diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index 568150f..5ad65a3 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Awesome Coding Agents
 
-> Curated ranking of AI agent coding tools, sorted by GitHub stars.
+> Curated ranking of AI-powered developer tools, sorted by GitHub stars.
 > Updated daily by GitHub Actions.
 
 📊 **[Interactive dashboard with star-history charts →](https://tiennm99.github.io/awesome-coding-agents/)**
@@ -68,8 +68,8 @@
 
 **Inclusion criteria** — a repo belongs on this list when it is:
 
-1. **An AI coding agent, or an environment for running them** — either a tool that autonomously writes, edits, or reviews code, or an *agent development environment* (ADE) that runs and coordinates those agents as its primary purpose. Libraries, SDKs, prompt/skill collections, and observability-only layers remain out of scope.
-2. **Notable**: roughly **10,000+ GitHub stars** (the current list floor).
+1. **A developer tool built around AI** — something a developer uses to build software, where an LLM is central to what it does. That covers agents that write, edit, or review code; agent development environments that run and coordinate them; and AI-assisted editors, terminals, and review tools. Libraries, SDKs, model weights, and prompt or skill collections are out of scope — this list ranks tools you *use*, not building blocks you *import*.
+2. **At least 1,000 GitHub stars** — a hard floor, enforced by the updater. An entry below it is dropped from the ranking automatically, so the threshold is never waived for an individual entry.
 3. **Open source and actively maintained** — no push in **6 months** means the entry is dropped. The daily run flags anything past **3 months** for review, so the ranking reflects tools people can actually use today.
 
 Archived or abandoned repos are kept only when they are historically significant, and are marked as such in [`data/agents.yml`](data/agents.yml).
diff --git a/docs/CONTRIBUTING.md b/docs/CONTRIBUTING.md
index 3529c9a..de079f8 100644
--- a/docs/CONTRIBUTING.md
+++ b/docs/CONTRIBUTING.md
@@ -26,20 +26,35 @@ Optional fields: `notes` (for clarifications or caveats)
 
 ## Scope
 
-Two kinds of project belong here:
+This list ranks **developer tools built around AI** — things a developer uses to
+build software, where an LLM is central to what the tool does. In practice that
+spans several shapes:
 
-1. **Coding agents** — they write, edit, or review code themselves.
-2. **Agent development environments (ADEs)** — their primary purpose is running and
-   coordinating those agents: parallel worktrees, session management, remote or mobile
-   control. Tag these `orchestration`.
+- **Coding agents** — they write, edit, or review code themselves.
+- **Agent development environments (ADEs)** — their primary purpose is running and
+  coordinating those agents: parallel worktrees, session management, remote or
+  mobile control. Tag these `orchestration`.
+- **AI-assisted editors, terminals, and review tools** — the developer stays in the
+  driver's seat and the model accelerates the work.
 
-An ADE earns a row because it is the surface a developer actually works in, the same way
-a coding agent is. What stays out is anything that only *assists* agents without being a
-place you run them: libraries and SDKs, prompt or skill collections, dashboards and
-observability-only layers, and single-purpose wrappers around one agent's config.
+The dividing line is **tools you use vs. building blocks you import**. Out of scope:
+libraries and SDKs, agent frameworks meant to be built on, model weights, prompt or
+skill collections, and dashboards that only observe a tool without being one.
 
-The other two criteria in the [README](../README.md#contributing) — roughly 10,000+ stars
-and active maintenance — apply to both kinds equally.
+A tool also has to be *about* software development. General-purpose assistants and
+chat UIs do not qualify just because a developer could use them.
+
+### The star floor is hard
+
+**1,000 stars minimum.** This is not a judgement call and is not waived for
+individual entries, however good the tool is. The updater enforces it: any entry
+below the floor is dropped from the ranking and reported as an `::error::` in the
+Actions log (`enforceStarFloor` in `github.go`). Because star counts require the
+API, `go run . -check` cannot catch this offline — a below-floor entry passes CI
+and is then dropped by the next daily run, so check the count before opening a PR.
+
+Maintenance requirements apply to every entry equally: no push in 6 months means
+removal, and the daily run warns past 3 months.
 
 ## Tag Vocabulary
 
diff --git a/github.go b/github.go
index 3a621d7..3e1919a 100644
--- a/github.go
+++ b/github.go
@@ -74,6 +74,13 @@ var graphqlURL = "https://api.github.com/graphql"
 // annotates the run.
 const staleWarnAfter = 90 * 24 * time.Hour
 
+// minStars is the hard inclusion floor from the README's criteria. Unlike the
+// staleness window, this is not a judgement call: an entry below the floor is
+// dropped from the published ranking, so the list can never show a repo that
+// does not meet it. It lives here rather than in -check because star counts
+// need the API and -check runs offline.
+const minStars = 1000
+
 // chunkSize is the max aliases per GraphQL request (GitHub node-limit safety margin).
 const chunkSize = 50
 
@@ -272,3 +279,19 @@ func doWithRetry(token string, body []byte) ([]byte, int, error) {
 	}
 	return nil, 0, fmt.Errorf("all %d attempts failed; last error: %w", maxRetries, lastErr)
 }
+
+// enforceStarFloor drops entries below minStars and annotates each one as a run
+// error. Dropping rather than failing the run keeps one below-floor entry from
+// blocking the refresh of every other repo, while the ::error:: annotation
+// makes the removal impossible to miss in the Actions log.
+func enforceStarFloor(stats []Stat) []Stat {
+	kept := make([]Stat, 0, len(stats))
+	for _, s := range stats {
+		if s.Stars < minStars {
+			fmt.Printf("::error::repo %s has %d stars, below the %d minimum — dropped from the ranking; remove its entry from data/agents.yml\n", s.CanonicalKey, s.Stars, minStars)
+			continue
+		}
+		kept = append(kept, s)
+	}
+	return kept
+}
diff --git a/github_test.go b/github_test.go
index 27d63bc..7287702 100644
--- a/github_test.go
+++ b/github_test.go
@@ -312,3 +312,24 @@ func TestFetchStats_StaleWarning(t *testing.T) {
 		t.Errorf("missing archived warning %q in:\n%s", want, logs)
 	}
 }
+
+func TestEnforceStarFloor(t *testing.T) {
+	in := []Stat{
+		{CanonicalKey: "a/above", Stars: minStars + 1},
+		{CanonicalKey: "b/exactly", Stars: minStars},
+		{CanonicalKey: "c/below", Stars: minStars - 1},
+		{CanonicalKey: "d/zero", Stars: 0},
+	}
+
+	got := enforceStarFloor(in)
+
+	want := []string{"a/above", "b/exactly"}
+	if len(got) != len(want) {
+		t.Fatalf("kept %d entries, want %d: %+v", len(got), len(want), got)
+	}
+	for i, w := range want {
+		if got[i].CanonicalKey != w {
+			t.Errorf("kept[%d] = %s, want %s", i, got[i].CanonicalKey, w)
+		}
+	}
+}
diff --git a/main.go b/main.go
index b756b24..6ab7151 100644
--- a/main.go
+++ b/main.go
@@ -52,6 +52,11 @@ func run() error {
 		return err
 	}
 
+	stats = enforceStarFloor(stats)
+	if len(stats) == 0 {
+		return fmt.Errorf("no agents in %s meet the %d-star minimum", agentsPath, minStars)
+	}
+
 	snapshots, deltas7, deltas30, err := appendHistory(historyPath, stats)
 	if err != nil {
 		return err
diff --git a/templates/readme.tmpl b/templates/readme.tmpl
index 2b1f070..6e28e2b 100644
--- a/templates/readme.tmpl
+++ b/templates/readme.tmpl
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 # Awesome Coding Agents
 
-> Curated ranking of AI agent coding tools, sorted by GitHub stars.
+> Curated ranking of AI-powered developer tools, sorted by GitHub stars.
 > Updated daily by GitHub Actions.
 
 📊 **[Interactive dashboard with star-history charts →](https://tiennm99.github.io/awesome-coding-agents/)**
@@ -33,8 +33,8 @@
 
 **Inclusion criteria** — a repo belongs on this list when it is:
 
-1. **An AI coding agent, or an environment for running them** — either a tool that autonomously writes, edits, or reviews code, or an *agent development environment* (ADE) that runs and coordinates those agents as its primary purpose. Libraries, SDKs, prompt/skill collections, and observability-only layers remain out of scope.
-2. **Notable**: roughly **10,000+ GitHub stars** (the current list floor).
+1. **A developer tool built around AI** — something a developer uses to build software, where an LLM is central to what it does. That covers agents that write, edit, or review code; agent development environments that run and coordinate them; and AI-assisted editors, terminals, and review tools. Libraries, SDKs, model weights, and prompt or skill collections are out of scope — this list ranks tools you *use*, not building blocks you *import*.
+2. **At least 1,000 GitHub stars** — a hard floor, enforced by the updater. An entry below it is dropped from the ranking automatically, so the threshold is never waived for an individual entry.
 3. **Open source and actively maintained** — no push in **6 months** means the entry is dropped. The daily run flags anything past **3 months** for review, so the ranking reflects tools people can actually use today.
 
 Archived or abandoned repos are kept only when they are historically significant, and are marked as such in [`data/agents.yml`](data/agents.yml).