Every list on AI Agent Hub is sorted by a number because an unsorted list of thousands of cards is not readable. The number is a sort key. It is not a grade we assigned after trying the software, and it is not a promise that the first card is safe. This page says what each default sort is, so you can use it without believing too much.
Skills
The skill index defaults to score, highest first, and then to downloads when scores tie. Many listings share the same very high score, which means the score has hit a cap in the data we imported. In that situation the download count is what actually separates the first page from the second. Downloads measure how often the upstream listing says the skill was fetched. They do not measure whether the prompt is careful, whether the license allows your use, or whether the skill still matches the current agent.
You can change the sort in the page UI to recently updated or to stars. Those URLs add a sort parameter. We ask crawlers not to fetch them, because they are the same cards in a different order. Use them yourself when you want "changed lately" rather than "fetched often." Updated is useful for finding a listing that moved. It is also useful for finding a listing that was abandoned and then touched by a bulk edit. Read the prompt either way.
The score does not include our editor's notes. A skill with a note is not pushed to the top because we wrote about it. If you want those, start at the home page picks or open the skill from a guide. Writing a note does not mean we certified the publisher.
Plugins
The plugin index defaults to GitHub stars. Stars are public and they are comparable across repositories, which is why they beat a homemade score for this shelf. They measure attention on GitHub. A repository can have thousands of stars and a broken install on the current Harness build. A repository can have few stars and a README that tells you exactly how to uninstall it. Prefer the second one for a first install, and use stars only to break your own indifference about what to open next.
Forks are shown on the card when we have them. They are not the default sort. A fork count without recent commits is a copy, not a maintainer.
Models
The model index defaults to the directory score. The score comes from the listing data we store, not from a benchmark we run. A model with no score sinks. Alias rows that point at a vendor's "latest" model can sort above the specific model they redirect to, because the alias row carries its own score. Do not ship an alias. Pin the specific name, as how to read a model listing says.
Category filters are a different control. Open source is not "the highest scores." It is "rows marked open," still sorted by score inside the category. Company chips are a filter too. Those URLs use a company parameter and we ask crawlers to skip them, because the combinations with category, sort, and page number explode. The category pages themselves stay available to crawlers, and each has an introduction you should read before the grid.
Blog and guides
Blog posts sort by publication time, newest first. A new post is not more correct than an old one. It is newer. Guides are ordered by us, in the order a new reader should meet them: choose a skill, install it, know when not to, then plugins, then models. The guide order is editorial. The directory order is not.
What we refuse to sort by
We do not sort by "safety," "quality," or "recommended," because we have not run the catalog. Painting a badge on the import would look like a review and would be a lie. Editor's notes are the place where we do make a judgment, and they are attached to individual pages, not injected into the sort as a hidden boost.
Search is a rank of its own: names match before descriptions. A search page is a tool. It is a bad landing page, which is why crawlers are asked to skip q parameters. If you arrived from a search box, you still need the checklist.
How to use the sort without being used by it
Open the first page to learn the shape of a category. Then sort by recently updated if you need something maintained. Then ignore the numbers and apply the checklist to two cards, not to twenty. If the top card is wrong for you, the sort did not fail. It answered a different question than the one you asked.
When a number on a card is stale or impossible, send the URL through contact. We can fix a listing. We cannot turn a download count into a test suite, and the about page says that in fewer words.
Sorting and the pages we ask crawlers to keep
The default list URL, /skills, /plugins, or /models, is a real page. So is a category URL such as /skills?category=dev-programming. Those are finite, and each category page carries an introduction. A URL that also sets sort, page, q, page_size, or company is the same catalog sliced again. Crawlers that spend their budget on every slice never reach the guides or the articles. The corrections guide mentions this because people sometimes think a missing search result in Bing means the card was deleted. The card is still on the site. The parameter URL is what we asked the crawler to skip.
Individual skill, plugin, and model pages stay open for you. We ask crawlers to spend time on the ones that have an editor's note long enough to be a review, and on blog posts long enough to be an article. A thin card remains useful when you already know the name. It is a poor thing to present as the main content of the site, which is why the home page leads with guides.
None of that changes how you should read a star count. Stars are still attention. The fact that we hide a sorted duplicate from Bing does not promote the first star into a test report. If you want a judgment, read a note or a guide. If the note and the star count disagree, believe the part that cites a behavior you can check, not the part that cites a bigger integer.
Pagination exists so the directory loads. Page two is not a second editorial selection. It is the next twelve cards under the same sort. Do not cite "it was on page one" as a reason in a design document. Cite the behavior you saw when you ran it, and cite the upstream URL so the next person can check the publisher rather than our sort. If two cards tie on stars and on downloads, the sort has finished helping you. Open both prompts and use the checklist. The integer did its job by getting you to a shortlist of two. Staying for page three because the numbers are close is how an afternoon becomes a collection of unused installs. Close the list.