Project / browser extension

StarScout Extension

Browser extension and backend API for showing StarScout-derived suspected non-legit star signals on public GitHub repository pages.

The extension adds a StarScout badge near GitHub's native repository star count and opens a details popover with aggregate metrics and attribution.

StarScout desktop badge with aggregate star integrity signal
StarScout badge on a narrower GitHub layout
Chrome Web Store page
View code Privacy policy

Results are bounded by the StarScout dataset cutoff, currently 2025-01-01.

Usage

  1. Install StarScout from the Chrome Web Store.
  2. Open a public GitHub repository page and look for the StarScout badge near GitHub's native star control.

What it does

  • Detects public GitHub repository pages.
  • Sends only a recognized public owner/repo identifier to the API.
  • Shows aggregate suspected non-legit star metrics when available.
  • Shows a neutral not-analyzed state when the dataset has no row.

What it does NOT do

  • Prove that stars are fake.
  • Prove that remaining stars are legitimate.
  • Claim that users or repositories are fake.
  • Expose actor-level stargazer identities.
  • Treat results as definitive evidence.

What the popover shows

  • Current GitHub stars when available.
  • Suspected non-legit stars.
  • Estimated legitimate stars.
  • Low-activity, lockstep, and overlap breakdowns.
  • Dataset cutoff date and attribution.

Privacy posture

The extension does not collect GitHub credentials, GitHub account identity, extension-specific user IDs, or private repository names or contents.

See the privacy policy for the full details.

Attribution

This project uses StarScout-derived data and methodology. StarScout is an academic research project by Hao He, Haoqin Yang, Philipp Burckhardt, Alexandros Kapravelos, Bogdan Vasilescu, and Christian Kaestner.