{"slug": "ai-slop-keeps-flooding-gnome-extensions-so-they-wrote-a-manual-for-bots-instead", "title": "AI Slop Keeps Flooding GNOME Extensions, So They Wrote a Manual for Bots Instead", "summary": "GNOME Shell Extensions reviewer Javad Rahmatzadeh published a new set of best-practice guidelines on July 27, 2026, aimed directly at AI models generating extensions, after the flood of AI-generated submissions to extensions.gnome.org (EGO) continued despite a December rule banning them. The guidelines instruct AI models to clean up resources properly, avoid overengineering, target a single GNOME Shell version, and include a comment stating the extension is AI-generated for personal use and should not be uploaded to EGO unless the user understands the code. Rahmatzadeh's move is damage control to protect the manual review process from being overwhelmed by low-quality AI slop.", "body_md": "[GNOME Shell Extensions](https://itsfoss.com/gnome-shell-extensions/) are usually sourced from extensions.gnome.org, or \"EGO\" as the GNOME folks call it. Every submission on this portal is manually reviewed, and that review process has been under strain for months now.\n\nWe covered this [back in December](https://itsfoss.com/news/no-ai-extension-gnome/) when GNOME added a rule to its EGO review guidelines rejecting AI-generated slop.\n\nThey did allow the use of AI for learning and code completion purposes, but generating the entire extension where the developer can't explain or debug it convincingly [was explicitly forbidden](https://gjs.guide/extensions/review-guidelines/review-guidelines.html?ref=itsfoss.com#extensions-must-not-be-ai-generated).\n\nMonths later, and the deluge of AI slop hasn't slowed.\n\nSo last week, [Javad Rahmatzadeh](https://blogs.gnome.org/jrahmatzadeh/author/jrahmatzadeh/?ref=itsfoss.com), the same developer behind that original rule, tried a different approach. Instead of just rejecting bad submissions after the fact, [he wrote instructions](https://blogs.gnome.org/jrahmatzadeh/2026/07/27/ego-ai-reference/?ref=itsfoss.com) aimed directly at the AI models generating them.\n\n## Making the clankers understand\n\nGiven that the review queue is still flooded with AI-generated extensions, and most of them repeat the exact same mistakes (*bad practices, as he *puts* it*), Javad's [new approach](https://gjs.guide/extensions/review-guidelines/best-practices.html?ref=itsfoss.com) skips the *reject-and-explain* method entirely.\n\n**Most of the guidance is about cleanup**. Extensions need to remove timeouts, disconnect signals, and destroy widgets in a specific order inside `destroy()`\n\n. Javad also calls out AI models for adding boolean flags like `_destroyed`\n\nto guard against improper calls, when the instance should just be *nulled* out and never referenced again after `destroy()`\n\nruns.\n\nThen there's **the overengineering**. AI models tend to wrap safe function calls in unnecessary error handling and add checks for methods that are guaranteed to exist. Javad traces this back to models trying to write code that works across several GNOME Shell versions at once, and his fix is simple.\n\nJust target one version instead of covering every possible one.\n\nThe rest is about **keeping code organized**. Split logic across multiple files instead of one bloated entry point, keep related functions close together so cleanup is easy to check, and don't submit placeholder code with empty functions just to have something to show for it.\n\nThere's a separate rule aimed at the AI models themselves. Any AI-generated extension meant only for personal use has to ship with a comment saying so, telling the person not to upload it to EGO unless they actually understand the code well enough to maintain it. 👇\n\n```\n// Generated with AI for personal use.\n// Do NOT upload to extensions.gnome.org (EGO) unless you understand JavaScript\n// and can maintain this code.\n```\n\n## Some thoughts\n\nClankers overwhelming open source contributors is not new news. We've seen more than enough by now to conclude that these bots [will take the open source ecosystem down](https://itsfoss.com/news/codeberg-bans-ai-contributions/) if not moderated with a strong hand.\n\nWhat GNOME's Javad has done here is damage control. He and the other EGO reviewers have an important job. If they get inundated with AI slop that literally doesn't make sense, then **that is a big loss for us**, the GNOME users who install extensions to improve our desktop experience.\n\nEnjoyed this update? 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Become a Plus member, enjoy ad-free reading and get 5 eBooks.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ai-slop-keeps-flooding-gnome-extensions-so-they-wrote-a-manual-for-bots-instead", "canonical_source": "https://feed.itsfoss.com/link/24361/17402426/gnome-shell-extension-instructions-for-bots", "published_at": "2026-08-03 13:18:19+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-03 14:17:35.795451+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["artificial-intelligence", "generative-ai", "developer-tools"], "entities": ["GNOME", "GNOME Shell Extensions", "extensions.gnome.org", "Javad Rahmatzadeh", "EGO"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ai-slop-keeps-flooding-gnome-extensions-so-they-wrote-a-manual-for-bots-instead", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ai-slop-keeps-flooding-gnome-extensions-so-they-wrote-a-manual-for-bots-instead.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ai-slop-keeps-flooding-gnome-extensions-so-they-wrote-a-manual-for-bots-instead.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/ai-slop-keeps-flooding-gnome-extensions-so-they-wrote-a-manual-for-bots-instead.jsonld"}}