Methodology
The Sato Score
A transparent, evidence-based score (0–100) of how open, active, and verifiable a listed product is. Transparency is one of several inputs — alongside maintenance & liveness, code openness, documentation, and independent verification.
It measures how open, active, and verifiable a project is — not safety, quality, or returns.
A high score does not mean a project is safe, audited, profitable, or a good investment. It means we can verify a lot about it. A low score often just means a project is new, private, or thinly documented — not that it is bad. The score is informational, not financial advice or an endorsement.
This honesty is deliberate: per our trust rule, no resource is presented as safe, audited, verified, or profitable unless evidence supports it, and self-reported claims are never counted as verified.
What goes into the score (v1)
The score sums five evidence-based components. Each is computed deterministically from observed data — not from a project’s own marketing.
Maintenance & liveness
max 35Recency of observed activity (commits, releases, posts). Uses real activity, not the self-applied “Active” label.
Code transparency
max 25Public repository, open-source status, and a light adoption signal (stars).
Docs & demo
max 15Whether documentation and a working demo exist.
Listing transparency & provenance
max 15How complete the listing is and how much of it is sourced — every enriched field carries provenance.
Independent verification
max 10Evidence-gated only: Verified or Audited. Self-reported claims earn nothing.
Tiers
What is deliberately not in the score yet
We do not fake what we cannot verify. These are roadmapped components, scored zero today and added only as their evidence becomes available — at which point scores recalibrate (this is v1):
- ▸On-chain verification — ERC-8004 registration / verified contract, per resource.
- ▸Performance — Verified PnL or live-trading evidence — never self-reported.
- ▸Security — Independent audit depth.
- ▸Peer reviews — Community signal, once a review system exists.
How it’s computed and kept honest
- ▸Recomputed daily from the freshest data, after the liveness and stars refresh.
- ▸Every component is shown, so any score can be explained.
- ▸The score and its breakdown are snapshotted daily — so a resource’s trajectory over time is recorded and cannot be retroactively rewritten.
- ▸The formula is open (this page); we publish changes when weights change.
- ▸It applies only to products — agents, tools, frameworks, and infrastructure. Research & editorial listings (research papers & reports, research tools & data platforms, newsletters, communities) are not scored.