StarWise Review: Smarter GitHub Star Organization with AI

Project Overview
StarWise is an open-source tool built to help developers make sense of their ever-growing list of GitHub stars. Instead of leaving starred repositories as a long, unstructured list, StarWise applies AI-assisted tagging and categorization so you can quickly find, group, and review repos that matter.

Purpose and Who It’s For
If you’ve starred hundreds or thousands of repositories, GitHub’s default filtering isn’t enough. StarWise aims to:

• Turn a chaotic stars list into structured collections
• Surface themes and languages automatically
• Make retrieval fast with dynamic filters and saved views
  It’s ideal for developers, engineering managers, and researchers who frequently evaluate libraries, frameworks, tutorials, and tools.

AI-Powered Tagging
StarWise uses AI to generate relevant, human-readable tags from repository metadata (name, description, topics, README cues). Examples include domain (web, data, devops), language/framework (Python, Rust, React), and utility (CLI, SDK, template). You can accept, edit, or remove tags, and the system learns from your adjustments to improve future suggestions.

Organization Features

• Smart collections: Group stars by tag intersections (e.g., “rust + webassembly”).
• Custom folders and manual tags: Create your own structure alongside AI tags.
• Saved filters and views: Pin common queries like “learning resources” or “infra tooling.”
• Search across title/desc/tags: Find repos by fuzzy text or tag queries.
• Bulk actions: Retag, move, or mark favorites in one go.
• Notes: Add personal notes to each star for context and follow-up.

Privacy and Security

• OAuth with least-privilege scopes to read your stars; no write access to your repos.
• Local-first caching; only minimal metadata is processed for tagging.
• No proprietary code or secrets are uploaded; you can self-host to keep data in your control.
• Clear data controls to re-run tagging or purge cached data.

Tech Stack

• Frontend: React + TypeScript with a clean, keyboard-friendly UI
• Backend: Node.js/Express with Prisma/SQLite (can swap for Postgres)
• Integrations: GitHub REST/GraphQL APIs; optional OpenAI-compatible LLM endpoint for tagging
• Deployment: Docker compose or one-click to popular PaaS

Quick Setup

1. Create a GitHub OAuth app and obtain client keys
2. Configure environment variables (GitHub keys, LLM endpoint if used)
3. docker compose up -d (or npm install && npm run dev)
4. Sign in with GitHub and import stars
5. Review suggested tags, tweak rules, and create your first collections

What’s New in v1.1.0

• Faster initial import (2-3x) and resilient retries for large star lists
• Improved AI tag quality with README-based hints and deduping
• New saved views with shareable links
• Bulk edit UX overhaul with keyboard shortcuts
• Optional local embedding for private/self-hosted tagging

Recommendations
For developers with lots of GitHub stars, StarWise is a practical upgrade over GitHub’s default UI. Start by importing your stars, accept baseline tags, then curate 3-5 collections you use daily (e.g., “OSS to watch,” “infra tools,” “learning”). If privacy is paramount, self-host with an open-source, local LLM and disable external calls. Over time, use saved views and notes to turn stars into an actionable knowledge base.

Conclusion
StarWise makes starred repos discoverable and useful. With AI-assisted tagging, flexible organization, and sensible privacy defaults, it’s a lightweight, developer-friendly way to tame star sprawl—without locking you into a closed platform.