diff --git a/apps/x/apps/main/src/ipc.ts b/apps/x/apps/main/src/ipc.ts
index 6c60ea63..febe3e91 100644
--- a/apps/x/apps/main/src/ipc.ts
+++ b/apps/x/apps/main/src/ipc.ts
@@ -67,6 +67,7 @@ import * as appsServer from '@x/core/dist/apps/server.js';
 import * as appsAgents from '@x/core/dist/apps/agents.js';
 import { capture } from '@x/core/dist/analytics/posthog.js';
 import * as githubAuth from '@x/core/dist/apps/github-auth.js';
+import * as appsStars from '@x/core/dist/apps/stars.js';
 import * as appsInstaller from '@x/core/dist/apps/installer.js';
 import { registryClient } from '@x/core/dist/apps/registry.js';
 import * as appsPublisher from '@x/core/dist/apps/publisher.js';
@@ -1616,6 +1617,18 @@ export function setupIpcHandlers() {
     'apps:catalogSearch': async (_event, args) => {
       return { records: await registryClient.search(args.query) };
     },
+    'apps:catalogStars': async (_event, args) => {
+      const [stars, starred] = await Promise.all([
+        appsStars.repoStars(args.repos),
+        appsStars.starredStatus(args.repos),
+      ]);
+      return { stars, starred };
+    },
+    'apps:star': async (_event, args) => {
+      const result = await appsStars.setStar(args.repo, args.star);
+      capture('app_starred', { repo: args.repo, star: args.star });
+      return result;
+    },
     'apps:catalogDetail': async (_event, args) => {
       const record = await registryClient.resolve(args.name);
       if (!record) throw new Error(`no such app in the catalog: ${args.name}`);
diff --git a/apps/x/apps/renderer/src/components/apps/app-detail.tsx b/apps/x/apps/renderer/src/components/apps/app-detail.tsx
index 6e8aa554..5304c81d 100644
--- a/apps/x/apps/renderer/src/components/apps/app-detail.tsx
+++ b/apps/x/apps/renderer/src/components/apps/app-detail.tsx
@@ -81,6 +81,15 @@ export function AppDetail({ folder, onClose }: { folder: string; onClose: () =>
     onClose()
   })
 
+  // Local apps aren't "installed", so they get delete instead of uninstall.
+  const doDelete = () => runAction('delete', async () => {
+    const agentNote = agents.length ? `\n\nThis also deletes its background agents: ${agents.map((a) => a.name).join(', ')}.` : ''
+    const publishNote = app?.publish ? '\n\nThe published copy (GitHub repo + catalog listing) is not touched.' : ''
+    if (!window.confirm(`Delete this app? The whole folder, including data/, is removed from this machine.${publishNote}${agentNote}`)) return
+    await window.ipc.invoke('apps:delete', { folder })
+    onClose()
+  })
+
   useEffect(() => {
     let cancelled = false
     ;(async () => {
@@ -217,11 +226,16 @@ export function AppDetail({ folder, onClose }: { folder: string; onClose: () =>
                     <UploadCloud className="size-3.5" /> {app.publish ? 'Publish update' : 'Publish'}
                   </button>
                 )}
-                {app.kind === 'installed' && (
+                {app.kind === 'installed' ? (
                   <button type="button" disabled={busyAction !== null} onClick={() => void doUninstall()}
                     className="flex items-center gap-1.5 rounded-md border border-destructive/40 px-2.5 py-1 text-xs font-medium text-destructive hover:bg-destructive/10 disabled:opacity-50">
                     <Trash2 className="size-3.5" /> Uninstall
                   </button>
+                ) : (
+                  <button type="button" disabled={busyAction !== null} onClick={() => void doDelete()}
+                    className="flex items-center gap-1.5 rounded-md border border-destructive/40 px-2.5 py-1 text-xs font-medium text-destructive hover:bg-destructive/10 disabled:opacity-50">
+                    <Trash2 className="size-3.5" /> Delete
+                  </button>
                 )}
               </div>
             </section>
diff --git a/apps/x/apps/renderer/src/components/apps/catalog.tsx b/apps/x/apps/renderer/src/components/apps/catalog.tsx
index 99bdda2c..3741f56a 100644
--- a/apps/x/apps/renderer/src/components/apps/catalog.tsx
+++ b/apps/x/apps/renderer/src/components/apps/catalog.tsx
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { useEffect, useState } from 'react'
-import { BadgeCheck, Bot, Download, Link2, RefreshCw, Search, ShieldAlert } from 'lucide-react'
+import { BadgeCheck, Bot, Download, Link2, RefreshCw, Search, ShieldAlert, Star } from 'lucide-react'
 import type { rowboatApp } from '@x/shared'
 
 // Catalog tab (spec §14): search the registry, install with the D18 capability
@@ -162,6 +162,35 @@ export function CatalogTab({ onInstalled }: { onInstalled: (folder: string) => v
   const [enabling, setEnabling] = useState(false)
   // Registry name → local folder, for apps already installed from the catalog.
   const [installedByName, setInstalledByName] = useState<Map<string, string>>(new Map())
+  // GitHub star counts rank the list; `starred` is the signed-in user's set.
+  const [stars, setStars] = useState<Record<string, number>>({})
+  const [starred, setStarred] = useState<Record<string, boolean>>({})
+
+  const loadStars = async (recs: rowboatApp.RegistryRecord[]) => {
+    if (recs.length === 0) return
+    try {
+      const r = await window.ipc.invoke('apps:catalogStars', { repos: recs.map((x) => x.repo) })
+      setStars((prev) => ({ ...prev, ...r.stars }))
+      setStarred((prev) => ({ ...prev, ...r.starred }))
+    } catch { /* unranked list is fine */ }
+  }
+
+  const toggleStar = async (repo: string) => {
+    const next = !starred[repo]
+    // Optimistic; revert on failure.
+    setStarred((prev) => ({ ...prev, [repo]: next }))
+    setStars((prev) => ({ ...prev, [repo]: Math.max(0, (prev[repo] ?? 0) + (next ? 1 : -1)) }))
+    try {
+      await window.ipc.invoke('apps:star', { repo, star: next })
+    } catch (e) {
+      setStarred((prev) => ({ ...prev, [repo]: !next }))
+      setStars((prev) => ({ ...prev, [repo]: Math.max(0, (prev[repo] ?? 0) + (next ? -1 : 1)) }))
+      const msg = e instanceof Error ? e.message : String(e)
+      setError(msg.includes('not_signed_in')
+        ? 'Starring uses your GitHub account — sign in once via any app’s Publish flow, then try again.'
+        : msg)
+    }
+  }
 
   const loadInstalled = async () => {
     try {
@@ -179,6 +208,7 @@ export function CatalogTab({ onInstalled }: { onInstalled: (folder: string) => v
       const r = await window.ipc.invoke('apps:catalogIndex', { force })
       setRecords(r.records)
       setStale(r.stale)
+      void loadStars(r.records)
     } catch (e) {
       setError(e instanceof Error ? e.message : String(e))
     }
@@ -192,9 +222,14 @@ export function CatalogTab({ onInstalled }: { onInstalled: (folder: string) => v
         ? await window.ipc.invoke('apps:catalogSearch', { query: q })
         : await window.ipc.invoke('apps:catalogIndex', {})
       setRecords(r.records)
+      void loadStars(r.records)
     } catch { /* keep current list */ }
   }
 
+  // Rank by stars (unknown counts sink), name as the stable tiebreak.
+  const ranked = [...records].sort((a, b) =>
+    ((stars[b.repo] ?? -1) - (stars[a.repo] ?? -1)) || a.name.localeCompare(b.name))
+
   const startInstall = async (name: string) => {
     setError(null)
     try {
@@ -304,7 +339,7 @@ export function CatalogTab({ onInstalled }: { onInstalled: (folder: string) => v
         </div>
       ) : (
         <div className="space-y-2">
-          {records.map((r) => (
+          {ranked.map((r) => (
             <div key={r.name} className="flex items-center gap-3 rounded-xl border border-border bg-card px-4 py-3">
               <div className="min-w-0 flex-1">
                 <div className="flex items-baseline gap-2">
@@ -313,6 +348,13 @@ export function CatalogTab({ onInstalled }: { onInstalled: (folder: string) => v
                 </div>
                 <p className="truncate text-xs text-muted-foreground">{r.description || 'No description.'}</p>
               </div>
+              <button type="button"
+                title={starred[r.repo] ? 'Unstar on GitHub' : 'Star on GitHub'}
+                onClick={() => void toggleStar(r.repo)}
+                className={`flex items-center gap-1 rounded-md px-2 py-1.5 text-xs font-medium hover:bg-accent ${starred[r.repo] ? 'text-amber-500' : 'text-muted-foreground'}`}>
+                <Star className={`size-3.5 ${starred[r.repo] ? 'fill-current' : ''}`} />
+                {stars[r.repo] ?? '—'}
+              </button>
               {installedByName.has(r.name) ? (
                 <button type="button" title="Installed — open it"
                   onClick={() => onInstalled(installedByName.get(r.name)!)}
diff --git a/apps/x/packages/core/src/apps/stars.ts b/apps/x/packages/core/src/apps/stars.ts
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..bf48c073
--- /dev/null
+++ b/apps/x/packages/core/src/apps/stars.ts
@@ -0,0 +1,81 @@
+import { getGithubToken } from './github-auth.js';
+
+// GitHub stars for catalog apps. Star counts rank the catalog; starring an
+// app stars its repo (the device-flow token's public_repo scope covers it).
+// Counts are fetched per-repo with a short cache — unauthenticated GitHub API
+// allows 60 req/h, so the cache is what keeps a busy catalog usable when the
+// user never signed in.
+
+const COUNT_TTL_MS = 10 * 60 * 1000;
+const countCache = new Map<string, { stars: number; at: number }>();
+
+const REPO_RE = /^[A-Za-z0-9_.-]+\/[A-Za-z0-9_.-]+$/;
+
+async function ghHeaders(): Promise<Record<string, string>> {
+    const headers: Record<string, string> = {
+        'Accept': 'application/vnd.github+json',
+        'User-Agent': 'rowboat-apps',
+    };
+    const auth = await getGithubToken();
+    if (auth) headers['Authorization'] = `Bearer ${auth.token}`;
+    return headers;
+}
+
+/** Star counts for a set of "owner/repo" strings. Unknown/unreachable repos are omitted. */
+export async function repoStars(repos: string[]): Promise<Record<string, number>> {
+    const headers = await ghHeaders();
+    const now = Date.now();
+    const out: Record<string, number> = {};
+    await Promise.all([...new Set(repos)].filter((r) => REPO_RE.test(r)).map(async (repo) => {
+        const cached = countCache.get(repo);
+        if (cached && now - cached.at < COUNT_TTL_MS) {
+            out[repo] = cached.stars;
+            return;
+        }
+        try {
+            const res = await fetch(`https://api.github.com/repos/${repo}`, { headers });
+            if (!res.ok) return; // deleted repo / rate limited — no count is fine
+            const body = await res.json() as { stargazers_count?: number };
+            if (typeof body.stargazers_count === 'number') {
+                countCache.set(repo, { stars: body.stargazers_count, at: now });
+                out[repo] = body.stargazers_count;
+            }
+        } catch { /* offline — no count */ }
+    }));
+    return out;
+}
+
+/** Which of these repos the signed-in user has starred. Empty when signed out. */
+export async function starredStatus(repos: string[]): Promise<Record<string, boolean>> {
+    const auth = await getGithubToken();
+    if (!auth) return {};
+    const headers = await ghHeaders();
+    const out: Record<string, boolean> = {};
+    await Promise.all([...new Set(repos)].filter((r) => REPO_RE.test(r)).map(async (repo) => {
+        try {
+            const res = await fetch(`https://api.github.com/user/starred/${repo}`, { headers });
+            if (res.status === 204) out[repo] = true;
+            else if (res.status === 404) out[repo] = false;
+            // other statuses (401 revoked token, 403 rate limit) → unknown, omit
+        } catch { /* offline — unknown */ }
+    }));
+    return out;
+}
+
+/** Star/unstar a repo as the signed-in user. Throws not_signed_in without a token. */
+export async function setStar(repo: string, star: boolean): Promise<{ starred: boolean }> {
+    if (!REPO_RE.test(repo)) throw new Error(`invalid repo: ${repo}`);
+    const auth = await getGithubToken();
+    if (!auth) throw new Error('not_signed_in: sign in with GitHub (used for publishing) to star apps');
+    const res = await fetch(`https://api.github.com/user/starred/${repo}`, {
+        method: star ? 'PUT' : 'DELETE',
+        headers: { ...(await ghHeaders()), 'Content-Length': '0' },
+    });
+    if (res.status !== 204) {
+        throw new Error(`star_failed: HTTP ${res.status} ${await res.text().catch(() => '')}`.trim());
+    }
+    // Nudge the cached count so the UI reflects the action before the TTL expires.
+    const cached = countCache.get(repo);
+    if (cached) countCache.set(repo, { stars: Math.max(0, cached.stars + (star ? 1 : -1)), at: cached.at });
+    return { starred: star };
+}
diff --git a/apps/x/packages/shared/src/ipc.ts b/apps/x/packages/shared/src/ipc.ts
index 6ac706d3..24a9fbcc 100644
--- a/apps/x/packages/shared/src/ipc.ts
+++ b/apps/x/packages/shared/src/ipc.ts
@@ -1272,6 +1272,18 @@ const ipcSchemas = {
     req: z.object({ query: z.string() }),
     res: z.object({ records: z.array(RegistryRecordSchema) }),
   },
+  // GitHub star counts (catalog ranking) + the signed-in user's starred set.
+  'apps:catalogStars': {
+    req: z.object({ repos: z.array(z.string()) }),
+    res: z.object({
+      stars: z.record(z.string(), z.number()),
+      starred: z.record(z.string(), z.boolean()),
+    }),
+  },
+  'apps:star': {
+    req: z.object({ repo: z.string(), star: z.boolean() }),
+    res: z.object({ starred: z.boolean() }),
+  },
   'apps:catalogDetail': {
     req: z.object({ name: z.string() }),
     res: z.object({