open-source-marketing

Market OSS projects without being cringe.

What It Does

Guides you through marketing open source projects authentically. Covers GitHub optimization, community building, contributor experience, launch strategies, and sustainable growth.

When to Use

Launching an open source project
Growing an existing OSS project
Improving contributor experience
When you say "open source marketing," "promote my library," "grow stars," or "launch open source"

Quick Start

/open-source-marketing

I'm launching an open source React component library.
Target: React developers who need accessible UI components.
Goal: Get first 100 stars and 5 contributors.

The skill will:

Load your developer audience context
Optimize your GitHub presence
Plan your launch strategy
Build contributor experience
Create sustainable growth tactics

Key Frameworks

The Growth Equation

Growth = (Real value) x (Discoverability) x (First-use experience)

README Structure

One-line description
Badges (build, version, license)
Visual (GIF > Screenshot > Nothing)
Why this project? (3 benefits)
Quick start (<5 lines)
Installation, Usage, Docs, Contributing

Launch Day Timeline

Time	Action
Morning	Hacker News (6-8am PT, Tue-Thu)
+1 hour	Twitter thread
+2 hours	Reddit to relevant subs
All day	Respond to everything

Contributor Funnel

User → Star → Issue → PR → Regular Contributor → Maintainer

Files

File	Description
`SKILL.md`	Full skill instructions

Included Guidance

README optimization checklist
Issue/PR templates
CONTRIBUTING.md template
Launch playbook
Sustainable growth tactics
Burnout prevention

What Works vs. Doesn't

Works	Doesn't Work
Building in public	Spamming "check out my project"
Great docs and DX	"Code is self-documenting"
Celebrating contributors	Taking sole credit
Consistent presence	Launch and disappear

Tools

Octolens — Monitor project mentions across platforms
Star History — Track star growth
npm-stat — Download statistics
All Contributors — Recognize contributors

developer-audience-context — Know your users
community-building — Discord/Slack community
developer-advocacy — Talks, podcasts

README.md