Explain clones info in Github's Traffic tab

In a recent question I made, one of the answers pointed to another answer in another question where a way to explore the forks and clones of a public Github repo was shared.

I went ahead and did that with my own public repo and came up with this information in the Git clones section under the Traffic tab in the Graphs section:

I'm not really sure I understand what this information means. Are there 6 clones of the repo in total with 4 of them made on the 09/08? Did only 3 unique cloners cloned it?, in which case, does that mean they cloned it more than once? Do those numbers include myself and any clones I might have made in different systems (ie: home PC, work PC, laptop, etc)? Any help is much appreciated.

I believe part of the confusion is that the graph shows 4 cloners (blue line), and the label is saying 3 unique cloners. Other than that, it should be interpreted as:

• 6 clones in the past 14 days, 4 made on 9/8 ... this may not indicate the "total" as you ask, as this graph only ever goes back 14 days
• 3 unique cloners cloned it, some of them may have cloned it more than once...
• ...For example, on 9/8, it could have been cloners:clones of 1:1 and 1:3 ... it doesn't give you that level of information
• It should include every time the git clone command was executed against the repo, so all of your different devices, yes.
• You would be identified as a unique user or not based on if it could determine "unique GitHub users (or anonymous IP addresses)" + confirmation from GitHub support

This might also be happening: if you are using Github actions or have other "apps" connected to your Github account (for instance Netlify). Those may also clone your repo to build or test your code.

Let's say you have a Github action defined that runs a few tests when you push to your repository. Github will start a virtual machine or a container. It will clone your code, install it and run the tests. After that you get a fail or pass and the VM or container is shut down.

Also when you have netlify integrated with for instance a React app repository. When you push new code something simular will happen. But then Netlify will try to build the app. That also results in your repo being cloned.

It is happened to my repositories as well. And while I am trying to figure out what is happening I came up with the following assumption.

Without discarding the idea of an individual cloning the repository for personal use (through the download button maybe), I believe that must be bots out there that are attracted by the labels that you gave or other parts of your activity and cloning the code.

Something like that I guess is useful for the people that are working on something specific and they are looking for a specific piece of code, (through the tags or the programming language etc), without giving much thought about the owner.