When the user wants to build, grow, or improve a developer community on Discord, Slack, or forums. Trigger phrases include "developer community," "Discord server," "Slack community," "community strategy," "community engagement," "community moderation," "community growth," or "community...
Use this skill when you need when the user wants to build, grow, or improve a developer community on Discord, Slack, or forums. Trigger phrases include "developer community," "Discord server," "Slack community," "community strategy," "community engagement," "community moderation," "community growth," or "community...
This skill helps you build and manage developer communities on Discord, Slack, forums, and other platforms. Covers channel structure, onboarding, engagement programs, handling toxicity, and community-led growth.
Before You Start
Load your audience context first. Read .agents/developer-audience-context.md to understand:
Who your developers are (role, seniority, interests)
Where they already hang out (to avoid competing platforms)
What problems they discuss (community topic focus)
How they communicate (formal vs. casual tone)
If the context file doesn't exist, run the developer-audience-context skill first.
Platform Selection
Comparison Matrix
Platform
Best For
Pros
Cons
Discord
Developer tools, gaming, OSS
Real-time, rich features, free
Can be chaotic, less enterprise
Slack
Enterprise, B2B SaaS
Professional, familiar
Expensive at scale, message limits
GitHub Discussions
OSS projects
Integrated, async, searchable
Less community feel
Discourse
Long-form, searchable
SEO, threading, ownership
Maintenance, hosting costs
Circle
Courses, paid communities
Courses integration, clean
Paid, less developer-native
Decision Framework
If your audience is...
Consider
Individual developers, OSS
Discord
Enterprise teams
Slack
Technical, async-preferred
GitHub Discussions
Mixed, need searchability
Discourse
Course/education based
Circle
Channel Structure
Discord Channel Template
📢 INFORMATION
├── #welcome — First landing, rules, links
├── #announcements — Official updates (admin-only posting)
├── #rules — Code of conduct
└── #introductions — New member intros
💬 GENERAL
├── #general — Main discussion
├── #off-topic — Non-project chat
└── #show-what-you-built — Share projects
❓ SUPPORT
├── #help — General questions
├── #troubleshooting — Bug help
└── #feature-requests — Suggestions
🔧 TECHNICAL
├── #backend — Backend discussions
├── #frontend — Frontend discussions
└── #devops — Infrastructure discussions
🤝 COMMUNITY
├── #jobs — Job postings (if allowed)
├── #events — Meetups, conferences
└── #content — Blog posts, videos
📚 RESOURCES
├── #learning — Tutorials, courses
└── #tools — Useful tools and libraries
Slack Channel Template
# welcome
# announcements (admin-only)
# general
# help
# random (off-topic)
# jobs (optional)
# introductions
# feedback
Channel Guidelines
Channel Type
Posting Rules
Moderation Level
Announcements
Admin only
N/A
General
On-topic discussion
Light
Help
Questions welcome, be patient
Medium
Off-topic
Anything goes (within CoC)
Light
Jobs
Structured format required
Heavy
Introductions
One post per person
Light
Onboarding Experience
New Member Journey
Join Server
↓
Welcome Message (DM or public)
↓
Read Rules / Accept
↓
Verify (optional: GitHub, email)
↓
Introduce Yourself
↓
First Interaction
↓
Regular Member
Welcome Message Template
Discord DM:
Welcome to [Community Name]! 👋
Here's how to get started:
1. Read the rules in #rules
2. Introduce yourself in #introductions
3. Ask questions in #help — we're friendly!
Quick links:
• Documentation: [link]
• Getting started: [link]
• GitHub: [link]
We're glad you're here!
Public #welcome channel:
# Welcome to [Community Name]!
We're [brief description of who you are and what you do].
## Quick Start
1. **Read the rules** → #rules
2. **Introduce yourself** → #introductions
3. **Get help** → #help
4. **Chat with us** → #general
## Useful Links
- [Documentation]
- [GitHub]
- [Website]
## Questions?
Drop a message in #help or mention @moderators
Role Assignment
Role
How to Get
Permissions
New Member
Auto on join
Limited channels
Member
Verify or time-based
Full access
Contributor
PR merged, active helper
Badge, special channel
Moderator
Invited
Moderation powers
Admin
Core team
Full access
Engagement Programs
Discussion Prompts
Schedule regular engagement:
Day
Prompt Type
Example
Monday
This week's goals
"What are you working on this week?"
Wednesday
Technical question
"Controversial: Tabs or spaces?"
Friday
Show & Tell
"Share what you shipped this week"
Recognition Programs
Program
Description
Frequency
Contributor of the Month
Recognize top helpers
Monthly
First PR Celebration
Welcome new contributors
As happens
Milestone Badges
10/50/100 messages
Automatic
Expert Roles
Domain expertise recognition
Quarterly
Event Ideas
Event Type
Format
Effort
Office Hours
Live Q&A with team
Low
Show & Tell
Members demo projects
Low
Workshops
Teaching sessions
Medium
Hackathons
Build challenges
High
Game Night
Non-tech fun
Low
AMA Sessions
Guest experts
Medium
Engagement Metrics
Metric
What It Tells You
DAU/MAU
Daily vs monthly active users
Messages per user
Individual engagement depth
Questions answered
Community self-sufficiency
New member retention
Onboarding effectiveness
Event attendance
Program resonance
Handling Toxicity
Code of Conduct Essentials
# Code of Conduct
## Our Standards
**Do:**- Be respectful and inclusive
- Help others learn (no "RTFM")
- Assume good intentions
- Give constructive feedback
- Report problems, don't engage
**Don't:**- Personal attacks or harassment
- Discrimination of any kind
- Spam or self-promotion
- NSFW content
- Doxxing or privacy violations
- Bad faith arguments
## Enforcement
1.**Warning** — First offense, good faith
2.**Temp mute** — Repeated issues
3.**Temp ban** — Serious violations
4.**Permanent ban** — Egregious or repeated
## Reporting
DM any @moderator or use the report feature.
All reports are confidential.
Moderation Playbook
Situation
Response
Heated debate
"Let's keep this constructive. Both perspectives have merit."
Help vampire
"Here's a guide on asking good questions: [link]"
Self-promotion spam
Delete, warn, or ban depending on frequency
Off-topic drift
"Great discussion! Let's move this to #off-topic"
Harassment
Immediate mute, investigate, likely ban
Bad faith troll
Don't engage publicly, ban quietly
De-escalation Techniques
Acknowledge feelings — "I can see this is frustrating"
Move to DM — "Let's continue this privately"
Take a break — "Let's pause and revisit tomorrow"
Clarify intent — "I think there might be a misunderstanding"
Set boundaries — "We're here to help, but not to be yelled at"
Monitor community mentions across GitHub, Twitter, Reddit. Find where your community members talk about you. Track sentiment. Discover community content to amplify.
Commsor
Community operations platform
Notion
Community wiki and resources
Luma
Event management
StreamYard/Restream
Live event streaming
Related Skills
developer-audience-context — Know your community members
open-source-marketing — OSS community building
developer-advocacy — Personal brand in community
developer-newsletter — Community digest content
Limitations
Use this skill only when the task clearly matches its upstream source and local project context.
Verify commands, generated code, dependencies, credentials, and external service behavior before applying changes.
Do not treat examples as a substitute for environment-specific tests, security review, or user approval for destructive or costly actions.
