"28,106 stars on GitHub" is injected by inject_stats.py from
site/config/stats-cache.json at render time, so it is right when the site
is built and never again.
The main site handles this: site/index.qmd re-fetches on every page load,
both from stats.json (refreshed to gh-pages every six hours) and directly
from the GitHub API, with the comment that the star count "should track
the repo to the second rather than to the last scheduled refresh".
This site got the first half only. It emits the same
data-stat="stars" hook on two elements of the landing page but shipped
nothing to hydrate them, and it never reads stats.json at all, so a
CDN-cached page served the build-time number indefinitely. The committed
cache was generated 2026-09-14 and read 28,106; the API returned 28,258
today, 152 behind after three days.
The star count is public, so this fetches it directly rather than waiting
on a refresh cycle this site does not consume. On rate limit, offline or
a blocked request the rendered value stays, so the page always shows a
real number.
Verified in a browser: both elements read 28,106 at first paint and
28,258 after hydration.
