# othneildrew/Best-README-Template

An awesome README template to jumpstart your projects!

Repository: https://github.com/othneildrew/Best-README-Template
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/best-readme-template
License: Unlicense
License Family: permissive
Topics: readme, readme-template
Last push: 2026-04-18T12:39:32+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 58/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-03T02:20:16.233290+00:00)
- activity 78, release rhythm 8, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 2823, "days_push": 137, "days_rel": 634, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 1}
- flags: none
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 16317, forks 23044 (observed 2026-08-28T04:11:15.090729+00:00)

## What it is
A popular README template for GitHub projects that provides a ready-made structure with shields, table of contents, and standard sections. It serves as a copy-paste starting point for writing project documentation.

## Use cases
- create a readme for a new github repo
- standardize project documentation across repos
- add badges and shields to a readme
- structure a project's contributing and license sections
- make an open-source project look professional

## When to choose
- starting a new open-source project and wanting a polished README quickly
- you want a widely-used, battle-tested documentation structure

## When to avoid
- you need generated API documentation rather than a hand-written README
- you need a docs site generator like Docusaurus or MkDocs

## Facets
- artifact type: learning-resource
- maturity: stable
- function: documentation, markdown
- domain: documentation, developer-tools
- platform: cross-platform
- tags: readme-template, boilerplate, github, project-documentation

## Member repositories
- othneildrew/Best-README-Template (main) score 58

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:15.090729+00:00.
- Health v2: computed from the inputs above; adoption is never an input.
- Inferred fields (summary, facets, guidance): AI-extracted, prompt v1, taxonomy v1, on 2026-08-29T17:05:09.040857+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/othneildrew/Best-README-Template (fetched 2026-08-28T04:11:15.090729+00:00, sha e88002b3a347)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.