explaingit

jnv/lists

★ 11,187Audience · generalComplexity · 1/5Setup · easy

TLDR

A mega-directory of curated GitHub lists covering hundreds of topics, from programming languages and developer tools to board games, recipes, and travel, so you can find a pre-built resource list for almost anything.

Mindmap

mindmap
  root((lists))
    What it is
      List of lists
      Recursive collection
      CSV download
    Technical Topics
      Programming languages
      Developer tools
      Data science
    Everyday Topics
      Board games
      Recipes
      Travel
      Mental health
    Format
      GitHub links
      Descriptions
      Awesome-lists
    Audience
      Researchers
      Developers
      General public
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Code map

Detail Auto

An interactive map of this repo's files and how they connect — its source is parsed live in your browser. Click Visualize to build it.

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Things people build with this

USE CASE 1

Find a curated awesome-list for any programming language, framework, or developer tool you are researching.

USE CASE 2

Discover community-maintained resource lists on everyday topics like board games, cocktail recipes, or mental health.

USE CASE 3

Download the full collection as a CSV file to build your own searchable index or personal knowledge base.

Getting it running

Difficulty · easy Time to first run · 5min
No license information provided.

In plain English

This repository is a curated collection of other curated lists hosted on GitHub. The idea is simple: rather than gathering resources directly, it gathers the gatherers. If you want to find a list about a particular topic, this is a starting point for finding one that already exists. The entries are split into two broad sections. The non-technical section includes lists covering subjects like board games, fantasy literature, cocktail recipes, mental health resources, guitar specs, baby sleep advice, vegetarian restaurants by city, and a wide range of other everyday topics. The technical section covers programming languages, developer tools, data science resources, and many subcategories relevant to software work. A significant portion of the entries fall under the "awesome" naming convention, a popular GitHub pattern where someone creates a list called awesome-something and curates the best tools, libraries, or resources for that topic. This repository links to hundreds of those lists across many domains. The collection also includes a running joke in its table of contents: after "Lists of lists" there are sections for "Lists of lists of lists," "Lists of lists of lists of lists," and so on, nesting several levels deep. It is a self-aware nod to how recursive the whole concept becomes. Each entry includes a link to the GitHub repository (or occasionally another platform), a short description of what it covers, and sometimes a companion website. Contributions are welcome, and the full dataset is also downloadable as a CSV file. The full README is longer than what was shown.

Copy-paste prompts

Prompt 1
Search through the jnv/lists repository and find every awesome-list related to machine learning. Give me the name, link, and a one-line description of each.
Prompt 2
I need a curated list of resources about [topic]. Look through jnv/lists and tell me which entries are most relevant and what they contain.
Prompt 3
Using the CSV data from jnv/lists, build me a simple command-line tool that lets me search for lists by keyword and shows the GitHub link and description.
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