If you mostly use ChatGPT or Claude and just want to know what AI tool is worth tracking, don't overread the Sponsors tab. With OpenMontage, the payment button is on Sponsors, but the selling happens on the README, the repo's front page. README first, Sponsors tab second. [C002]
That matters because this is how people actually meet a hot repo. You see it blowing up, think maybe I should pay attention, and you are about to scroll past. If you ask the wrong question, you waste time, budget, and attention. The useful question is not where can I pay. It is what page makes a stranger care before the ask.
In OpenMontage, the README answers that with proof stacked in order: a Trending badge, demo clips, the cost to make the videos, the exact prompts, and a community link. Only later do you hit the sponsor ask. That is why this is not really a payment-page story. It is a front-page persuasion story.
The timing makes that more than a stylistic nit. On June 25, 2026, GitHub Trending showed calesthio/OpenMontage at #1 with +3,703 stars that day. When stranger traffic enters through the repo page, the README is doing the persuasion before the funding page even gets a turn.
My shorthand note was literally: sponsors / calesthio [C001]. Translation: fix the page that earns belief before you polish donation tiers. A tool update is worth sharing not because it lists more features, but because it changes your next move. This is an observation from the GitHub pages, not proof of sponsor conversion numbers.