# umpox/zero-width-detection

Invisibly inserting usernames into text with Zero-Width Characters

Repository: https://github.com/umpox/zero-width-detection
Canonical: https://ross.abutalabs.com/products/zero-width-detection
Homepage: https://medium.com/@umpox/be-careful-what-you-copy-invisibly-inserting-usernames-into-text-with-zero-width-characters-18b4e6f17b66
Language: TypeScript
License Family: other
Last push: 2025-09-03T12:41:06+00:00

## Health v2 (maintenance only)
Score: 50/100 (v2, computed 2026-09-02T17:46:02.011165+00:00)
- activity 40, release rhythm 35, longevity 100
- inputs: {"age_days": 3165, "days_push": 364, "days_rel": null, "gap_med": null, "n_releases_24m": 0}
- flags: no_releases, no_license
- formula: round(0.45*activity + 0.35*rhythm + 0.20*longevity); archived -> min(score, 10)

## Adoption (not part of the score)
Stars 1180, forks 85 (observed 2026-08-28T04:03:53.617599+00:00)

## What it is
A demo application and utility library that invisibly encodes usernames into text using zero-width Unicode characters, and decodes them back. It demonstrates how copied text can be fingerprinted to identify the user who leaked it.

## Use cases
- detect hidden zero-width characters in copied text
- fingerprint text with a username before sharing it
- trace the source of leaked text snippets
- learn about zero-width character steganography
- encode and decode invisible watermarks in text

## When to choose
- you want to watermark text invisibly to identify leakers
- you need to check whether text contains hidden zero-width characters
- you want an interactive demo of this technique

## When to avoid
- you need robust production-grade text watermarking with error tolerance
- you need watermarking that survives copy-paste normalization or reformatting
- you need a supported library with a license and active maintenance guarantees

## Facets
- artifact type: application
- maturity: maintenance
- function: security, privacy, parser, developer-tools
- domain: security, privacy, developer-tools, web-development
- platform: browser
- tags: zero-width-characters, text-fingerprinting, watermarking, copy-paste-tracking, security-demo, web, nodejs, typescript

## Member repositories
- umpox/zero-width-detection (main) score 50

## Provenance
- Observed fields: from GitHub, fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:53.617599+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 2026-08-30T06:25:22.242921+00:00, confidence not recorded.
  - readme: https://github.com/umpox/zero-width-detection (fetched 2026-08-28T04:03:53.617599+00:00, sha 34db9956a6d9)
  - homepage: https://medium.com/@umpox/be-careful-what-you-copy-invisibly-inserting-usernames-into-text-with-zero-width-characters-18b4e6f17b66 (fetched 2026-08-29T12:32:14.371713+00:00, sha 78a1f3fd9fd4)
- Data as of 2026-08-30T08:39:29.467469+00:00.