Repository Analysis

sherlock-project/sherlock

Hunt down social media accounts by username across social networks

Analysis Overview

This report presents the forensic synthetic code analysis of sherlock-project/sherlock, a Python project with 86,529 GitHub stars. SynthScan v2.0 examined 8,819 lines of code across 43 source files, recording 44 pattern matches distributed across 6 syntactic categories. The overall adjusted score of 7.0 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).

7.0

Adjusted Score

7.0

Raw Score

100%

Time Factor

2026-07-13

Last Push

86.5K

Stars

Python

Language

8.8K

Lines of Code

Files

Pattern Hits

2026-07-14

Scan Date

0.07

HC Hit Rate

What These Metrics Mean

Adjusted Score: Primary synthetic code indicator. Raw score normalised per 1,000 lines of code and multiplied by the temporal discount factor. This is the definitive comparative metric — use it to rank repositories by AI authorship density.
Raw Score: The unmodified sum of all severity-weighted, context-multiplied pattern match scores before temporal discounting. Reflects the absolute signal strength independent of when the repository was last active.
Time Factor: The temporal discount multiplier (0–100%) applied to the raw score. Repositories last updated before ChatGPT's launch (Nov 2022) receive a 5% factor. Full signal is only assigned to repositories active in the post-adoption era (Jan 2024+).
Pattern Hits: Total count of individual pattern matches across all files and categories. A high hit count with a low score may indicate a very large codebase with isolated AI snippets; a low count with a high score indicates dense, concentrated AI signatures.
HC Hit Rate: High+Critical pattern hits per file, averaged across the repository. This orthogonal signal catches repositories where a few files are densely packed with high-severity AI tells — a strong indicator even when the normalised score appears moderate due to codebase size.
Lines of Code / Files: Total lines and files analysed. The scanner examines 94 file extensions. These denominators are used to normalise the score, enabling fair comparison between repositories of vastly different sizes.

Score History

This chart maps the temporal evolution of the adjusted synthetic code score across successive scan runs. An upward trajectory indicates ongoing incorporation of AI-generated code or expanding LLM-assisted scaffolding; a stable or declining trajectory may reflect active human refactoring, code removal, or the adoption of stricter authorship policies. The dashed secondary line (right axis) independently tracks total raw pattern hit count, which can diverge from the normalised score when codebase size changes significantly between scans.

Severity Breakdown

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.

CRITICAL 0HIGH 3MEDIUM 4LOW 37

Directory Score Breakdown

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.

Pattern Findings

The scanner identified 44 distinct pattern matches across 6 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.

Excessive Try-Catch Wrapping14 hits · 18 pts

Severity	File	Line	Snippet	Context
MEDIUM	devel/summarize_site_validation.py	68	print(f"Error: File '{xml_path}' does not exist.")	CODE
LOW	sherlock_project/sherlock.py	373	except Exception:	CODE
LOW	sherlock_project/sherlock.py	377	except Exception:	CODE
LOW	sherlock_project/sherlock.py	469	except Exception:	CODE
LOW	sherlock_project/sherlock.py	478	except Exception:	CODE
LOW	sherlock_project/sherlock.py	714	except Exception as error:	CODE
LOW	sherlock_project/sherlock.py	768	except Exception as error:	CODE
MEDIUM	sherlock_project/sherlock.py	798	print(f"Error: Desired sites not found: {', '.join(site_missing)}.")	CODE
LOW	sherlock_project/sites.py	128	except Exception as error:	CODE
LOW	sherlock_project/sites.py	139	except Exception as error:	CODE
LOW	sherlock_project/sites.py	150	except Exception as error:	CODE
LOW	sherlock_project/sites.py	179	except Exception:	CODE
MEDIUM	.github/workflows/validate_modified_targets.yml	67	print(f"Error: Could not find {e.filename}", file=sys.stderr)	CODE
MEDIUM	.github/workflows/validate_modified_targets.yml	70	print(f"Error: Could not decode JSON from a file - {e}", file=sys.stderr)	CODE

Hyper-Verbose Identifiers17 hits · 17 pts

Severity	File	Line	Snippet	Context
LOW	tests/test_unicode.py	8	def _make_future_with_exception(exc):	CODE
LOW	tests/test_unicode.py	15	def test_get_response_handles_unicode_decode_error():	CODE
LOW	tests/test_unicode.py	35	def test_get_response_handles_unicode_encode_error():	CODE
LOW	tests/few_test_basic.py	6	def test_username_via_message():	CODE
LOW	tests/test_probes.py	30	def test_known_positives_via_message(self, sites_info, site, username):	CODE
LOW	tests/test_probes.py	41	def test_known_positives_via_status_code(self, sites_info, site, username):	CODE
LOW	tests/test_probes.py	50	def test_known_positives_via_response_url(self, sites_info, site, username):	CODE
LOW	tests/test_probes.py	62	def test_likely_negatives_via_message(self, sites_info, site, random_len):	CODE
LOW	tests/test_probes.py	84	def test_likely_negatives_via_status_code(self, sites_info, site, random_len):	CODE
LOW	tests/test_probes.py	98	def test_username_illegal_regex(sites_info):	CODE
LOW	tests/test_manifest.py	6	def test_validate_manifest_against_local_schema():	CODE
LOW	tests/test_manifest.py	23	def test_validate_manifest_against_remote_schema(remote_schema):	CODE
LOW	tests/test_manifest.py	38	def test_site_list_iterability (sites_info, target_name, target_expected_err_type):	CODE
LOW	tests/sherlock_interactives.py	23	def walk_sherlock_for_files_with(pattern: str) -> list[str]:	CODE
LOW	tests/test_ux.py	18	def test_nsfw_explicit_selection(sites_obj, nsfwsites):	CODE
LOW	tests/test_ux.py	26	def test_wildcard_username_expansion():	CODE
LOW	tests/test_ux.py	41	def test_no_usernames_provided(cliargs):	CODE

Cross-File Repetition3 hits · 15 pts

Severity	File	Snippet	Context
HIGH	sherlock_project/notify.py	convert object to string. keyword arguments: self -- this object. return value: nicely formatted string to get informati	STRING
HIGH	sherlock_project/result.py	convert object to string. keyword arguments: self -- this object. return value: nicely formatted string to get informati	STRING
HIGH	sherlock_project/sites.py	convert object to string. keyword arguments: self -- this object. return value: nicely formatted string to get informati	STRING

Redundant / Tautological Comments4 hits · 6 pts

Severity	File	Line	Snippet	Context
LOW	sherlock_project/sherlock.py	341	# Open the file containing account links	COMMENT
LOW	sherlock_project/sherlock.py	728	# Check if both output methods are entered as input.	COMMENT
LOW	sherlock_project/sherlock.py	755	# Check if it's a valid pull request	COMMENT
LOW	sherlock_project/__main__.py	14	# Check if the user is using the correct version of Python	COMMENT

Deep Nesting5 hits · 5 pts

Severity	File	Line	Context
LOW	tests/sherlock_interactives.py	23	CODE
LOW	sherlock_project/sherlock.py	173	CODE
LOW	sherlock_project/sherlock.py	541	CODE
LOW	sherlock_project/notify.py	176	CODE
LOW	sherlock_project/sites.py	79	CODE

Unused Imports1 hit · 1 pts

Severity	File	Line	Snippet	Context
LOW	sherlock_project/sherlock.py	13		CODE