About Willet

Good open-source projects get posted, collect a handful of stars, and are forgotten a week later. Willet gives them a lasting place to be found.

Every Monday we pick 10 projects that are quietly good and deserve more people. Each one stays in the index after its week. You don’t need an account to browse.

How picks are chosen

Every project is reviewed before it goes on the site, and every weekly pick is chosen by the editor. A pick has to meet all of these:

  • An OSI-approved open-source license.
  • Actively maintained.
  • Original work.
  • A real use: it solves a problem someone actually has.
  • Quietly good rather than famous.

The week’s picks go live on Monday at 00:00 Chicago time. The editor’s notes on each pick are the editor’s own words.

We never sell placement

There are no ads, no sponsorships, no paid placement, and no affiliate links. A project is here because the editor thinks it’s good, and for no other reason.

Every number is real

Stars, dates, and other facts come from the GitHub API. We never inflate them or make them up.

Labels say who added a project. “Picked by the editor” means it was one of a week’s 10 picks. “Featured by Willet” means we added it to the index ourselves.

Requesting removal

If you made a project and don’t want it listed, open its page and use “Request removal”. If you’re signed in with GitHub as the project’s owner, the listing is usually hidden right away while the editor reviews the request; otherwise the editor reviews it first. Confirmed removals are permanent: the project won’t be added again.

Content policy

  • OSI-approved open-source licenses only.
  • Original work only. A project that does the same job as a commercial product is welcome. Copied code, copied branding, or a reverse-engineered copy of someone else’s product is not.
  • No malware.