HN Explorer

Ask HN: What's the best (non-spammy) way to promote an open source tool?

38 points by zevir ↗ HN
I have an open source CLI tool for provisioning preview environments. I want to get it in front of relevant developers. What are the most effective methods for doing this? Thank you!

21 comments

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evolve2k
Share it here. Seriously, prepare a Show HN post and give enough info on what it is and why people might want to use it.
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tabtab
Make a website showing several realistic scenarios of it doing helpful things, and document it well.
cozzyd
I wish freshmeat was still a thing! Is there a replacement?
teleforce
+1 for this.

Still fondly remember using the venerable freshmeat website to window shopping online for open source software.

tester457
Share it on relevant subreddits and make a gif out how to use it with https://github.com/charmbracelet/vhs

Projects with gifs on reddit get more attention.

Example: https://www.reddit.com/r/unixporn/comments/z0zm8x/oc_nap_a_c...

binwiederhier
I agree with this one. I have a niche open source project (ntfy) that is somewhat popular in its space, and my promotion so far has been almost exclusively in the r/selfhosted subreddit. It is very very tricky to find a subreddit that will even accept self-promotion, though, and you will always walk the line.

My strategy has always been to be humble, be kind, respect the subreddit rules, and only promote if you have something actually valuable to share (new features, relevant things). And then only one per month or so.

And, as OC said, posts with screenshots or GIFs do so much better.

Madeindjs
I'm a Ntfy user and I really love this tool! Thank you so much for your work
TigerTeamX
That's very meta. Explaining how to promote open source software by promoting some open source software. I like it
pharmakom
Be wary asking this. People may state how they prefer to be contacted / promoted to, but this may not align with what is actually effective.
hammyhavoc
Good projects don't need promotion. Unless you're looking to monetize it, surely the reward is creating the solution you needed?
ishvanl
Yes, but where would the world be if people didn't share things with each other?
e_zr
But feedback is important, and we'd love to get it to more relevant people who can benefit from it!
x7ci
Good projects need to be known. As a developer, you still come across new tools that you wish you knew earlier.