Build a Hacker News + Reddit launch playbook for developer-tools and community-led products during PRD v0.9 Go-to-Market. Triggers on requests to plan HN/Reddit launch, "Show HN" post, community launch, or when user asks "HN launch", "Show HN", "Reddit launch", "launch on /r/SaaS", "Product Hunt vs HN", "community launch", "developer launch". Outputs GTM-* with Type=Channel-HN / Type=Channel-Reddit entries with timing, title, story angle, and engagement plan.
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Review the instructions the agent will receive before you install.
Position in workflow: v0.9 Launch Channels (ORB) → v0.9 HN + Reddit Launch → v0.9 Launch Metrics
Default is standard. See .claude/rules/08-skill-execution-modes.md for selection logic.
| Mode | What this skill produces |
|---|---|
| quick | Single Show HN post draft; title; first 4-hour engagement plan |
| standard | HN post + 2 Reddit cross-posts; story angle decision; comment-engagement rules; non-launch follow-up wave |
| deep | HN + 3–5 Reddit subreddits + Lobsters + Indie Hackers; pre-launch warm-up posts; subreddit-specific tone variants; AMA scheduling |
Produces a launch playbook for Hacker News and Reddit — two channels where developer-tool, technical, and community-friendly products win launches if executed well and lose them silently if executed badly. Both platforms reward authenticity, technical depth, and founder presence; both punish marketing-speak, top-of-funnel sales tactics, and absent founders.
This is a channel-execution skill. It assumes the ORB channel mix already includes HN/Reddit; it doesn't second-guess that choice. If positioning best-fit doesn't live on these platforms, this skill should not run.
Developer tool launching. Best-fit = solo developers + small dev teams. ORB matrix has HN as the primary Borrowed channel.
Story angle: "Show HN" — product is self-evident; demo is the hook.
Title: Show HN: [Product] – Type-safe contracts between your frontend and backend
Timing: Tuesday 9:00 AM PT. Founder cleared calendar for the next 4 hours.
Post body (HN expects substance):
Hi HN — I built this because I spent 2 years debugging "frontend says string, backend says number" issues at my last job.
[Product] generates type-safe API clients from your OpenAPI spec. It works with TypeScript, Python, Go, and Rust.
Tech stack: [...]
Some things that worked and didn't: [...]
Free for individuals; paid for teams. Source is on GitHub: [link].
Happy to answer questions.
First 4 hours: Founder watches Show HN ranking. Responds substantively to every technical question. Doesn't engage with off-topic critique. Posts updates if relevant.
Reddit cross-post: 24 hours later, post to /r/programming (technical), /r/typescript (community), /r/SaaS (founder story). Each with a subreddit-tuned title and intro.
Follow-up wave (Day 30): "Building [Product]: 30 days after launch" — retrospective post.
| Trigger | Mode |
|---|---|
| Developer-tool launch | standard |
| Open-source release | standard |
| Indie / bootstrapped product launch (story angle) | standard |
| B2B SaaS with technical buyer | quick (just HN; skip Reddit) |
| Big technical decision worth a writeup ("how we migrated to X") | quick (one HN post, no Reddit) |
| Enterprise / non-technical buyer | do not use |
| Regulated category (medical, financial) | do not use without legal review |
GTM-XXX: Channel — Hacker News Launch
Type: Channel-HN
Layer: Borrowed
Owner: Founder (must be founder, not marketing)
Status: [Planned | Active]
Story angle: [Show HN | Ask HN | Story | Open source | Technical writeup]
Title: "[Exact title — no marketing words]"
Timing: [Day + hour, with rationale]
Post body:
[Full body — what HN expects: substance, tech detail, honest tradeoffs]
CTA: [Free tier link | GitHub link | Beta signup link]
Founder presence:
- Watch ranking for first 4 hours (block calendar)
- Respond to every substantive comment
- Update post if relevant
- No "thanks!" replies — engage with the argument
Failure modes to avoid:
- Marketing language in title
- Absent founder
- "Buy now" CTA (HN punishes)
- Astroturf upvotes (HN detects, instantly bans)
Linked IDs: GTM-YYY (positioning), GTM-ZZZ (offer), PER-AAA (best-fit), KPI-BBB (HN→signup target)
GTM-XXX: Channel — Reddit /r/<subreddit>
Type: Channel-Reddit
Layer: Borrowed
Owner: Founder
Subreddit: /r/<name>
Status: [Planned | Active]
Subreddit norms:
- Tone: [Pinned-rules summary]
- Self-promotion rule: [Subreddit's specific rule]
- Peak posting time: [Day + hour]
- Banned formats: [e.g., no link posts, no images-only]
Title: "[Subreddit-tuned title]"
Body: [Tuned to subreddit tone]
CTA: [Whatever the subreddit allows]
Founder presence: Same as HN — engage substantively for first 4 hours
Linked IDs: GTM-YYY (positioning), PER-AAA (best-fit)
| Pattern | Signal | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Marketing title | "Revolutionary AI-powered X" on HN | Rewrite as factual; HN strips marketing |
| Absent founder | Post goes up; founder is in a meeting | If you can't be present 4 hours, postpone the launch |
| "Thanks!" replies | Comment thread is full of "Thanks for the kind words!" | Engage with the argument or don't reply |
| Astroturfing upvotes | Asking team/friends to upvote | HN and Reddit detect coordinated voting; instant ban |
| Cross-posting too fast | Same post to 5 subreddits in 10 minutes | Stagger by 24+ hours; each post is rewritten for the subreddit |
| Ignoring subreddit rules | Banned within an hour of posting | Read the pinned rules; some subreddits ban self-promotion entirely |
| No follow-up wave | Launch spikes traffic, then silence | Plan 30/60-day return posts before launch day |
| Wrong product / wrong channel | Enterprise procurement product on /r/programming | Re-check positioning; HN/Reddit doesn't fit every product |
Before launch day:
| Consumer | What it uses | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Launch Channels (ORB) | Each HN/Reddit post is a Borrowed-channel entry | Rolls into channel-mix matrix |
| Launch Metrics | Per-post attribution → KPI-HN-signups, KPI-Reddit-signups | UTM-tagged links per post |
| Feedback Loop Setup | Comments become CFD- feedback entries | Top-voted comment thread → CFD- pattern |
| v0.9 Case Study Builder (v1.0) | High-engagement HN/Reddit launches → case study | "How we got 800 upvotes on Show HN" |
| v0.9 AEO Audit | HN/Reddit threads become AI-citation sources | Hi-rank threads → AEO inclusion |
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Validates gate criteria before PRD lifecycle advancement by delegating to the readiness scoring pipeline (scripts/readiness.py). Returns a graduated PASS / WARN / BLOCK verdict with top blockers and their causal chain. Triggers before advancing from v0.X to v0.Y or explicit `/ghm-gate-check`.
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Extracts durable insights from temp/ files to SoT during EPIC Phase E. Triggers at EPIC completion or explicit `/ghm-harvest` invocation. Outputs new SoT entries and archive manifest.
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Validates and registers new SoT IDs with cross-reference integrity. Triggers when creating BR-XXX, UJ-XXX, API-XXX, or CFD-XXX entries. Outputs formatted SoT entry with validated cross-references.
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Install the PRD-Driven Context Engineering methodology into a fresh OR existing repository — the subscription-native alternative to forking the whole repo. Runs an interactive wizard that seeds the framework (.claude/ hooks, skills, agents, rules, scripts) without clobbering product content. Triggers on "install the methodology", "adopt this into my repo", "self-install", "set up PRD lifecycle here", "onboard existing project". Outputs an installed framework + a verification report.
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Creates new Source of Truth (SoT) files when existing templates don't fit your needs. Triggers on requests to create a new SoT file, add a new artifact type, or when user says "I need to track [X] but there's no SoT for it", "create SoT", "new source of truth". Outputs a properly structured SoT.*.md file with ID prefix, frontmatter, and update protocol.
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Synchronizes README.md Command Center with current project state. Triggers on gate changes, EPIC status changes, or explicit `/ghm-status-sync` invocation. Outputs updated README.md dashboard with current lifecycle stage, blockers, and metrics.
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