Method
A rank is a decision, not a score we pretend is physics.
Agent Delta Tools publishes a desk order. It is useful because it is narrow, sourced, and unwilling to mix a cheque into the numbering.
What is published
A tool, review, comparison, or best-of list has a status: draft, pending review, published, or archived. Only published records render on the public site. Opening the URL of a draft returns a not-found page.
Automatic discovery writes candidates and, if an editor promotes one, a tool draft. The discovery job is not allowed to set status to published. A person does that from the desk, after checking a source URL.
What the desk score means
The desk score is an overall editorial mark from 0 to 10 for a published tool. Category rank is separate: Claude can lead writing and sit further down coding. Neither number is a user-average, a benchmark, or a sponsored bid.
We prefer official product and pricing pages as sources, and we store those URLs on the tool. Where a current price is not something we are willing to freeze in a sentence, the pricing summary says “See website.”
What money changes
Sponsored and Featured modules are inventory. They have a start date, an end date, and a label. They render outside the numbered rank. If a ranked vendor also has a live paid placement, the rank row says so in words, not only in colour.
Affiliate links, when present, use rel="sponsored" and a disclosure on the page. Seed data points affiliate URLs at the official site until a real tracking link replaces them. Editorial order does not move because an affiliate row exists.