Developer platforms are the communities, registries and marketplaces where engineers find tools, libraries and APIs. You publish here so developers can find, install and discuss your tool, and it works best when they can try it in minutes.
Places listed
21
Verified dofollow
4
Nofollow or ugc
12
4 had no link and 1 is not checked yet.
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Get the Launch Kit
Every row on this page in one tracker, plus a 30-day calendar that says what to do each day.
Tracker: The Launch Tracker spreadsheet
Calendar: The 30-day launch calendar
Templates: The Submission Kit templates
40 checks: The 40-point pre-launch checklist
300+ websites shipped, clients in 4 countries
Who this is for
Developer tools
APIs and SDKs
DevOps tools
Technical SaaS platforms
What to expect
Developer awareness
Technical feedback
Installs and stars from real users
Integration requests
The short answer
Where should you promote a developer tool?
Put it where developers already look for code (a public GitHub repo, a package on npm or PyPI, and a Show HN post they can try), then write a build article on DEV Community. Below are all 21, with each platform's rules and link type.
01Before you submit
Read the rules before you post
When to use it: When developers use your product. Publish the repo and packages while you build, and write about the launch where developers read.
Show HN is for something people can try. Hacker News lists landing pages, sign-up pages, newsletters and fundraisers as off topic, and new versions of an existing product usually do not qualify. Source: news.ycombinator.com (opens in a new tab)
npm and PyPI have no listing form. You publish a package from the command line, and the package page links to your homepage with nofollow. Source: docs.npmjs.com (opens in a new tab)
Status, submitted date, listing URL and the link type you got, for every row above.
The Launch Tracker spreadsheet
The 30-day launch calendar
The Submission Kit templates
The 40-point pre-launch checklist
03Field notes
How to work this list
Do first
01GitHub: a public repo whose README shows the install command and a working example on the first screen. Repo links are nofollow.
02npm or PyPI: publish the SDK or CLI so developers can install it by name.
03Hacker News (Show HN): post once people can try the tool, without a signup where you can manage it.
04DEV Community: write a build log or launch article. Links in the article body were followed in our check.
05StackShare: claim your tool's existing page for free. There is no form to add a new tool.
Skip or defer
Stack Overflow for promotion: answer questions instead, and say you built the tool.
Reddit r/programming for a launch post: promotion there is heavily moderated.
Reddit r/learnprogramming unless the tool is educational.
CodePen and JSFiddle unless you ship a front-end demo. There is no product link.
RapidAPI Hub until you confirm the provider path: the old docs page for adding an API returns 404.
How to write the listing here
Write the README before the launch post. The first screen covers what the tool does in one line, the install command, a minimal working example and a GIF or screenshot of the output. On DEV Community or Hashnode, write about a problem you solved while building, with code, and link the repo at the end. On Show HN, use the first comment to say what you built and why.
When in the sequence
Repo and packages from the idea and building stages. The build article on DEV Community or Hashnode at T+1 to T+3, along with Show HN if it did not go out on T0. StackShare and GitHub Marketplace after launch.
Where they already work: GitHub, package registries like npm and PyPI, Hacker News, DEV Community and a few subreddits. GitHub, GitHub Trending, npm, PyPI and Stack Overflow carry our highest traffic rating, and none of them has a submit form. You show up there by publishing code people use.
Not with promotional posts. Answer questions your tool solves, say you built it, and write an answer that works without the tool. New answer links were nofollow in our check, so the value is the answer itself.
No. You cannot submit to it. It is an algorithmic list driven by how fast a repo gains stars, so it follows a launch that went well somewhere else. Trending rows link only to the repo page on GitHub, and the repo's website link is nofollow.
We have not measured it, so here is what Hacker News asks for. Show HN is for something you made that people can try, that you worked on yourself and are around to discuss. Make it easy to try, ideally without a signup or an email. Blog posts, sign-up pages and landing pages are off topic. New Show HN links were nofollow in our check.
