diff --git a/projects/initial-data/main.js b/projects/initial-data/main.js
index 4ba0702..70c163e 100644
--- a/projects/initial-data/main.js
+++ b/projects/initial-data/main.js
@@ -1,147 +1,75 @@
 import { Octokit } from 'octokit';
 import { getInput } from './setup.js';
-
 import { DataRecorder } from './dataRecorder.js';
 
 const CSV_FILE_NAME = `initialTopicRepoData-${Date.now()}.csv`;
 
-export async function fetchRepoCreationDate(octokit, owner, repo) {
-  console.log(`Fetching creation date for repository: ${owner}/${repo}`);
-  const response = await octokit.request('GET /repos/{owner}/{repo}', {
-    owner,
-    repo,
-  });
-  return Date.parse(response.data.created_at);
-}
-
-async function fetchFirstCommitDate(octokit, owner, repo) {
-  console.log(`Fetching first commit date for repository: ${owner}/${repo}`);
-  try {
-    const response = await octokit.request(
-      'GET /repos/{owner}/{repo}/commits',
-      {
-        owner,
-        repo,
-        per_page: 1,
-      },
-    );
-
-    const lastPageUrl = response.headers.link?.match(
-      /<([^>]+)>;\s*rel="last"/,
-    )?.[1];
-
-    if (!lastPageUrl) {
-      if (response.data.length > 0) {
-        response.data[0].commit.author.date;
-      } else {
-        throw new Error(`No commits found for ${owner}/${repo}`);
-      }
-    }
-
-    const lastPageResponse = await octokit.request(lastPageUrl);
-
-    if (lastPageResponse.data.length > 0) {
-      return Date.parse(lastPageResponse.data[0].commit.author.date);
-    } else {
-      throw new Error(`No commits found ${owner}/${repo}`);
-    }
-  } catch (err) {
-    throw new Error(`Could not find any commits for ${owner}/${repo}`);
-  }
-}
-
-async function fetchRepoTopics(octokit, owner, repo) {
-  console.log(`Fetching topics for repository: ${owner}/${repo}`);
-  const response = await octokit.request('GET /repos/{owner}/{repo}/topics', {
-    owner,
-    repo,
-  });
-  return response.data.names;
-}
-
-async function fetchFirstReleaseDate(octokit, owner, repo) {
-  console.log(`Fetching first release date for repository: ${owner}/${repo}`);
-  try {
-    const response = await octokit.request(
-      'GET /repos/{owner}/{repo}/releases',
-      {
-        owner,
-        repo,
-        per_page: 1,
-      },
-    );
-    const lastPageUrl = response.headers.link?.match(
-      /<([^>]+)>;\s*rel="last"/,
-    )?.[1];
-
-    if (!lastPageUrl) {
-      if (response.data.length > 0) {
-        response.data[0].created_at;
-      } else {
-        throw new Error(`No releases found for ${owner}/${repo}`);
-      }
-    }
-
-    const lastPageResponse = await octokit.request(lastPageUrl);
-    if (lastPageResponse.data.length > 0) {
-      return Date.parse(lastPageResponse.data[0].created_at);
-    } else {
-      throw new Error(`No releases found for ${owner}/${repo}`);
+async function fetchRepositoriesWithTopic(octokit, topic, numRepos) {
+  console.log(`Fetching repositories with topic: ${topic}`);
+  
+  const perPage = 100; //allow max 100 items/page
+  const maxResults = numRepos === -1 ? 1000 : Math.min(numRepos, 1000); //Cap at 1000
+  const pages = Math.ceil(maxResults / perPage);
+  
+  let allRepos = [];
+  
+  for (let page = 1; page <= pages; page++) {
+    console.log(`Fetching page ${page} of ${pages} for topic: ${topic}`);
+    
+    const response = await octokit.rest.search.repos({
+      q: `topic:${topic}`,
+      per_page: perPage,
+      page: page,
+      sort: 'updated',
+      order: 'desc'
+    });
+    
+    const repos = response.data.items;
+    allRepos = [...allRepos, ...repos];
+    
+    // If received fewer items than requested, we've reached the end
+    if (repos.length < perPage) break;
+    
+    // If reached our target number of repos, stop
+    if (numRepos !== -1 && allRepos.length >= numRepos) {
+      allRepos = allRepos.slice(0, numRepos);
+      break;
     }
-  } catch (err) {
-    throw new Error(`Unable to get releases for ${owner}/${repo}`);
+    
+    // Rate limits
+    await new Promise(resolve => setTimeout(resolve, 1000));
   }
+  
+  return allRepos;
 }
 
-export async function processRepository(octokit, owner, repo) {
-  console.log(`Processing repository: ${owner}/${repo}`);
-  const githubRepoURL = `https://github.com/${owner}/${repo}`;
-
-  const creationDate = await fetchRepoCreationDate(octokit, owner, repo);
-  let firstReleaseDate;
-  try {
-    firstReleaseDate = await fetchFirstReleaseDate(octokit, owner, repo);
-  } catch (err) {
-    throw new Error(`Unable to get releases for ${owner}/${repo}`);
-  }
-  const repoTopics = await fetchRepoTopics(octokit, owner, repo);
-
-  let firstCommitDate;
-  try {
-    firstCommitDate = await fetchFirstCommitDate(octokit, owner, repo);
-  } catch (err) {
-    throw new Error(`Error trying to find first commit for ${owner}/${repo}`);
-  }
-  console.log({ firstReleaseDate });
-
-  if (firstReleaseDate === null) {
-    console.log(`First release date: of ${githubRepoURL} unknown`);
-  }
-
-  if (firstCommitDate === null) {
-    console.log(`First commit date: of ${githubRepoURL} unknown`);
-  }
-
+function extractRepositoryData(repo) {
+  console.log(`Extracting data for repository: ${repo.full_name}`);
+  
+  const creationDate = Date.parse(repo.created_at);
+  
+  // Topics are directly available in the search response
+  const repoTopics = repo.topics || [];
+  
   const singleRowData = {
-    repository: `${owner}/${repo}`,
+    repository: repo.full_name,
     repoTopics: `"${repoTopics.join(', ')}"`,
-    date_first_commit: firstCommitDate,
+    date_first_commit: null, // skipping this as per requirements
     creation: creationDate,
-    date_first_release: firstReleaseDate, // firstReleaseDate is null if no releases. allowed it because it is appropriate
+    date_first_release: null, // skipping this as per requirements
   };
-
+  
   return singleRowData;
 }
 
 async function main(token, topic, numRepos) {
   const octokit = new Octokit({ auth: token });
-
-  const iterator = octokit.paginate.iterator(octokit.rest.search.repos, {
-    q: `topic:${topic}`,
-    per_page: 100,
-  });
-  let processedRepos = 0;
-
+  
+  // Fetch repositories with the specified topic
+  const repositories = await fetchRepositoriesWithTopic(octokit, topic, numRepos);
+  console.log(`Found ${repositories.length} repositories with topic: ${topic}`);
+  
+  // Set up CSV recorder
   const csvColumns = [
     'repo',
     'repo_topics',
@@ -150,26 +78,21 @@ async function main(token, topic, numRepos) {
     'date_first_release',
   ];
   const dataRecorder = new DataRecorder(`./data/${CSV_FILE_NAME}`, csvColumns);
-
-  for await (const iteration of iterator) {
-    const data = iteration.data;
-    for (const repo of data) {
-      try {
-        if (numRepos !== -1 && processedRepos >= numRepos) break;
-        const dataRow = await processRepository(
-          octokit,
-          repo.owner.login,
-          repo.name,
-        );
-
-        dataRecorder.appendToCSV(Object.values(dataRow));
-        processedRepos++;
-        console.log(`processed ${processedRepos}`);
-      } catch (err) {
-        console.error(err);
-      }
+  
+  // Process each repository
+  let processedRepos = 0;
+  for (const repo of repositories) {
+    try {
+      const dataRow = extractRepositoryData(repo);
+      dataRecorder.appendToCSV(Object.values(dataRow));
+      processedRepos++;
+      console.log(`Processed ${processedRepos}/${repositories.length}`);
+    } catch (err) {
+      console.error(`Error processing repository ${repo.full_name}:`, err);
     }
   }
+  
+  console.log(`Completed processing ${processedRepos} repositories`);
 }
 
 export function runMain() {
@@ -180,3 +103,6 @@ export function runMain() {
 
   main(token, topic, numRepos);
 }
+
+// testing purposes
+export { fetchRepositoriesWithTopic, extractRepositoryData };
diff --git a/projects/initial-data/processRespository.test.js b/projects/initial-data/processRespository.test.js
index 23fa97f..4541b06 100644
--- a/projects/initial-data/processRespository.test.js
+++ b/projects/initial-data/processRespository.test.js
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ import { tmpdir } from 'node:os';
 import { sep } from 'node:path';
 import fs from 'fs';
 
-import { fetchRepoCreationDate } from './main.js';
+import { fetchRepositoriesWithTopic, extractRepositoryData } from './main.js';
 import { getInput } from './setup.js';
 import { Octokit } from 'octokit';
 import { DataRecorder } from './dataRecorder.js';
@@ -44,10 +44,27 @@ describe('Basic tests', () => {
     });
   });
 
-  it('Simple use of Octokit calls the GitHub API', async () => {
-    let data;
-    data = await fetchRepoCreationDate(octokit, 'octocat', 'hello-world');
-    expect(data).toEqual(1550934514000);
+  it('fetchRepositoriesWithTopic fetches repositories with the specified topic', async () => {
+    const repos = await fetchRepositoriesWithTopic(octokit, 'json-schema', 3);
+    expect(repos.length).toBeGreaterThan(0);
+    expect(repos.length).toBeLessThanOrEqual(3);
+    expect(repos[0].topics).toContain('json-schema');
+  });
+
+  it('extractRepositoryData correctly extracts data from a repository', () => {
+    const mockRepo = {
+      full_name: 'owner/repo',
+      created_at: '2020-01-01T00:00:00Z',
+      topics: ['json-schema', 'validation']
+    };
+    
+    const data = extractRepositoryData(mockRepo);
+    
+    expect(data.repository).toBe('owner/repo');
+    expect(data.repoTopics).toBe('"json-schema, validation"');
+    expect(data.creation).toBe(Date.parse('2020-01-01T00:00:00Z'));
+    expect(data.date_first_commit).toBeNull();
+    expect(data.date_first_release).toBeNull();
   });
 
   it('DataRecorder writes JSON data to csv file', async () => {