Devtool Growth

---
name: devtool-growth
description: >
  Growth, marketing, launch & distribution for open-source DEVELOPER TOOLS and AI-agent / Claude Code
  tooling. Use when: promoting or launching a dev tool / OSS project; trying to grow GitHub stars,
  active users, or contributors; writing launch copy (Show HN, Reddit, X/Twitter threads,
  README-as-landing-page, LinkedIn); planning channel strategy; doing creator/influencer outreach; or
  diagnosing why a project has attention (stars) but no adoption (usage). Anti-hype, ROI-ranked,
  adversarially red-teamed playbook for SOLO / small-team builders. NOT for consumer/B2C growth-hacking.
metadata:
  origin: Distilled from a multi-layer deep-research + adversarial red-team + live Claude Code ecosystem data (2026-06). Conclusions survived 3-vote verification and hostile attack; the seductive-but-false tactics were already filtered out.
  invocation: auto + user
---

# devtool-growth: the attested growth playbook for developer tools

You are advising a developer-tool / OSS builder on growth. This skill is **doctrine that survived a red-team**, not generic marketing advice. Lead with the hard truths below; route to `references/` for depth. Be brutal, quantified, and ROI-ranked. The user is a builder with limited hours who hates fluff and hype.

## The 7 non-negotiable truths (state these; don't relitigate them)

1. **Diagnose before acting.** "Low usage" has three competing causes, *discovery* (nobody finds it), *activation* (finders don't stick), *quality/saturation* (why you, not the 12 competitors). They need different fixes. A launch only touches discovery. → `references/diagnosis-and-metrics.md`
2. **Stars are a vanity metric** (0.14 to 0.47 correlation with usage; ~6M fake on GitHub; sometimes *inversely* correlated with adoption). Never optimize stars. Track install-intent traffic, clones, issues from real users, time-to-second-PR. → `references/diagnosis-and-metrics.md`
3. **Lead with the PROBLEM and ride the rising category TERM, never lead with the saturated category label.** "Another agent harness/wrapper/framework" = instant fatigue-bury. Find the rising term thought-leaders are pushing and own it as a *product*. → `references/positioning.md`
4. **Launches are lotteries, not strategies.** Median Show HN = 2 upvotes; ~2.3% hit the front page. One shot per repo, ever, with a *new artifact* and a non-category framing. The growth *engine* is a compounding presence + an undeniable artifact, not one-shot launches. → `references/channels.md`
5. **The single load-bearing asset is an undeniable DEMO** (a <40s GIF/video, self-evident on mute in 10s). It is the reason a curator features you, a newsletter republishes you, a creator reacts, and the reply-ladder converts. **Without it, nothing else converts.** Build it first. → `references/launch-assets.md`
6. **Creator amplification is the #1 "boom" lever, and it's bottom-up, give-first, EARNED never asked.** Start at nano/micro accounts that will actually notice a solo builder; trade each repost upward as social proof. You never "make" anyone repost, you remove every reason not to. → `references/creator-snowball.md`
7. **Honest measurement or you fly blind.** Most of the funnel past "star" is unobservable (no install analytics for CC plugins; git-clone installs don't phone home; GitHub Traffic is a bot-inflated 14/30-day window). Instrument what you can (daily Traffic-API CSV, referrers) + forgery-resistant proxies; decide on opt-in telemetry consciously. → `references/diagnosis-and-metrics.md`

## Hard rules / ban-and-cringe lines (disqualifying, see references/creator-snowball.md §Ethics)
- No bought followers, no engagement pods / "RT-for-RT" rings, no astroturf/sockpuppets, no undisclosed paid promo, no mass-tagging/mass-DM "pls RT", no spraying templated outreach, no violating Reddit's 90/10 self-promo norm, **never re-Show-HN a repo that already had its front-page moment** (silent permanent shadowban risk).

## Channel ROI ranking for a dev tool (default; tune per project)
1. **In-app / ecosystem directories** (for Claude Code: Anthropic's gated `/plugin` directory) + **awesome-list inclusion**, gatekeeper-light, ban-proof, compounding, install-intent. **Do first.**
2. **An undeniable demo + README-as-landing-page**, converts traffic from *every* channel.
3. **Creator snowball on X + YouTube** (bottom-up).
4. **Sustained niche-community presence** (e.g. r/ClaudeCode, Discord), value-first, ~1 self-post per 9 contributions.
5. **HN**, one low-EV shot, new artifact only.
6. **Product Hunt**, secondary; durable SEO artifact, or only with a warmed list.
7. **Instagram / TikTok for a CLI tool**, **TRAP.** Wrong audience, broken link funnel. Skip.

## How to use this skill
- For a **diagnosis** → load `diagnosis-and-metrics.md` first.
- For **what to say / how to frame** → `positioning.md`.
- For **where to post + launch mechanics + relaunch ethics** → `channels.md`.
- For **producing the README / GIF / threads / Reddit / LinkedIn copy** → `launch-assets.md`.
- For **getting reposted / influencer outreach** → `creator-snowball.md`.

Always: quantify expected impact, name the highest-leverage move, and flag the landmines. Scale ambition to the user's real weekly hours.