Repository Analysis

spf13/cobra

A Commander for modern Go CLI interactions

2.9 Likely human-written View on GitHub

Analysis Overview

This report presents the forensic synthetic code analysis of spf13/cobra, a Go project with 44,268 GitHub stars. SynthScan v2.0 examined 19,869 lines of code across 59 source files, recording 56 pattern matches distributed across 3 syntactic categories. The overall adjusted score of 2.9 places this repository in the Likely human-written 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).

2.9
Adjusted Score
2.9
Raw Score
100%
Time Factor
2026-07-11
Last Push
44.3K
Stars
Go
Language
19.9K
Lines of Code
59
Files
56
Pattern Hits
2026-07-14
Scan Date
0.00
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 0MEDIUM 1LOW 55

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 56 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.

Over-Commented Block54 hits · 54 pts
SeverityFileLineSnippetContext
LOWzsh_completions_test.go1// Copyright 2013-2023 The Cobra AuthorsCOMMENT
LOWcommand.go1// Copyright 2013-2023 The Cobra AuthorsCOMMENT
LOWcommand.go41// FParseErrWhitelist configures Flag parse errors to be ignoredCOMMENT
LOWcommand.go101 // For portability with other shells, it is recommended to instead use ValidArgsFunctionCOMMENT
LOWcommand.go121 // * PostRun()COMMENT
LOWcommand.go161 lflags *flag.FlagSetCOMMENT
LOWcommand.go261COMMENT
LOWfish_completions.go1// Copyright 2013-2023 The Cobra AuthorsCOMMENT
LOWflag_groups.go1// Copyright 2013-2023 The Cobra AuthorsCOMMENT
LOWpowershell_completions_test.go1// Copyright 2013-2023 The Cobra AuthorsCOMMENT
LOWcommand_test.go1// Copyright 2013-2023 The Cobra AuthorsCOMMENT
LOWzsh_completions.go1// Copyright 2013-2023 The Cobra AuthorsCOMMENT
LOWzsh_completions.go41// and writes it to the passed writer.COMMENT
LOWbash_completionsV2_test.go1// Copyright 2013-2023 The Cobra AuthorsCOMMENT
LOWcobra.go1// Copyright 2013-2023 The Cobra AuthorsCOMMENT
LOWcobra.go61// EnableCaseInsensitive allows case-insensitive commands names. (case sensitive by default)COMMENT
LOW.golangci.yml1# Copyright 2013-2023 The Cobra AuthorsCOMMENT
LOWargs_test.go1// Copyright 2013-2023 The Cobra AuthorsCOMMENT
LOWargs.go1// Copyright 2013-2023 The Cobra AuthorsCOMMENT
LOWbash_completionsV2.go1// Copyright 2013-2023 The Cobra AuthorsCOMMENT
LOWbash_completionsV2.go201 # When there are no completion choices from the program, file completionCOMMENT
LOWcobra_test.go1// Copyright 2013-2023 The Cobra AuthorsCOMMENT
LOWcobra_test.go221 got := rpad(tt.inputString, tt.padding)COMMENT
LOWcompletions.go1// Copyright 2013-2023 The Cobra AuthorsCOMMENT
LOWcompletions.go61 // after the completion even if there is a single completion provided.COMMENT
LOWcompletions.go141// CompletionWithDesc returns a [Completion] with a description by using the TAB delimited format.COMMENT
LOWcompletions.go261 // Remove all activeHelp entries if it's disabled.COMMENT
LOWcompletions.go601 return []Completion{}COMMENT
LOWcommand_win.go1// Copyright 2013-2023 The Cobra AuthorsCOMMENT
LOWactive_help_test.go1// Copyright 2013-2023 The Cobra AuthorsCOMMENT
LOWfish_completions_test.go1// Copyright 2013-2023 The Cobra AuthorsCOMMENT
LOWpowershell_completions.go1// Copyright 2013-2023 The Cobra AuthorsCOMMENT
LOWpowershell_completions.go221COMMENT
LOWflag_groups_test.go1// Copyright 2013-2023 The Cobra AuthorsCOMMENT
LOWcommand_notwin.go1// Copyright 2013-2023 The Cobra AuthorsCOMMENT
LOWshell_completions.go1// Copyright 2013-2023 The Cobra AuthorsCOMMENT
LOWshell_completions.go41COMMENT
LOWactive_help.go1// Copyright 2013-2023 The Cobra AuthorsCOMMENT
LOWbash_completions.go1// Copyright 2013-2023 The Cobra AuthorsCOMMENT
LOWcompletions_test.go1// Copyright 2013-2023 The Cobra AuthorsCOMMENT
LOWbash_completions_test.go1// Copyright 2013-2023 The Cobra AuthorsCOMMENT
LOWsite/content/completions/_index.md201COMMENT
LOWsite/content/completions/_index.md221// Indicates that only directory names should be provided in file completion.COMMENT
LOWdoc/man_examples_test.go1// Copyright 2013-2023 The Cobra AuthorsCOMMENT
LOWdoc/md_docs_test.go1// Copyright 2013-2023 The Cobra AuthorsCOMMENT
LOWdoc/yaml_docs_test.go1// Copyright 2013-2023 The Cobra AuthorsCOMMENT
LOWdoc/cmd_test.go1// Copyright 2013-2023 The Cobra AuthorsCOMMENT
LOWdoc/yaml_docs.go1// Copyright 2013-2023 The Cobra AuthorsCOMMENT
LOWdoc/md_docs.go1// Copyright 2013-2023 The Cobra AuthorsCOMMENT
LOWdoc/util.go1// Copyright 2013-2023 The Cobra AuthorsCOMMENT
LOWdoc/rest_docs_test.go1// Copyright 2013-2023 The Cobra AuthorsCOMMENT
LOWdoc/rest_docs.go1// Copyright 2013-2023 The Cobra AuthorsCOMMENT
LOWdoc/man_docs.go1// Copyright 2013-2023 The Cobra AuthorsCOMMENT
LOWdoc/man_docs_test.go1// Copyright 2013-2023 The Cobra AuthorsCOMMENT
AI Slop Vocabulary1 hit · 3 pts
SeverityFileLineSnippetContext
MEDIUMflag_groups_test.go28 // Define lots of flags to utilize for testing.COMMENT
Redundant / Tautological Comments1 hit · 2 pts
SeverityFileLineSnippetContext
LOWzsh_completions.go187 # Check if this is an activeHelp statement (i.e., prefixed with $activeHelpMarker)COMMENT