Fake Star Audit

by Armada735

273 downloads

Not rated

GitHub

About

Audits a GitHub repository's stargazers for signs of fake-star injection across five deterministic axes (burst, suffix-farm, sequential-id cluster, same-second cluster, inter-star gap regularity) over two windows (oldest 100 + newest 30), plus extended signals. Returns LOW / MEDI

Details

Author: Armada735
Downloads: 273
Categories: Developer Tools, Security

- Zero dependencies – pure Python standard library
- No token, no account – uses anonymous GitHub API
- One-file portable audit.py – just copy and run
- AI-native – works as a Claude Code skill
- Transparent verdicts – every flag shows its evidence
- Conservative heuristics – minimises false accusations

Setting up with Highlight

This MCP is not yet compatible with Highlight’s one-click setup. However, you can still use it with Highlight by following these steps:

Download and install Highlight from highlightai.com/download
Navigate to the plugins tab and select "Add Custom Plugin"
Configure the plugin with the settings below

Plugin Name Fake Star Audit

Command (node, npx, python, etc.)

Please refer to the README for specific instructions on how to obtain API keys or other required environment variables.
Enable "Start Automatically" if you want the plugin to start when Highlight launches

Setting up with Cursor

Open Cursor's settings
Navigate to the MCP section
Click "Add new Global MCP server"
Copy and paste the configuration below based on your operating system

JSON

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "fake star audit": {
            "fake-star-audit": {
                "command": "python3",
                "args": [
                    "/absolute/path/to/fake-star-audit/mcp_server.py"
                ]
            }
        }
    }
}

JSON

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "fake star audit": {
            "fake-star-audit": {
                "command": "python3",
                "args": [
                    "/absolute/path/to/fake-star-audit/mcp_server.py"
                ]
            }
        }
    }
}

JSON

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "fake star audit": {
            "fake-star-audit": {
                "command": "python3",
                "args": [
                    "/absolute/path/to/fake-star-audit/mcp_server.py"
                ]
            }
        }
    }
}

Setting up with Claude Desktop

Open Claude Desktop's settings
Go to the Integrations tab
Click "Add MCP Server"
Use the configuration below based on your operating system

Note: Make sure Claude Desktop is running before attempting to connect.

JSON

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "fake star audit": {
            "fake-star-audit": {
                "command": "python3",
                "args": [
                    "/absolute/path/to/fake-star-audit/mcp_server.py"
                ]
            }
        }
    }
}

JSON

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "fake star audit": {
            "fake-star-audit": {
                "command": "python3",
                "args": [
                    "/absolute/path/to/fake-star-audit/mcp_server.py"
                ]
            }
        }
    }
}

JSON

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "fake star audit": {
            "fake-star-audit": {
                "command": "python3",
                "args": [
                    "/absolute/path/to/fake-star-audit/mcp_server.py"
                ]
            }
        }
    }
}

Setting up with Windsurf

Open Windsurf's preferences
Go to the Integrations section
Click "Add MCP Integration"
Use the configuration below based on your operating system

JSON

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "fake star audit": {
            "fake-star-audit": {
                "command": "python3",
                "args": [
                    "/absolute/path/to/fake-star-audit/mcp_server.py"
                ]
            }
        }
    }
}

JSON

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "fake star audit": {
            "fake-star-audit": {
                "command": "python3",
                "args": [
                    "/absolute/path/to/fake-star-audit/mcp_server.py"
                ]
            }
        }
    }
}

JSON

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "fake star audit": {
            "fake-star-audit": {
                "command": "python3",
                "args": [
                    "/absolute/path/to/fake-star-audit/mcp_server.py"
                ]
            }
        }
    }
}

Setting up with Cline

Open Cline's settings
Navigate to the Integrations section
Click "Add MCP Server"
Copy and paste the configuration below based on your operating system

Note: Make sure to restart Cline after adding the configuration.

JSON

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "fake star audit": {
            "fake-star-audit": {
                "command": "python3",
                "args": [
                    "/absolute/path/to/fake-star-audit/mcp_server.py"
                ]
            }
        }
    }
}

JSON

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "fake star audit": {
            "fake-star-audit": {
                "command": "python3",
                "args": [
                    "/absolute/path/to/fake-star-audit/mcp_server.py"
                ]
            }
        }
    }
}

JSON

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "fake star audit": {
            "fake-star-audit": {
                "command": "python3",
                "args": [
                    "/absolute/path/to/fake-star-audit/mcp_server.py"
                ]
            }
        }
    }
}

Setting up with Goose

Open Goose's preferences
Go to the Integrations tab
Select "MCP Servers"
Click "Add New Server"
Use the configuration below based on your operating system

JSON

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "fake star audit": {
            "fake-star-audit": {
                "command": "python3",
                "args": [
                    "/absolute/path/to/fake-star-audit/mcp_server.py"
                ]
            }
        }
    }
}

JSON

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "fake star audit": {
            "fake-star-audit": {
                "command": "python3",
                "args": [
                    "/absolute/path/to/fake-star-audit/mcp_server.py"
                ]
            }
        }
    }
}

JSON

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "fake star audit": {
            "fake-star-audit": {
                "command": "python3",
                "args": [
                    "/absolute/path/to/fake-star-audit/mcp_server.py"
                ]
            }
        }
    }
}

From the repository

The tool can be invoked as a standalone CLI (python3 audit.py --repo owner/repo), installed from PyPI (pip install fake-star-audit) and run as fake-star-audit-cli, or used as a Claude Code skill. Its optional MCP server exposes the audit_repo tool over stdio; register it in your MCP client (e.g., Claude Desktop’s config) with uvx fake-star-audit or a local path to mcp_server.py.

Claude Desktop / Cursor

Paste into your MCP client config file to install this server.

{
    "mcpServers": {
        "fake star audit": {
            "fake-star-audit": {
                "command": "python3",
                "args": [
                    "/absolute/path/to/fake-star-audit/mcp_server.py"
                ]
            }
        }
    }
}

McpServers

{
    "fake-star-audit": {
        "command": "python3",
        "args": [
            "/absolute/path/to/fake-star-audit/mcp_server.py"
        ]
    }
}

fake-star-audit

A transparent, dependency-free GitHub fake-star checker. One Python file, no
token, no install — point it at a repo and get a LOW / MEDIUM / HIGH
risk verdict with every rule explained.

$ python3 audit.py --repo someowner/somerepo
🔴  someowner/somerepo  —  risk: HIGH
    422★ / 0 forks / age 66.9h
    windows: earliest=100, latest=22
    axes: page1_sliding_window, sequential_id_cluster, same_second_cluster
      [FLAG] page1_sliding_window     earliest: BURST: 100 stars in 0.55h (~183 stars/h)
      [FLAG] sequential_id_cluster    earliest: 4+ time-consecutive stargazers within id range <200k
      [FLAG] same_second_cluster      earliest: max 4 stars within a 30s window

Why

GitHub stars are used as a proxy for trust — by investors doing due-diligence,
by engineers picking dependencies, by recruiters reading résumés. But there is
a paid market for fake stars: bot accounts and "star farms" inflate a repo to
look popular. (See the CMU study estimating millions of suspected fake stars.)

fake-star-audit gives you a fast, explainable gut-check: is this repo's
star count believable?

What makes it different

There are already excellent fake-star tools — see How it compares.
This one is deliberately the smallest, most portable option:

- Zero dependencies. Pure Python standard library. No pip install.
- No token, no account. Uses the anonymous GitHub API. It never reads your
GITHUB_TOKEN or any environment variable, and never writes files.
- One file. Copy audit.py anywhere and run it.
- AI-native. Ships as a Claude Code skill — ask "is this repo fake-starred?"
in natural language and get a structured report.
- Transparent. No machine-learning black box. Every flag is a named rule
with its evidence printed.

It is not trying to replace at-scale academic crawlers or full due-diligence
suites. It's the dependency-free, AI-friendly first look.

Quick start

CLI

```bash

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Fake Star Audit

About

Details

Jump to

Setting up with Highlight

Setting up with Cursor

JSON

JSON

JSON

Setting up with Claude Desktop

JSON

JSON

JSON

Setting up with Windsurf

JSON

JSON

JSON

Setting up with Cline

JSON

JSON

JSON

Setting up with Goose

JSON

JSON

JSON

From the repository

Claude Desktop / Cursor

McpServers

fake-star-audit

Why

What makes it different

Quick start

CLI

Install

About

Details

Jump to

Setting up with Highlight

From the repository

Claude Desktop / Cursor

McpServers

fake-star-audit

Why

What makes it different

Quick start

CLI

Install

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