I don't think there are any of the new webring codes that are as comprehensive and functional as the older ones. Personally, I think there are better ways of implementing them than some of the ones on GitHub, but some of those such as Max Boeck's - https://github.com/maxboeck/webring - are popular.
I don't think that many people who use the webrings now particularly care too much about Google rankings, most are small, personal sites using webrings to do what they were originally intended to.
I have written a lot about webrings, their history, the new webrings and the technology used. https://brisray.com/web/webring-tech.htm is about as good a place to start if you're interested.
I was going to put this on some sites, then I got to:
"If you're going to be using issues for people to sign up," - I have no idea what that means.. but I am leaning toward people must have a github account to add a site..
So I was hoping it would be more like in the old days of just a click here to popup a form, submit, and backend code to send a note to the site owner, along with functionality to check for reciprocal link / webring on sumbitted site - and backend to track date of site added, last known recip link / ring on site.. ability to track clicks and add nofollow or sponsored, etc.
Then I get down to:
"We recommend you use GitHub Actions for automatic" which sounds nice, and I appreciate the docs are written, giving a link, and even how to fork.. cuz that's where I am on my git learning.. so now I have the github actions tab open and I am probably going to learn it..
But, 9 out of 10 of my site visitors who would add a link and webring are not going to read about github actions.
So maybe this could evolve to run with sqlite by default and hook into a wordpress database as an option for data storage and cron?
I'd love to see these come back, and not that people are less scared of google penalties (use nofollow, lazyload imagery / defer loading js) - it could be a thing again..
but it needs to be super easy to add or suggest a site right on site page, not go to github and learn / do things there - I think.
There's other tools in this space as well. https://openwebring.com/ is a hosted option, which may be easier to use. I don't know of a webring hosted on WordPress, but I suspect that would be popular too. The webring I linked doesn't have a hard dependency on GitHub issues, you could add a sign up form elsewhere and manually add sites to the ring for people who don't have GitHub accounts.
I think the site owner would benefit from options for manual approve, or auto approve, and auto approve would have settings for checked for backlink, checked blacklist of sites / words, third party list..
ultimately there are those who will do the manual work, but majority adoption will be based on install and let the code do the work / no manual work needed.
This kind of code was everywhere ~2005 with (adult) TGPs / traffic trade scripts - making things automatic and preplanning for abuse handling, such as having your script check for backlinks on random occasions, that the site is up and running.. some backend stats clicks to, clicks from perhaps.. auto thumbnail / screenshot..
Of the 279 webrings I know of, many use simpler systems such as Onionring.js - https://garlic.garden/onionring/ - or Webri.ng - https://webri.ng/
I don't think that many people who use the webrings now particularly care too much about Google rankings, most are small, personal sites using webrings to do what they were originally intended to.
I have written a lot about webrings, their history, the new webrings and the technology used. https://brisray.com/web/webring-tech.htm is about as good a place to start if you're interested.