# singer-io/getting-started

This repository is a getting started guide to Singer.

Repository: https://github.com/singer-io/getting-started
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/singer-io-getting-started
Homepage: https://singer.io
Language: Makefile
License Family: other
Topics: etl, etl-framework, python, singer, data-analysis
Last push: 2025-08-08T16:16:23+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 48/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 35, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3593, "days_push": 390, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases, no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1345, forks 140 (observed 2026-08-28T04:04:27.336033+00:00)

## What it is
The official getting-started guide and documentation for the Singer open-source ETL standard, which defines how extraction scripts (Taps) and loading scripts (Targets) communicate via JSON over stdout. It covers the Singer specification, config and state handling, discovery and sync modes, and best practices for building Taps and Targets.

## Use cases
- learn how to write a singer tap
- understand the singer specification for etl scripts
- build a data pipeline from an api to a database
- move data between databases and web apis
- get started with open source etl
- develop a singer target for loading data
- implement incremental data extraction with state

## When to choose
- you are new to Singer and want to learn the spec
- you are building a new Tap or Target from scratch
- you need best practices for incremental replication and state handling

## When to avoid
- you need a ready-made ETL tool rather than documentation
- you want a maintained runtime library rather than a guide
- you need a GUI-based data integration platform

## Facets
- artifact type: learning-resource
- maturity: active
- function: etl, documentation, developer-tools
- domain: developer-tools, tutorials
- platform: python, cli, cross-platform
- tags: singer, taps, targets, data-pipelines, specification, getting-started-guide, data-engineering

## Member repositories
- singer-io/getting-started (main) score 48

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:27.336033+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-30T04:42:46.444598+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/singer-io/getting-started (fetched 2026-08-28T04:04:27.336033+00:00, sha 41153198be49)
  - homepage: https://singer.io (fetched 2026-08-29T12:02:01.200563+00:00, sha 19570e92adaf)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.