How we curate every product on codeGuild
Nothing lists itself. Here is the hands-on review every product clears before it reaches the storefront shelf.
codeGuild is a curated catalog, not an open marketplace. That distinction is the whole product. When you browse here, you are walking a well-kept shelf rather than wading through an endless feed of listings that graded themselves.
Curation is expensive and slow, and we think that is exactly why it is worth doing. Every product that reaches the storefront has cleared the same bar, reviewed by a person who ran the software the way a buyer would.
## We install it clean
Each submission is stood up from scratch on a fresh environment using only the documentation the author provided. No side channels, no undocumented setup steps, no "just ask us on Discord."
If the docs cannot get the software running, the product goes back. A starter that only its author can deploy is not a product yet, it is a private repository with ambitions.
## We exercise the demo
The live demo has to reflect the real product, not a trimmed-down mock built to look good in a screenshot. We click through the core flows and confirm they behave the way the listing promises.
Demos are the single most persuasive thing on a product page, so they are the thing we scrutinize hardest. A demo that quietly disables the interesting half of the feature set is a failed review.
## We read the code
Running is necessary but not sufficient. We read for obvious security problems, abandoned dependencies, and licensing that conflicts with what the author claims they are selling.
Structure matters as much as function. Code that works today but is impossible to extend tomorrow will generate support tickets and refunds, and both of those erode trust in the catalog as a whole.
## We agree an SLA
Nothing publishes until the studio behind it commits to a support response time and to keeping the product maintained against current runtimes. That commitment is printed on the product page, in plain language.
Curation does not stop at launch. Products that fall out of maintenance, break against current dependencies, or stop honoring their SLA are pulled from the catalog until they are put right.