Health Score Calculation

How RepoPulse calculates transparent, weighted health scores with detailed breakdowns and customization options.

What is a Health Score?

Health scores are comprehensive 0-100 assessments of repository vitality, combining multiple dimensions of project health into a single, interpretable metric.

🏥

Comprehensive

Considers activity, responsiveness, growth, maintenance, diversity

⚖️

Weighted

Components weighted by importance with transparent formulas

📊

Interpretable

Clear grade scale and actionable improvement guidance

Overall Score Formula

overall = (activity × 0.25) + (responsiveness × 0.25) + (growth × 0.2) + (maintenance × 0.2) + (diversity × 0.1)

Each component score (0-100) is multiplied by its weight and summed. The result is rounded to the nearest integer.

Score Components

Activity

25% weight

Measures development velocity and project vitality

Metrics:Commit frequency (last 90 days), Last commit age, Overall activity patterns

Calculation:Starts at 100, deducts points for low frequency or old commits

Example:Daily commits = +10 bonus, no commits in 30 days = -40 penalty

Responsiveness

25% weight

Evaluates maintainer availability and community support

Metrics:Issue response time, PR merge velocity, Community interaction speed

Calculation:Starts at 100, penalizes slow responses and merge times

Example:Response within 24h = no penalty, 7+ days = -40 penalty

Growth

20% weight

Assesses community adoption and project popularity

Metrics:Star count, Fork count, Growth trends (when available)

Calculation:Neutral starting point (50), bonuses for popularity milestones

Example:1000+ stars = +40, <10 stars on old repo = -30

Maintenance

20% weight

Checks issue backlog and resolution effectiveness

Metrics:Issue resolution rate, Open issue count, Average issue age

Calculation:Starts at 100, penalizes unresolved issues and backlogs

Example:70%+ resolution rate = no penalty, <50% = -50 penalty

Diversity

10% weight

Measures contributor distribution and community breadth

Metrics:Unique contributors, Contributor diversity ratio, Community size

Calculation:Based on diversity ratio, bonuses for contributor count

Example:High diversity + 10+ contributors = +30, single contributor = +0

Grade Scale

Health scores are converted to letter grades for easy interpretation and comparison.

Score Range	Grade	Label	Description
95-100	A+	Exceptional	Outstanding project health across all dimensions
90-94	A	Excellent	Strong performance with minor areas for improvement
85-89	A-	Very Good	Solid health with some notable strengths
80-84	B+	Good	Above average with room for enhancement
75-79	B	Fair	Acceptable health with clear improvement opportunities
70-74	B-	Below Average	Concerning areas requiring attention
60-69	C	Poor	Significant health issues present
50-59	D	Very Poor	Critical problems affecting sustainability
0-49	F	Failing	Severe health issues, project at risk

Interpretation Guide

How to understand and act on health scores based on their magnitude and context.

90+

Healthy, well-maintained project

May have minor optimization opportunities but generally excellent

Monitor trends, consider advanced improvements

75-89

Generally healthy with some concerns

Address insights flagged as warnings or errors

Focus on responsiveness and maintenance issues

60-74

Moderate health issues requiring attention

Multiple areas need improvement, prioritize critical insights

Develop improvement plan, increase maintainer resources if possible

45-59

Significant health problems

Project sustainability may be at risk

Immediate action required, consider community help or reduced scope

<45

Critical health issues

Project may be abandoned or severely undermaintained

Evaluate continuation viability, seek new maintainers, or archive

Score Breakdown Example

Activity

85 × 0.25 = 21.25

Responsiveness

90 × 0.25 = 22.5

Growth

75 × 0.2 = 15

Maintenance

80 × 0.2 = 16

Diversity

70 × 0.1 = 7

Overall Score (B)

21.25 + 22.5 + 15 + 16 + 7 = 81.75 → 82

This example shows a healthy project with strong responsiveness but room for improvement in growth and diversity.

Customization Options

Adjust scoring parameters via URL parameters for project-specific analysis needs.

Analysis Window

window

Time period for analysis (30, 90, 365 days)

/repo/owner/name?window=365

Impact: Longer windows provide trend stability, shorter windows show recent activity

Component Weights

weights

Custom weight distribution for score components

/repo/owner/name?weights=activity:0.3,responsiveness:0.3,growth:0.2,maintenance:0.1,diversity:0.1

Impact: Adjust for project-specific priorities (e.g., growth-heavy for marketing projects)

Enabled Insights

insights

Which insight categories to include

/repo/owner/name?insights=activity,responsiveness,maintenance

Impact: Focus analysis on specific areas of concern

Score Limitations

Historical Data: Growth calculations are simplified without full historical star/fork data.

Context Missing: Scores don't consider project age, domain, or team size context.

Public Data Only: Analysis limited to publicly available GitHub data.

Quantitative Focus: Doesn't capture qualitative aspects like code quality or documentation.

Use scores as one input among many when evaluating repositories. Combine with code review, documentation assessment, and community interaction.

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