Short GitHub usernames are getting incredibly hard to find.

3-letter handles are basically gone, and even most decent 4-letter usernames are already taken or buried behind inactive accounts.

I started experimenting with the GitHub API to see what was *actually* still available, and ended up building a small open-source scanner + searchable directory around it.

Current dataset:

* 12,000+ verified available 4-letter usernames
* searchable + filterable
* updated periodically through the API

Some things I added:

* pattern filters (`aabb`, `abab`, consonant-only, keyboard-row patterns, etc.)
* priority tiers for pronounceable or recognizable handles
* local Python scanner if you want to run your own wordlists
* fully open source (MIT)

One interesting thing I noticed while scanning:  
GitHub’s namespace is much more saturated than I expected — especially for pronounceable 4-letter combinations.

Would genuinely love feedback on:

* better heuristics for ranking “good” usernames
* additional pattern categories
* rate-limit handling improvements for the scanner

Repo:  
[https://github.com/dqev/rare-github-usernames](https://github.com/dqev/rare-github-usernames)

Demo:  
[https://rare-github-usernames.vercel.app](https://rare-github-usernames.vercel.app)

I made an open-source scanner for finding available 4-letter GitHub usernames