Star Support Probe: psf/requests

Probe Question

Does this repository's visible GitHub popularity signal appear supported by surrounding public evidence?

Target Surface

• Repo/project: psf/requests
• Product/surface focus: visible GitHub popularity/support signal for one public repo.
• Decision question: does the visible star signal line up with adjacent public activity and adoption signals?
• Included evidence surface: stars, forks, subscribers/watchers, contributors, recent commits, releases, issue/PR activity.
• Excluded surfaces: private maintainer intent, fraud determination, bot detection, code execution, full dependency review.
• Invariant/claim tested: popularity claims should be framed as support-context comparisons, not intent or fraud conclusions.

Popularity Signal Summary

No adverse conclusion made: True

Evidence Checked

• Stars: 53991
• Forks: 9919
• Actual subscribers/watchers: 1294
• Contributors sampled/countable: 100
• Recent commits sampled/countable: 100
• Releases sampled/countable: 19
• Issue/PR activity sampled/countable: 100

GitHub REST maps watchers_count to star count in repository responses; this report uses subscribers_count for actual watcher/subscriber context.

Score Drivers

• Visible star signal is high enough to deserve context: 53991 stars.
• Fork count supports visible reuse or investigation interest.
• Contributor count supports a broader participation signal.
• Recent commit activity supports current maintenance attention.
• Release history supports a maintained public project surface.
• Issue/PR activity supports public discussion or maintenance traffic.

Supporting Evidence

• Fork signal is present relative to stars: 9919 forks.
• Contributor activity is visible: 100 contributors sampled/countable.
• Recent commit activity is visible: 100 commits in the bounded sample/window.
• Release history is visible: 19 releases sampled/countable.
• Issue/PR activity is visible: 100 bounded items/signals.
• Actual subscriber/watcher count is present: 1294 subscribers.

Evidence Gaps

A gap is context only. Low forks, low issues, few contributors, or a new repo are not adverse conclusions by themselves.

Data Limitations

• GitHub watchers_count is not treated as independent watcher evidence because GitHub REST maps it to star count.
• This report does not determine whether stars are artificial, purchased, automated, fraudulent, bot-driven, scam-related, or owner-intent related. It compares visible popularity to surrounding public evidence.
• This probe can help maintainers support their public popularity signal by showing surrounding evidence, adoption indicators, and gaps worth documenting.

Safe Next Step

Treat stars as one supported popularity signal, while still checking fit, security, and maintenance needs separately.

What This Report Does NOT Do

• It does not determine star origin or user intent.
• It does not perform platform enforcement.
• It does not replace due diligence, security review, or dependency review.
• It does not inspect private repositories.

Delivery / Retention Receipt

Generated at: 2026-05-15T00:47:28.672198+00:00

Artifact version: star_support_probe_runner_v0_1

Contract version: star_support_probe_contract_v0_1

GitHub API called: True

Token written to output: false