The October 1 Index · Method changelog

Method changelog

Every change to how the index fetches, classifies or counts is recorded here with its date and its effect on the numbers. Records made before a correction are re-fetched before publication rather than re-interpreted; nothing in a published count rests on a superseded rule.

September 11, 2026: block-window handling and re-fetch pass

Shopify's storefront edge answers a per-address quota with HTTP 429 responses that carry none of the platform's usual headers. The scanner had treated those as ordinary refusals, kept fetching at full rate, and recorded the affected stores as unknown. The scanner now recognises a 429 from Shopify's storefront address range as a quota signal, pauses for thirty minutes, and re-tries every store recorded as unknown before the confirmation pass. Effect: more stores confirmed, no change to the classification rule.

The same day, a second pass was scheduled to re-fetch every store whose latest record predates the September 8 correction below, so that every published count rests on the current rule. It runs after the first pass completes and before any vendor is notified.

September 9, 2026: two-fetch confirmation and vendor naming

A store counts on the index only if a legacy script tag for the same vendor is present on two fetches made on different days; a single fetch cannot place a store in a vendor's count. Script hosts are mapped to app vendors from the vendor's own site or the script's path; hosts that cannot be matched are published as bare hostnames, and scripts served from developer tunnels, bare cloud buckets or generic libraries are grouped in one unattributed row rather than named.

September 8, 2026: classifier correction

The first pilot counted any script whose address carried a shop= parameter as a legacy script tag. That over-counted: a theme app extension's script also carries that parameter, and the pilot flagged stores whose apps had already migrated. The rule was corrected to Shopify's own rendering of an API script tag, type="text/javascript" async="" in the document head, outside any app block marker or extension wrapper, from a host other than Shopify's CDN. Exposure among stores checked fell from roughly one in ten to roughly one in fifty. Records produced under the earlier rule are re-fetched, not re-interpreted (see September 11).

Standing rules

• The index fetches from one static address at a fixed ceiling of twelve requests per minute, identified as the October 1 Index in the request headers.
• Aggregate counts are published; individual stores are not listed.
• Named vendors are notified at least two business days before they appear, with a free right of reply, a migration notice link and a verified migrated status.

The full method is on the methodology page. Corrections to this page are welcome at index@statusbird.io.