Go by Example
This report presents the forensic synthetic code analysis of mmcgrana/gobyexample, a Go project with 8,200 GitHub stars. SynthScan v2.0 examined 7,311 lines of code across 185 source files, recording 34 pattern matches distributed across 3 syntactic categories. The overall adjusted score of 5.2 places this repository in the Low AI signal band.
The scanner applied 160+ deterministic lexical heuristics, multi-line block detectors, abstract syntax tree depth profilers, and a cross-file Jaccard similarity matrix to construct a statistically normalised synthetic code estimate. All matches are individually weighted by severity coefficient and contextual multiplier before summation, and the resulting headline score is temporally discounted to account for the repository's development history relative to the commercial emergence of large language model coding tooling (November 2022 onward).
Longitudinal tracking requires multiple scan runs. Once this repository is re-scanned after new commits land, this chart will visualise how the synthetic code signal evolves over time — enabling you to detect whether AI authorship is growing, stabilising, or being actively corrected by human engineers.
Classifies detected patterns by their diagnostic confidence and structural impact. CRITICAL patterns (coefficient 10) represent definitive synthetic signatures — hallucinated imports, explicit LLM attribution metadata — virtually never produced by human authors. HIGH (5) indicates strong structural tells such as cross-file repetition or cross-linguistic idioms. MEDIUM (2) covers recognisable conversational padding and AI-specific vocabulary. LOW (1) captures subtle indicators like tautological comments and generic boilerplate that require density to carry independent signal.
This horizontal bar chart decomposes the repository's raw synthetic code score by top-level directory, allowing you to pinpoint precisely which modules or components carry the highest AI authorship density. Directories with disproportionately high scores relative to their size warrant targeted manual review: concentrated AI signatures often trace back to mass-generated configuration layers, auto-ported test suites, LLM-scaffolded boilerplate classes, or entire subsystems authored under heavy copilot assistance. Use this view to prioritise your human code-review effort.
The scanner identified 34 distinct pattern matches across 3 syntactic categories. Each entry below represents a discrete location in the source code where the engine recorded a statistically significant AI authorship indicator. Expand any category row to inspect the individual file paths, line numbers, code snippets, and the lexical context (CODE, COMMENT, or STRING) in which each match was detected.
Reading the findings table: The Severity column indicates the diagnostic confidence level (CRITICAL / HIGH / MEDIUM / LOW). The Context column identifies whether the match occurred inside executable code, an inline comment, or a string literal — comment-context matches receive a ×1.5 weight because LLMs systematically over-annotate. The ⚡ bolt icon marks clustered matches: three or more patterns within a 10-line window, each receiving an additional ×1.5 density multiplier as dense clusters constitute far stronger evidence of synthetic authorship than isolated hits.
| Severity | File | Line | Snippet | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LOW | examples/maps/maps.go | 41 | // a map. | COMMENT |
| LOW | examples/generics/generics.go | 1 | // Starting with version 1.18, Go has added support for | COMMENT |
| LOW | examples/channel-buffering/channel-buffering.go | 1 | // By default channels are _unbuffered_, meaning that they | COMMENT |
| LOW | examples/slices/slices.go | 41 | // support several more that make them richer than | COMMENT |
| LOW | examples/http-server/http-server.go | 1 | // Writing a basic HTTP server is easy using the | COMMENT |
| LOW | …les-and-directories/temporary-files-and-directories.go | 21 | func main() { | COMMENT |
| LOW | examples/stateful-goroutines/stateful-goroutines.go | 41 | var writeOps uint64 | COMMENT |
| LOW | examples/stateful-goroutines/stateful-goroutines.sh | 1 | # Running our program shows that the goroutine-based | COMMENT |
| LOW | examples/string-formatting/string-formatting.go | 61 | COMMENT | |
| LOW | examples/sha256-hashes/sha256-hashes.sh | 1 | # Running the program computes the hash and prints it in | COMMENT |
| LOW | examples/spawning-processes/spawning-processes.go | 61 | grepIn.Write([]byte("hello grep\ngoodbye grep")) | COMMENT |
| LOW | examples/embed-directive/embed-directive.go | 1 | // `//go:embed` is a [compiler | COMMENT |
| LOW | examples/embed-directive/embed-directive.go | 21 | // Or embed the contents of the file into a `[]byte`. | COMMENT |
| LOW | examples/enums/enums.go | 1 | // _Enumerated types_ (enums) are a special case of | COMMENT |
| LOW | examples/closing-channels/closing-channels.go | 1 | // _Closing_ a channel indicates that no more values | COMMENT |
| LOW | examples/waitgroups/waitgroups.go | 41 | // to propagate errors from workers. For more | COMMENT |
| LOW | examples/execing-processes/execing-processes.go | 21 | // For our example we'll exec `ls`. Go requires an | COMMENT |
| LOW | examples/atomic-counters/atomic-counters.sh | 1 | # We expect to get exactly 50,000 operations. Had we | COMMENT |
| LOW | examples/testing-and-benchmarking/main_test.go | 1 | // Unit testing is an important part of writing | COMMENT |
| LOW | examples/json/json.sh | 21 | # blog post and the [JSON package docs](https://pkg.go.dev/encoding/json/v2) | COMMENT |
| LOW | examples/json/json.go | 81 | // package can put the decoded data. This | COMMENT |
| LOW | examples/pointers/pointers.go | 1 | // Go supports <em><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pointer_(computer_programming)">pointers</a></em>, | COMMENT |
| LOW | examples/regular-expressions/regular-expressions.go | 21 | // optimized `Regexp` struct. | COMMENT |
| LOW | examples/regular-expressions/regular-expressions.go | 61 | // Our examples above had string arguments and used | COMMENT |
| LOW | examples/exit/exit.go | 21 | // Note that unlike e.g. C, Go does not use an integer | COMMENT |
| LOW | examples/errors/errors.go | 1 | // In Go it's idiomatic to communicate errors via an | COMMENT |
| LOW | examples/command-line-flags/command-line-flags.go | 21 | // and a short description. This `flag.String` function | COMMENT |
| LOW | examples/recover/recover.go | 1 | // Go makes it possible to _recover_ from a panic, by | COMMENT |
| LOW | examples/logging/logging.go | 21 | // `log` package uses the _standard_ logger, which | COMMENT |
| LOW | examples/strings-and-runes/strings-and-runes.go | 21 | // language. Go string literals are UTF-8 | COMMENT |
| LOW | examples/channels/channels.sh | 1 | # When we run the program the `"ping"` message is | COMMENT |
| Severity | File | Line | Snippet | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MEDIUM | examples/goroutines/goroutines.go | 36 | // (for a more robust approach, use a [WaitGroup](waitgroups)). | COMMENT |
| MEDIUM | examples/struct-embedding/struct-embedding.go | 2 | // to express a more seamless _composition_ of types. | COMMENT |
| Severity | File | Line | Snippet | Context |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LOW | examples/text-templates/text-templates.go | 54 | }{"Jane Doe"}) | CODE |