codeautopsy

Post-mortem analysis of dead GitHub repos. Find out if an open-source project is alive, declining, or dead — and why.

Quick Start

npx codeautopsy atom/atom

Installation

npm install -g codeautopsy

Requires GitHub CLI (gh) to be installed and authenticated:

gh auth login

Usage

# Analyze a GitHub repository
codeautopsy <owner/repo>

# Full URL also works
codeautopsy https://github.com/atom/atom

# Generate a shareable death certificate image (PNG)
codeautopsy atom/atom --share

# Get raw JSON output
codeautopsy atom/atom --json

What It Analyzes

codeautopsy examines multiple health signals to determine if a project is alive or dead:

| Signal | Severity | |--------|----------| | No commits in 1+ year | Critical | | Repository archived | Critical | | Activity declined 50%+ | Critical | | 20+ unanswered issues | Critical | | Oldest unanswered issue 1+ year | Critical | | No commits in 6+ months | Warning | | Bus factor 1 (80%+ commits from one person) | Warning | | Activity declined 25%+ | Warning | | No release in 1+ year | Warning | | Declining commit trend | Warning |

Health Score

Each repository gets a health score from 0 to 100:

• 80-100 — Alive
• 50-79 — Declining
• 25-49 — On life support
• 0-24 — Dead

Cause of Death

Based on the signals detected, codeautopsy determines the cause:

• Archived by owner — Repository was explicitly archived
• Sole maintainer burnout — Bus factor of 1 with critical signals
• Gradual abandonment — Significant activity decline
• Maintainer disappeared — No commits + unanswered issues
• Development ceased — No commits for extended period
• Slow decline — Multiple warning signals
• Still breathing — No significant signals detected

Share

Use --share to generate a PNG death certificate card, perfect for sharing on X/LinkedIn:

codeautopsy atom/atom --share
# → Saves codeautopsy-atom-atom.png

Built with

shipcli — CLI-as-a-Product toolkit

License

MIT