How Directories Are Verified
The verification standard every record in this dataset must meet before it is published.
The standard
Every published record was confirmed by fetching the directory's official URL and reading what that page actually said. No record is included on recollection, and none is included because a directory is well known.
If a claim could not be confirmed from an official source, the corresponding field is null and renders as Unknown. Null is used consistently to mean "not established" — never zero, never an assumption.
What each record carries
- A verification status, which the validator refuses to accept as verified without the rest of this list.
- A verification source: official website, official documentation, government register, manual verification, or other.
- A verification date, and a next-verification date set between 6 and 12 months later, depending on how fast the directory changes — statutory registers are revisited least often, continuously-submittable platforms most often.
- At least one named editorial reviewer. The field is an array, so a record can carry several.
Known limits of this method
Roughly a third of high-authority directories block automated fetching outright, returning HTTP 403 or a consent wall. Those directories are not published here. They are recorded as pending manual verification rather than added on the strength of general knowledge.
Some facts cannot be established by reading a homepage at all. Typical approval times and review processes require actually submitting to each directory, so they are null across the entire dataset rather than estimated.
What gets rejected
- Dead projects. One candidate was rejected because its domain no longer resolves.
- Directories winding down. One package registry was rejected because its submission trunk is moving to read-only.
- Directories whose editorial country could not be honestly assigned.
- Directories whose official name or ownership could not be confirmed from their own pages.
Frequently asked questions
Is the dataset complete?
No, and it does not claim to be. It contains only directories that met the verification standard. Coverage is deliberately limited by what could be confirmed rather than extended by what could be assumed.
What happens when a directory changes?
Records carry a next-verification date. A change found on re-verification is recorded in the record’s notes rather than silently overwritten — an ownership correction was handled this way.