GitHub Octoverse 2025: 180 million developers, TypeScript reaches the top, and AI becomes a common project

GitHub's "Octoverse 2025" annual report is like a "physical examination sheet" for global developers: 180 million developers, TypeScript has become the first language, and generative AI has become a common engineering practice. Three figures outline the underlying changes in the global software ecosystem in 2025.

Three core findings

First, generative AI becomes a common project. AI is deeply integrated into daily development processes and is no longer an experimental tool. Behind this is the popularity of tools such as Copilot, Cursor, and Claude Code - AI-assisted coding has changed from "early adopter" to "default".

Second, TypeScript has become the first language. TypeScript surpassed Java and other languages ​​to become the most used programming language on GitHub, reflecting the paradigm shift of modern Web and full-stack development - the dual advantages of type safety and tool chain ecology make TS the de facto standard for the new generation of engineering teams.

Third, AI affects developers’ technology selection. Developers adjust language and framework choices around the AI ​​ecosystem - In the AI ​​era, which language and framework are "more suitable for AI collaboration" is becoming a new selection criterion.

The report also shows that developers in emerging markets such as India are growing strongly, and the global developer landscape is accelerating the restructuring.

An authoritative footnote on "long-termism in AI programming"

From an industry perspective, Octoverse 2025 provides authoritative data support for the popularization of AI programming tools - the judgment that "AI has become a common project", confirming the long-term space between GitHub Copilot and the entire AI programming track: this is not a wave of enthusiasm, but a permanent migration of development methods. For the domestic developer ecosystem, this report has dual reference value: first, the direction that TypeScript’s rise to the top has on the domestic front-end/full-stack technology route; second, the inspiration of “AI becoming a common project” to the skill tree of domestic developers—after AI assistance becomes the default in 2025, the core competitiveness of developers is shifting from “writing code” to “defining problems and reviewing AI output”. The restructuring of the global developer landscape also means that the role and opportunities of Chinese developers in the global open source ecosystem are being redefined.

Several directions worth tracking in the future:

1. The sustainability of TypeScript’s rise to the top: Will it further squeeze the existing ecosystem of Java/.NET?
2. Quantification of the proportion of AI code: Whether subsequent reports will disclose the proportion of AI-generated code data.
3. The development power of emerging markets: The impact of the growth of markets such as India on the global developer landscape.
4. Comparison of domestic developer ecology: Changes in the share of Chinese developers in the global open source landscape.