Public record
Software health reportschema 0.34.0 · metrics 2.10.0 · 2026-09-14 22:03 UTC

unicode-org / icu

The home of the ICU project source code.

C++ · Java · CCustom license★ 3,601 stars⑂ 918 forkssince Jan 2016View on GitHub ↗

unicode-org/icu holds a health index of 97 out of 100, placing it in the Exceptional band. It scores highest on Vitality (96/100) and lowest on AI Readiness (58/100). It was last updated today. 4 contributors account for most of its recent work.

97
overall / 100
Exceptional

Software health index

Metrics are grouped into weighted categories on one standardized 1–100 scale. Overall starts as their weighted mean, calibrated against the distribution of the public record so bands carry percentile meaning; when public evidence triggers the High-Risk Jurisdiction Policy, the rating is adjusted and receives an At Risk ceiling of 34.

97
Exceptional93-100The record's top tier (≈ top 5%); essentially all checked criteria met
Excellent80-92Strong across the board; minor gaps
Good65-79Healthy; gaps are limited and manageable
Moderate50-64Acceptable with notable gaps; review recommended
Weak35-49Material weaknesses across several areas
At Risk20-34Significant weaknesses; adoption warrants caution
Critical1-19Severe problems (abandoned, single-maintainer, no hygiene)
VitalityCommunity &AdoptionSustainability &GovernanceEngineeringQualitySecurityAI Readiness

Score profile

Each axis is a category. The shape matters more than the average — a healthy subject fills the whole shape, while a spike-and-crater profile means strength in one dimension is masking risk in another.

The weighted overall 85 is calibrated to 97 on the published index scale (record calibration 2026-08-02).

Ownership

797 followers38 public repossince Aug 2015

This repository is backed by an organization — shared, accountable stewardship that can outlive any single maintainer.

Metrics by category

Vitality

Is the project alive — is code being written and are releases shipping?

96Exceptional · 21% of overall
How it's scored
36/36Push recencylast push 0 days ago
35.3/36Commit cadence51/52 weeks with commits
18/18Commit volume470 commits in the last year
10/10OpenSSF Scorecard: Maintained30 commit(s) and 0 issue activity found in the last 90 days -- score normalized to 10
Inputs used
commits_last_year470
human_commit_share0.99
days_since_last_push0
active_weeks_last_year51
How it's scored
27/27Ships releases100 releases published
36/36Release recencylatest release 14 days ago
19.8/27Release cadencea release every ~61.7 days
8/10OpenSSF Scorecard: Signed-Releases5 out of the last 5 releases have a total of 5 signed artifacts.
Inputs used
releases_count100
latest_release_tagicu4x/2026-08-31/79.x
releases_from_tagsno
days_since_latest_release14
mean_days_between_releases61.7

Community & Adoption

Does the project have users, downloads, attention, and a welcoming setup for contributors?

83Excellent · 17% of overall
How it's scored
57.7/60Stars3,601 stars
24.7/25Forks918 forks
11.2/15Watchers105 watchers
Inputs used
forks918
stars3,601
watchers105
growth_stateunverified
growth_factor_pct100
growth_unverified_reasonno_history
How it's scored
22.5/22.5README
16.9/22.5Licenselicense file present, not a recognized license
18/18CONTRIBUTING guide
0/13.5Code of conduct
0/7.2Issue template
6.3/6.3PR template
Inputs used
has_readmeyes
has_licenseyes
readme_badges5
has_contributingyes
has_issue_templateno
has_code_of_conductno
readme_badge_servicesapi.securityscorecards.dev, github.com
has_pull_request_templateyes

Sustainability & Governance

Will the project survive its people — bus factor, responsiveness, who backs it, and package upkeep?

82Excellent · 23% of overall
How it's scored
43.2/54Bus factor4 contributor(s) cover half of all commits
17.3/22.5Commit distributiontop contributor authored 23% of commits
13.5/13.5Contributor breadth99 contributors
10/10OpenSSF Scorecard: Contributorsproject has 20 contributing companies or organizations
Inputs used
bus_factor4
contributors_sampled99
top_contributor_share0.231
How it's scored
0/42Issue resolutionno issues or no data
26.5/30PR acceptance3,554/4,029 decided PRs merged
9.8/13Newcomer PR acceptance3/4 first-time contributors' PRs merged in 30d
15/15OpenSSF Scorecard: Code-Reviewall changesets reviewed
Inputs used
merged_prs3,554
open_issues0
closed_issues0
prs_merged_7d24
prs_decided_7d26
prs_merged_30d53
prs_decided_30d58
issue_closed_ratio
closed_unmerged_prs475
first_time_authors_30d4
first_time_prs_merged_30d3
first_time_prs_decided_30d4
Excluded from scoring (no data or not applicable): Issue resolution. Remaining weights renormalized.
How it's scored
30/30Ownership backingorganization-owned
0/20Verified domain
20.9/25Owner reach797 followers of unicode-org
23.6/25Track record38 public repos, account ~11 yr old
Inputs used
followers797
owner_typeOrganization
is_verifiedno
owner_loginunicode-org
public_repos38
account_age_days4,044

Engineering Quality

Are baseline engineering and documentation practices in place?

77Good · 19% of overall
How it's scored
24/24CI workflows24 workflow(s)
24/24Tests present
0/16Linter config
0/9.6Pre-commit hooks
0/6.4.editorconfig
20/20OpenSSF Scorecard: CI-Tests17 out of 17 merged PRs checked by a CI test -- score normalized to 10
Inputs used
has_ciyes
has_testsyes
has_editorconfigno
has_linter_configno
has_precommit_configno

Documentation

90Excellent
How it's scored
30/30README
25/25Documentation directory
15/15Documentation / homepage sitehttps://icu.unicode.org/
10/10Repository description
10/10Topics9 topics
0/10Wiki
Inputs used
topicsicu, icu4c, icu4j, unicode, java, cpp, c-plus-plus, i18n, unicode-consortium
has_wikino
homepagehttps://icu.unicode.org/
docs_sitehttps://icu.unicode.org/
has_readmeyes
has_docs_diryes
has_descriptionyes

Security

Are visible security and supply-chain practices strong, without unresolved high-risk jurisdiction exposure?

96Exceptional · 16% of overall

Security posture

95Exceptional
How it's scored
7.5/7.5Binary-Artifactsno binaries found in the repo
0/7.5Branch-Protectionno data
2.5/2.5CI-Tests17 out of 17 merged PRs checked by a CI test -- score normalized to 10
1.2/2.5CII-Best-Practicesbadge detected: Passing
7.5/7.5Code-Reviewall changesets reviewed
2.5/2.5Contributorsproject has 20 contributing companies or organizations
10/10Dangerous-Workflowno dangerous workflow patterns detected
7.5/7.5Dependency-Update-Toolupdate tool detected
5/5Fuzzingproject is fuzzed
2.2/2.5Licenselicense file detected
7.5/7.5Maintained30 commit(s) and 0 issue activity found in the last 90 days -- score normalized to 10
5/5Packagingpackaging workflow detected
4.5/5Pinned-Dependenciesdependency not pinned by hash detected -- score normalized to 9
4.5/5SASTSAST tool is not run on all commits -- score normalized to 9
5/5Security-Policysecurity policy file detected
6/7.5Signed-Releases5 out of the last 5 releases have a total of 5 signed artifacts.
7.5/7.5Token-PermissionsGitHub workflow tokens follow principle of least privilege
6.8/7.5Vulnerabilities1 existing vulnerabilities detected
Inputs used
sourceopenssf_scorecard
checks_evaluated17
scorecard_versionv5.5.0
checks_inconclusive1
scorecard_aggregate9.5
Excluded from scoring (no data or not applicable): Branch-Protection. Remaining weights renormalized.

Dependency advisories

100Exceptional
How it's scored
35/35Direct dependencies free of known advisoriesno direct dependency carries a known advisory
0/25Indirect dependencies free of known advisoriestransitive set not separable from development and test dependencies in this scope
0/40No advisories left outstandingno advisory carries a publication date
Inputs used
sourceosv
advisories0
affected_packages0
assessed_packages40
unassessed_packages32
affected_by_severitynone
direct_affected_packages0
Excluded from scoring (no data or not applicable): Indirect dependencies free of known advisories, No advisories left outstanding. Remaining weights renormalized. Matched 40 resolved dependencies against OSV. 32 could not be assessed — no resolved version, an unsupported ecosystem, or beyond the reported package list. This repository publishes no package the index resolves, so the repository dependency graph was assessed instead. That graph mixes development and test pins with shipped dependencies, so only the declared runtime dependencies are scored; transitive findings are reported as context and excluded from the score. Reachability is not analyzed.

AI Readiness

How well is the repo equipped to be developed and maintained with AI coding agents? Carries a deliberately small weight (4%): agent tooling is a real maintenance signal, but a repository with none can still reach 100/100.

58Moderate · 4% of overall
How it's scored
0/45Agent instructionsno CLAUDE.md / AGENTS.md / editor rules
0/15Machine-readable docs (llms.txt)
4.3/40Legible commit history8 of 99 human commits state their intent (structured subject or explanatory body)
Inputs used
has_llms_txtno
llms_txt_url
legible_history_share0.081
agent_instruction_files
agent_instruction_max_bytes
How it's scored
18/18One-command bootstrapicu4c/build_qnx/Makefile, icu4c/build_qnx/linux-x86_64-o/GNUmakefile, icu4c/build_qnx/nto-aarch64-le/GNUmakefile, icu4c/build_qnx/nto-x86_64-o/GNUmakefile, icu4c/source/samples/coll/Makefile, icu4c/source/samples/strsrch/Makefile, icu4c/source/samples/translit/Makefile, icu4c/source/samples/ugrep/Makefile, icu4c/source/tools/gencolusb/Makefile, icu4c/source/tools/genren/Makefile, tools/release/c/os-mapping/Makefile, tools/release/java/Makefile, tools/unicode/c/genregexcasing/Makefile, vendor/double-conversion/upstream/Makefile
22/22Automated tests
0/11Lint / format config
11/11Static type checkingtools/py/libs/py.typed
0/10Reproducible environment
0/10Demonstrated agent practiceno agent-authored commits among the last 100
8/8Automated maintenance1 of the last 100 commits are automated dependency updates
9/10OpenSSF Scorecard: Pinned-Dependenciesdependency not pinned by hash detected -- score normalized to 9
Inputs used
has_nixno
has_testsyes
lockfiles
has_dockerfileno
typed_languageyes
bootstrap_filesicu4c/build_qnx/Makefile, icu4c/build_qnx/linux-x86_64-o/GNUmakefile, icu4c/build_qnx/nto-aarch64-le/GNUmakefile, icu4c/build_qnx/nto-x86_64-o/GNUmakefile, icu4c/source/samples/coll/Makefile, icu4c/source/samples/strsrch/Makefile, icu4c/source/samples/translit/Makefile, icu4c/source/samples/ugrep/Makefile, icu4c/source/tools/gencolusb/Makefile, icu4c/source/tools/genren/Makefile, tools/release/c/os-mapping/Makefile, tools/release/java/Makefile, tools/unicode/c/genregexcasing/Makefile, vendor/double-conversion/upstream/Makefile
has_devcontainerno
has_linter_configno
typecheck_configstools/py/libs/py.typed
agent_commit_share0
toolchain_manifestsicu4j/demos/pom.xml, icu4j/main/charset/pom.xml, icu4j/main/collate/pom.xml, icu4j/main/common_tests/pom.xml, icu4j/main/core/pom.xml, icu4j/main/currdata/pom.xml, icu4j/main/framework/pom.xml, icu4j/main/icu4j/pom.xml, icu4j/main/langdata/pom.xml, icu4j/main/pom.xml, icu4j/main/regiondata/pom.xml, icu4j/main/translit/pom.xml, icu4j/perf-tests/pom.xml, icu4j/pom.xml, icu4j/samples/pom.xml, icu4j/tools/build/pom.xml, icu4j/tools/errorprone_report/pom.xml, icu4j/tools/misc/pom.xml, icu4j/tools/pmd/pom.xml, icu4j/tools/pom.xml, icu4j/tools/taglets/pom.xml, pom.xml, tools/cldr/cldr-to-icu/pom.xml, tools/release/java/pom.xml
dependency_bot_commit_share0.01
How it's scored
45/45Type-checkable codeC++ (statically typed)
50.5/55Manageable file sizes246/3,022 source files over 60KB
Inputs used
primary_languageC++
largest_source_bytes921,283
source_files_sampled3,022
oversized_source_files246
How it's scored
0/40API schema (OpenAPI/GraphQL/proto)not applicable to this kind of software
0/20MCP servernot applicable to this kind of software
40/40Runnable examplesdemos, samples
Inputs used
example_dirsdemos, samples
has_mcp_signalno
api_schema_files
interfaces_expected_of
Excluded from scoring (no data or not applicable): API schema (OpenAPI/GraphQL/proto), MCP server. Remaining weights renormalized.

Key facts

3,601GitHub stars
99contributors
470commits, last 12 months
0days since last push
100releases
4bus factor
0open issues
Maven, RubyGemspackage ecosystems

Data collection warnings

  • Star history unavailable: GitHub GraphQL error: Resource not accessible by personal access token
  • First-time contributor figures cover 12 of 17 authors (cap 12)
  • Could not fetch maven package 'com.ibm.icu:perf-tests' from its registry

More detail

Star and fork history 0 ★ / 918 ⇿
0Stars
918Forks
100Releases

When each star and fork was added, collected from GitHub and bucketed by day. Cumulative growth sits directly above the daily additions it is made of, so the two read against each other: steady organic accretion looks nothing like an abrupt, short-lived burst. Where that difference is measurable, it is reported as growth authenticity.

02004006008001,000898152016-062021-082026-09
Major 0Minor 0Patch 0

Each point covers 10 days.

OpenSSF Scorecard 9.5 / 10
9.5aggregate

Independent, tool-agnostic security assessment from the open-source OpenSSF Scorecard. Each check rewards a security practice, not a specific vendor's tool. Checks Scorecard could not determine are marked n/a and excluded from the security score (never counted as zero).Scorecard v5.5.0 · 2026-09-14 22:01 UTC

10Binary-Artifactsno binaries found in the repo
n/aBranch-Protectioninternal error: error during branchesHandler.setup: internal error: some github tokens can't read classic branch protection rules: https://github.com/ossf/scorecard-action/blob/main/docs/authentication/fine-grained-auth-token.md
10CI-Tests17 out of 17 merged PRs checked by a CI test -- score normalized to 10
5CII-Best-Practicesbadge detected: Passing
10Code-Reviewall changesets reviewed
10Contributorsproject has 20 contributing companies or organizations
10Dangerous-Workflowno dangerous workflow patterns detected
10Dependency-Update-Toolupdate tool detected
10Fuzzingproject is fuzzed
9Licenselicense file detected
10Maintained30 commit(s) and 0 issue activity found in the last 90 days -- score normalized to 10
10Packagingpackaging workflow detected
9Pinned-Dependenciesdependency not pinned by hash detected -- score normalized to 9
9SASTSAST tool is not run on all commits -- score normalized to 9
10Security-Policysecurity policy file detected
8Signed-Releases5 out of the last 5 releases have a total of 5 signed artifacts.
10Token-PermissionsGitHub workflow tokens follow principle of least privilege
9Vulnerabilities1 existing vulnerabilities detected
Direct dependencies 15
RegistryPackageVersion constraintManifest
Mavencom.google.errorprone:error_prone_core${error_prone.version}pom.xml
Mavencommons-cli:commons-cli${commons-cli.version}pom.xml
Mavenorg.openjdk.jmh:jmh-core${jmh.version}pom.xml
Mavenorg.openjdk.jmh:jmh-generator-annprocess${jmh.version}pom.xml
Mavencom.github.spotbugs:spotbugs-annotations${spotbugs-annotations.version}pom.xml
Mavencom.google.guava:guava${guava.version}pom.xml
Mavenorg.codehaus.plexus:plexus-io${plexus-io.version}pom.xml
Mavenorg.codehaus.plexus:plexus-io${plexus-io.version}pom.xml
Mavencom.ibm.icu:tools_pmd${project.version}pom.xml
Mavencom.ibm.icu:core${project.version}icu4j/perf-tests/pom.xml
Mavencom.ibm.icu:collate${project.version}icu4j/perf-tests/pom.xml
Mavencom.ibm.icu:icu4j-charset${project.version}icu4j/perf-tests/pom.xml
Mavencom.ibm.icu:tools_misc${project.version}icu4j/perf-tests/pom.xml
Mavencommons-cli:commons-cliicu4j/perf-tests/pom.xml
Mavenorg.openjdk.jmh:jmh-coreicu4j/perf-tests/pom.xml
All dependencies 72

Full resolved dependency set from the GitHub dependency graph: 18 direct and 54 indirect (transitive) packages. The transitive closure is complete when the repository commits a lockfile.

RegistryPackageVersionRelation
Mavencom.github.spotbugs:spotbugs-annotationsdirect
Mavencom.github.spotbugs:spotbugs-annotations4.9.8direct
Mavencom.google.errorprone:error_prone_coredirect
Mavencom.google.errorprone:error_prone_core2.49.0direct
Mavencom.google.guava:guavadirect
Mavencom.google.guava:guava33.5.0-jredirect
Mavencom.ibm.icu:collate79.1-SNAPSHOTdirect
Mavencom.ibm.icu:core79.1-SNAPSHOTdirect
Mavencom.ibm.icu:icu4j-charset79.1-SNAPSHOTdirect
Mavencom.ibm.icu:tools_misc79.1-SNAPSHOTdirect
Mavencom.ibm.icu:tools_pmd79.1-SNAPSHOTdirect
Mavencommons-cli:commons-clidirect
Mavencommons-cli:commons-cli1.11.0direct
Mavenorg.codehaus.plexus:plexus-io3.6.0direct
Mavenorg.openjdk.jmh:jmh-coredirect
Mavenorg.openjdk.jmh:jmh-core1.37direct
Mavenorg.openjdk.jmh:jmh-generator-annprocessdirect
Mavenorg.openjdk.jmh:jmh-generator-annprocess1.37direct
Mavencom.diffplug.spotless:spotless-maven-plugin3.1.0indirect
Mavencom.google.code.gson:gsonindirect
Mavencom.google.code.gson:gson2.13.2indirect
Mavencom.google.truth:truthindirect
Mavencom.google.truth:truth1.4.5indirect
Mavencom.ibm.icu:currdata79.1-SNAPSHOTindirect
Mavencom.ibm.icu:framework79.1-SNAPSHOTindirect
Mavencom.ibm.icu:icu4jindirect
Mavencom.ibm.icu:icu4j79.1-SNAPSHOTindirect
Mavencom.ibm.icu:langdata79.1-SNAPSHOTindirect
Mavencom.ibm.icu:maven-dependency-plugin79.1-SNAPSHOTindirect
Mavencom.ibm.icu:maven-javadoc-plugin3.12.0indirect
Mavencom.ibm.icu:maven-javadoc-plugin79.1-SNAPSHOTindirect
Mavencom.ibm.icu:regiondata79.1-SNAPSHOTindirect
Mavencom.ibm.icu:tools_taglets79.1-SNAPSHOTindirect
Mavencom.ibm.icu:translit79.1-SNAPSHOTindirect
Mavenjunit:junitindirect
Mavenjunit:junit4.13.2indirect
Mavenorg.apache.maven.plugins:maven-compiler-plugin2.49.0indirect
Mavenorg.apache.maven.plugins:maven-enforcer-pluginindirect
Mavenorg.apache.maven.plugins:maven-pmd-pluginindirect
Mavenorg.apache.maven.plugins:maven-pmd-plugin3.28.0indirect
Mavenorg.apache.maven.plugins:maven-pmd-plugin79.1-SNAPSHOTindirect
Mavenorg.codehaus.mojo:build-helper-maven-pluginindirect
Mavenorg.codehaus.mojo:build-helper-maven-plugin3.6.1indirect
Mavenorg.codehaus.mojo:exec-maven-pluginindirect
Mavenorg.codehaus.mojo:exec-maven-plugin3.6.3indirect
Mavenorg.codehaus.mojo:flatten-maven-pluginindirect
Mavenorg.codehaus.mojo:flatten-maven-plugin1.7.3indirect
Mavenorg.codehaus.mojo:versions-maven-plugin2.21.0indirect
Mavenorg.codehaus.plexus:maven-jar-plugin3.5.0indirect
Mavenorg.codehaus.plexus:maven-source-plugin3.4.0indirect
Mavenorg.jacoco:jacoco-maven-pluginindirect
Mavenorg.jacoco:jacoco-maven-plugin0.8.14indirect
Mavenorg.sonatype.central:central-publishing-maven-pluginindirect
Mavenorg.sonatype.central:central-publishing-maven-plugin0.10.0indirect
Mavenorg.unicode.cldr:cldr-code49.0-SNAPSHOTindirect
Mavenpl.pragmatists:JUnitParamsindirect
Mavenpl.pragmatists:JUnitParams1.1.1indirect
Mavenxalan:serializerindirect
Mavenxalan:xalanindirect
Mavenxerces:xercesImplindirect
Mavenxml-apis:xml-apisindirect
PyPIgitpythonindirect
PyPIgripindirect
PyPIjiraindirect
PyPIpytestindirect
RubyGemsgithub-pages228indirect
RubyGemsjekyll-feedindirect
RubyGemsjust-the-docsindirect
RubyGemsminimaindirect
RubyGemstzinfoindirect
RubyGemstzinfo-dataindirect
RubyGemswdmindirect
Dependency advisories 0

This repository publishes no package the index resolves, so its own dependency graph was assessed — 40 packages, which also include development and test pins that never ship: 0 carry known advisories, of which 0 are direct. 32 could not be assessed — no resolved version, an unsupported ecosystem, or beyond the reported package list.

No known advisories affect the assessed dependencies.

An advisory means the version recorded in the dependency graph falls inside an advisory’s affected range. Reachability is not analysed, and the graph includes development and test pins — a finding may concern tooling rather than shipped software.

Raw JSON report machine-readable

Feedback

Spotted something off in this report, or have thoughts to share? Wrong measurements, missed tooling, ideas, questions — anything is welcome. Every message is read and gets a response.

The message is kept through sign-in.

Scores are signals, not warranties. They reflect publicly visible practices on GitHub — not a code audit, and not a security guarantee.

Missing data is excluded and weights renormalized, never scored as zero. Methodology is versioned and open: metrics v2.10.0, schema v0.34.0 — full methodology · metrics wiki.

How one result sits in the wider record: aggregate statistics.