts from OpenAI's custom GPTs — the hidden instruction texts behind hundreds of popular GPTs, gathered in one GitHub repo.
- 56
awesome-github-profile-readme
31.4Kabhisheknaiidu/awesome-github-profile-readmeA curated catalog of impressive GitHub profile READMEs - the personal landing pages developers add to their profiles - with new entries added continuously.
- 57
OpenAPI-Specification
31.3KOAI/OpenAPI-Specification · MarkdownThe OpenAPI Specification (OAS) is a community-driven open standard from the OpenAPI Initiative, a Linux Foundation Collaborative Project: a standard, programming language-agnostic way to describe HTTP APIs.
- 58

rust-course
31Ksunface/rust-course · RustThis is '《Rust语言圣经》' (The Rust Language Bible), a free, open Chinese-language Rust programming tutorial/book with over 170 chapters and 1.1 million+ words covering everything from beginner basics to advanced topics.
- 59

awesome-macos-command-line
31Kherrbischoff/awesome-macos-command-lineA curated awesome list of commands and tricks for doing useful things from the macOS terminal shell. It is a reference you read, not a piece of software you run.
- 60

applied-ml
30.7Keugeneyan/applied-mlapplied-ml is a curated collection of papers, articles, and tech blogs where companies like Airbnb, Uber, Netflix, Google, and DoorDash share how they run data science and machine learning in production.
- 61

HEAD
30.3Kjoshbuchea/HEADA concise reference guide to the HTML element — which meta, link, title and other tags a web page should have, with recommendations for icons, SEO and social previews.
- 62

python-guide
29.9Krealpython/python-guide · BatchfileThe Hitchhiker's Guide to Python — a free, opinionated best-practices guidebook about installing, configuring and using Python day to day.
- 63

awesome-deep-learning
29.1KChristosChristofidis/awesome-deep-learningA curated GitHub list of deep learning tutorials, projects and communities, with about 29,000 stars. It's a jumping-off point for learning the field, not software you run.
- 64

es6features
29Klukehoban/es6featuresA one-page overview of ECMAScript 6 (ES2015) — the major update to JavaScript and the first since ES5 was standardized in 2009.
- 65

COVID-19
28.9KCSSEGISandData/COVID-19The COVID-19 data repository by Johns Hopkins University's Center for Systems Science and Engineering (CSSE) — the case data behind their widely used pandemic Visual Dashboard.
- 66

programmer-job-blacklist
28.4Kshengxinjing/programmer-job-blacklist · ShellA crowd-sourced blacklist of Chinese employers, startups, and tech cofounders accused of withholding wages, abusive labor practices, or betraying programmers, documented through links to Zhihu, Weibo, and news coverage.
- 67

awesome-actions
28.3Ksdras/awesome-actionsA curated, categorized index of GitHub Actions: ready-made actions, workflow examples, official resources and tutorials you can plug into your repository's automation.
- 68

go-patterns
28.3Ktmrts/go-patterns · GoThis is a curated collection of idiomatic design and application patterns for the Go (Golang) language, covering classic creational/structural/behavioral patterns plus Go-specific categories like synchronization, concurrency, messaging, stability and anti-patterns.
- 69

awesome-falsehood
27.8Kkdeldycke/awesome-falsehoodA curated list of falsehoods programmers believe in: articles collecting assumptions that sound obviously true but break on real-world edge cases, like believing a valid email address has exactly one @ character.
- 70

javascript-interview-questions
27.7Ksudheerj/javascript-interview-questions · JavaScriptA curated list of around 1000 JavaScript interview questions and answers covering core JS plus React, Angular, and Vue topics.
- 71
hacker-laws
27.3Kdwmkerr/hacker-laws · HTMLA curated reference of well-known laws, theories, principles and patterns relevant to software developers and technologists, such as Conway's Law, the CAP Theorem, and the DRY Principle.
- 72

OI-wiki
27KOI-wiki/OI-wiki · TypeScriptA free, open and continuously updated wiki of competitive programming (OI/ICPC) knowledge: fundamentals, common problem types, solution strategies and tools, collected so beginners can learn systematically instead of digging through scattered articles.
- 73

JCSprout
26.8KcrossoverJie/JCSprout · JavaJCSprout ('Java Core Sprout') is a Chinese-language knowledge base of core Java topics: a curated collection of articles on collections, multithreading, JVM internals, distributed systems, frameworks, algorithms and Netty, with over 26k GitHub stars.
- 74

go
26.3Kdatasciencemasters/goThe Open Source Data Science Masters (OSDSM) is a free, self-guided curriculum that collects the best open university courses, books, and tutorials to prepare someone for an entry-level Data Scientist role.
- 75

awesome-design-systems
26.2Kalexpate/awesome-design-systemsA curated list of design systems — the documented principles, best practices and UI/pattern libraries that help a team build digital products consistently.
- 76

pumpkin-book
26.1Kdatawhalechina/pumpkin-bookPumpkin Book (南瓜书) is a companion study guide that fills in the derivation details Zhou Zhihua's 'Machine Learning' textbook (known as the Watermelon Book, 西瓜书) deliberately left out.
- 77

Rust
26.1KTheAlgorithms/Rust · RustA free, open-source collection of classic algorithms implemented in Rust — the Rust volume of TheAlgorithms on GitHub. It exists for education: you read the code to learn how each algorithm works.
- 78

modern-cpp-tutorial
25.9Kchangkun/modern-cpp-tutorial · C++A free book teaching modern C++ features from C++11 through C++26, written for people who already know traditional C++ (C++98 or earlier) and want a fast way to learn the new stuff.
- 79

idiomatic.js
25.7Krwaldron/idiomatic.jsA style guide document laying out principles for writing consistent, idiomatic JavaScript code, covering whitespace, syntax, naming, type checking, and comments.
- 80

Awesome-Linux-Software
25.6Kluong-komorebi/Awesome-Linux-Software · HTMLA curated community list of Linux applications and tools for everyday users and developers — a catalog you browse to discover software, not a program you install.
- 81

awesome-algorithms
25.6Ktayllan/awesome-algorithmsA curated list of places to learn and practice algorithms: links to courses, books, blogs, visualizers and problem sites, sorted by level and topic.
- 82

modern-js-cheatsheet
25.6Kmbeaudru/modern-js-cheatsheetA cheatsheet covering the modern JavaScript (ES6+) concepts you'll frequently run into in contemporary codebases, like React projects, aimed at developers who already know basic JS but struggle with newer syntax.
- 83

bitcoinbook
25.3Kbitcoinbook/bitcoinbook · HTMLThis is the complete text of Mastering Bitcoin, a technical book that explains what Bitcoin is and how it works, shared as open source alongside its O'Reilly print and ebook editions.
- 84

Public-APIs
24Kn0shake/Public-APIsA community-maintained public list of APIs from around the web that expose their resources for consumption, organized by category in a single README.
- 85

learn-go-with-tests
23.9Kquii/learn-go-with-tests · GoThis is a free book that teaches the Go programming language by having you write tests first, following test-driven development (TDD) practices.
- 86

angular-styleguide
23.6Kjohnpapa/angular-styleguide · Vim SnippetAn opinionated style guide for Angular: documented conventions for syntax, structure, and building Angular applications, written by John Papa for development teams.
- 87

api-guidelines
23.3Kmicrosoft/api-guidelinesA collection of guidelines published by Microsoft for designing consistent, well-behaved RESTful web APIs, shared publicly to foster dialogue in the broader API community.
- 88

chinese-programmer-wrong-pronunciation
23.3Kshimohq/chinese-programmer-wrong-pronunciation · JavaScriptA reference list of English programming and tech terms that Chinese programmers commonly mispronounce, pairing each word with correct British and American audio pronunciations, the typical wrong pronunciation, and a Chinese meaning.
- 89

eng-practices
23.3Kgoogle/eng-practicesGoogle's Engineering Practices documentation — a public collection of guides distilling the engineering practices Google applies across all languages and projects, currently focused on its Code Review Guidelines.
- 90

docker-cheat-sheet
22.6Kwsargent/docker-cheat-sheetA community-maintained Docker cheat sheet that walks through installation, containers, images, networks, volumes, links, Dockerfile syntax, and best practices in one long reference document.
- 91

react-redux-links
22.5Kmarkerikson/react-redux-linksA curated collection of tutorial and resource links on React, Redux, ES6, webpack, and more, hand-picked by Mark Erikson as a starting point for learning the React-Redux ecosystem.
- 92

DesignPatternsPHP
22.2KDesignPatternsPHP/DesignPatternsPHP · PHPA collection of well-known design patterns with small sample implementations in PHP 8.x, aimed at teaching not just how each pattern works but when to reach for it.
- 93

core
22Kdotnet/core · PowerShellThe official home of .NET release notes and news: a table of every version under active support or development, with release dates, support phases, latest patch versions, and links to the full notes.
- 94

skill-map
22KTeamStuQ/skill-map · HTMLA Geekbang-run open collection of skill maps for programmers: each map lays out the knowledge tree for one IT field and comes with learning paths and curated resources to guide what to learn next.
- 95

IntelliJ-IDEA-Tutorial
22Kjudasn/IntelliJ-IDEA-TutorialA free, community-maintained Simplified Chinese tutorial for IntelliJ IDEA — a series of short chapters that take you from first install to advanced IDE skills. On GitHub since 2015, with 22k+ stars.
- 96

nowinandroid
21.9Kandroid/nowinandroid · KotlinNow in Android is a fully functional Android app built entirely with Kotlin and Jetpack Compose. It doubles as an official reference for Android design and development best practices and, as a running app, delivers news updates about Android development.
- 97

modern-cpp-features
21.9KAnthonyCalandra/modern-cpp-featuresA cheatsheet listing and explaining the new language and library features introduced in each modern C++ standard: C++11, C++14, C++17, C++20, and C++23.
- 98

tips
21.7Kgit-tips/tips · JavaScriptA community-maintained collection of the most commonly used git tips and tricks — short, ready-to-copy commands for everyday Git tasks, translated into eight other languages.
- 99

awesome-dotnet
21.7Kquozd/awesome-dotnetA curated, community-driven catalog of well-known .NET libraries, tools, frameworks and software, sorted by task into roughly a hundred categories.
- 100

typescript-book
21.6Kbasarat/typescript-book · TypeScriptTypeScript Deep Dive, a free and open-source book that teaches professional TypeScript — its description calls it the definitive guide and possibly the best TypeScript book.
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