How WelcomeScore works

WelcomeScore provides a practical snapshot of how approachable a public GitHub repository appears to a first-time contributor. It looks for visible contributor signals that reduce uncertainty before a person invests time in a first issue or pull request.

A score is not a certification, security assessment, legal opinion, employment recommendation, investment signal, endorsement, or guarantee that a repository is safe, maintained, welcoming, or suitable for a particular person. It is a structured prompt for maintainers to improve public onboarding information and for contributors to investigate further.

The audit uses the same six documented checks for every eligible public repository.

The total score ranges from 0 to 100 and is presented with a letter grade. The audit is intentionally limited: a high score does not prove that every issue is appropriate, that maintainers will respond, or that a contribution will be accepted. A lower score identifies visible opportunities; it does not judge a project or its people.

When you request an audit, WelcomeScore reads the public repository data necessary for the documented checks from GitHub. This can include public repository metadata, the default branch, the presence of contributor documents, license metadata, the public README, publicly searchable issue labels, and the repository’s publicly reported recent push date.

To reduce unnecessary external requests, public scoring data is cached for a short period. Cached data can be stale, unavailable, rate-limited, incomplete, renamed, or differently interpreted by GitHub. If a repository is private, deleted, inaccessible, malformed, or temporarily unavailable, the audit may be unable to return a result.

After an audit, a visitor may explicitly select Ask Algofox for a review. The review starts from the audit’s verified score signals and provides a short, technical, evidence-bound observation. It does not publish anything, add a Hall of Fame entry, post to the Dev Lounge, or inspect raw repository source code on your behalf.

The review feature can use an optional provider or a deterministic evidence rule. Every accepted provider response is checked again against the audit’s allowed focus signals. Reviews are guidance, not a guarantee, professional advice, or an assessment of a project’s security, legal status, maintainers, or commercial suitability.

An audit never enters the Hall of Fame automatically. A repository must first satisfy the published eligibility criteria, and a visitor must then select the explicit add action. The Hall of Fame is a product feature, not an endorsement, quality certification, or business recommendation.

The Dev Lounge is a lightweight anonymous 24-hour discussion space for practical contributor questions and encouragement. It is not a private channel, marketplace, professional-advice service, recruiting platform, escrow service, or moderation guarantee. Read the Dev Lounge Policy before participating.

The best improvements are real and useful: publish a contributor guide, document the local setup path, add a clear code of conduct and license, create accurately scoped starter issues, and keep the repository’s public maintenance signals current. Do not add empty files, misleading labels, fabricated issues, or superficial text solely to influence a score.

The project repository provides a detailed contribution guide, including criteria for a trustworthy good-first-issue label.