README star history chart renders an error card (GitHub stargazers API restriction)

[phernandez]

What's broken

The star history chart at the bottom of the README no longer renders a chart. The api.star-history.com SVG endpoint still returns HTTP 200, but the SVG's content is an error card: "GitHub restricted access to star data — GitHub team is looking into it."

Why

On June 30, 2026, GitHub restricted the stargazers API (who starred + when) to a repository's own admins and collaborators. Star History's servers aren't collaborators on any repo, so README-embedded live charts are broken for essentially every repository. Details: https://star-history.com/blog/github-stargazer-api-restriction

Fix options (in rough order of preference)

1. Wait for GitHub — the blog notes the GitHub team is aware and actively working on a solution; the chart may start working again with no change on our side.
2. Owner-token embed — star-history documents a workaround where a repo owner supplies an access token that can read the repo; it's encrypted into the embed URL (their docs state this is safe for a public README). Requires generating a scoped token and following their embed guide.
3. Remove or replace the section — drop the chart, or swap in a static badge (e.g. shields.io star count) until upstream recovers.

Notes

• Not high priority.
• Related: docs(core): fix broken star history chart in README #1261 was a spam PR that redirected the chart to an unknown third-party domain (star-history.dera.page) — its diagnosis (chart broken) was right, its fix was not. Any real fix should stay on official star-history endpoints or remove the embed.

[claude]

Claude finished @phernandez's task in 24s —— View job

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Triage

Type: Documentation — the README embeds a third-party chart that's currently rendering an error state; no application code is affected.
Component: None (not cloud-specific; this is a static README asset).
Priority: Low, as noted in the issue — cosmetic, no functional impact, and may self-resolve once GitHub's stargazer API restriction (in place since 2026-06-30) is lifted.
Complexity: Simple — this is a content/config change (wait, swap in an owner-token embed per star-history's workaround docs, or replace the section with a static badge), not a code fix.

Duplicate check: No open duplicates. The only related item is #1261 (closed) — a spam PR that correctly diagnosed the broken chart but pointed the embed at an unknown third-party domain (star-history.dera.page). As the issue notes, any real fix should stick to official star-history endpoints or drop the embed.

Labels applied: documentation.