How RepoPicks Radar rates GitHub projects

Before you download anything, RepoPicks Radar tries to answer three questions about each GitHub project: what it does, how easy it is to install on your computer and whether anything came up that deserves attention. The answers go on a card, with grades, labels and seals you can read in a few seconds.

This guide explains what each of them means and how the cards are made, so you know how much to trust each piece of information and where to look more carefully.

A routine that runs every day

Every day, an automatic routine reads GitHub's public data and finds the open-source projects that are growing the most: the ones gaining stars fastest, the most downloaded and the ones that have just started to attract attention. A star on GitHub is like a “favorite”: when many people mark a project in a short time, it is a sign that it is being discovered.

Each new project goes through automatic checks, which look for known risk signals and keep the evidence for everything they find. Then an AI reads what the project itself publishes on GitHub, such as its introduction, its published versions, its license and its installation instructions, and writes the card in plain language, following Radar's rules.

Next, a second AI, separate from the one that wrote the card, reviews it by comparing each statement with the evidence. The card only appears on the site after this review. The GitHub numbers, such as stars, downloads and growth, are updated every day, and cards that are already published go through the checks again often.

The cards are written in English and translated into Spanish, Portuguese and Chinese. The evidence, such as excerpts from the README, appears in the original language, so you can see exactly what the project says.

How easy it is to install: from A to E

The ease grade says how much work it takes to get the program running on your computer, following the installer and the steps the project itself documents. The closer to A, the less you need to know about technology.

• A · download and open. The project offers an installer or a ready-made program. You download it, open it and use it, like any ordinary program.
• B · installer plus one simple step. It installs like an ordinary program, but asks for one extra step before the first use, such as downloading an AI model inside the app itself or entering an access key.
• C · install 1 or 2 tools. Before the program, you need to install one or two tools, such as Python, and type a few commands following the instructions.
• D · terminal, several tools or a specific graphics card. It asks for the terminal and several tools, Docker or a specific type of graphics card.
• E · developers only. You have to compile the code, set up services, or the project does not even have installation instructions for someone who just wants to use it.

If you do not code, A projects are the smoothest path, and B ones usually work well with a little patience. From C on, it is worth reading the instructions before you start. The guide How to download and install a program from GitHub without coding shows the step by step.

The grade changes from system to system

The same program can be simple on a Mac and a lot of work on Windows. That is why ease is given separately for Windows, macOS, Linux and Web, which is when a version that runs directly in the browser exists. A system with no grade is a system where the project does not run; that does not lower the grades of the others.

In the program list, the label shows the grade of the system where the project is easiest to install. If you pick a system in the “System” filter, the label shows the grade for that system. On the card, the “How easy it is to install” section shows the grade for each system side by side, with a sentence explaining the reason.

Risk signals

A risk signal is something found in the project that deserves attention before you install it. Each signal comes with its evidence, such as an excerpt from the README, a file or a piece of GitHub data, so you can check it with your own eyes instead of relying only on the grade.

Signals have three levels:

• Info: a useful fact that usually does not stop you from using the program, but is good to know.
• Attention: it is worth reading the evidence and understanding what it means before you install.
• High: a strong signal that calls for great care.

Here are some examples of what can appear: the project has no license, the repository was archived and no longer receives updates, the install command runs a script downloaded from the internet, the dependencies have known vulnerabilities, or the download links lead to file-hosting sites outside GitHub. The signal itself explains what was found.

On the home page, the “Few risk signals only” option shows only the projects with no Attention or High signals. A card with no signals means that the checks found nothing, not that the program is free of problems.

Projects on alert

When strong risk signals appear, the project is marked “Alert”. It stays visible, with a banner at the top of the card and all the evidence, for you to read and decide, but it leaves the rankings and the recommendations. On the home page, projects on alert only appear when you choose “All” under “Show”.

When a project's main use involves getting around another company's protection, license or terms, the card says so clearly in a risk signal, with the evidence from the repository itself.

Project type: ready, almost ready and the rest

GitHub has everything: ready-made programs, tools for programmers, libraries and even lists of links. Each card states the type of project:

• Ready app: a program for everyday use. It is what appears under “Ready to use”.
• Needs setup: it works as a program, but asks for a few installation steps. It is what appears under “Almost ready”.
• Developer tool, Framework and Content: projects for people who code, or collections of material. They appear under “All”.

Cost and the paid programs it replaces

Cost says how much you pay to use the program:

• Free: everything the program does is available without paying.
• Free, API costs extra: the program is free, but part of what it does depends on a paid service, such as an AI key.
• Freemium: there is a free version and a paid plan with more features.
• Paid: you have to pay to use it.

When a project does a job similar to that of a well-known paid program, the card shows this under “Can replace”. That means it solves the same kind of task, not that it is a copy or that it has all the features of the paid program. The names of the paid programs appear only so you can recognize the task; no maker pays to get into or out of these comparisons. The guide How to switch from a paid program to a free one shows how to test the switch without losing your files.

The review seals

Every published card went through the AI review and carries the “Reviewed by AI” seal. When the person in charge of Radar checks the card personally, it gets the “Reviewed by Radar” seal. Both seals say who checked the text, not that the program is recommended.

What Radar could not check

Not everything can be confirmed from what is published on GitHub alone. When something was left unconfirmed, such as whether the installer works on a specific version of the system, the card says so in the “What Radar could not check” section. Read that part before you decide: it shows the limits of that card.

The GitHub numbers

The card also shows the project's public numbers, updated every day:

• Stars: how many people have starred the project on GitHub, with the history under “Stars over time”.
• Growth: how many stars it gained in the last few days.
• Downloads: how many times the files of the versions published on GitHub were downloaded. Projects distributed through app stores or their own website show fewer downloads than they really have.
• Last update: when the code last changed. A project that has been idle for a long time may not work on new versions of the system.

These numbers produce the rankings in the “Trending” section: “Growing fastest”, “Most downloaded this week” and “New on Radar”.

What a card is not

A card is an aid for deciding, not a guarantee or an order to install. It gathers what the data and the evidence show in an easy-to-read format, but the decision is always yours. Nobody pays to appear on Radar, and there is no bought position in the rankings.

Found a wrong detail? At the end of each card there is the link “Is something wrong on this card? Ask for a correction”, which leads to the correction request page. To learn more about who runs the site, see the About page.