Building Developer Communities

Create thriving developer communities that grow organically and deliver value.

Skill Contract

Parameters

parameters:
  required:
    - community_goal: string
    - target_platform: enum[discord, slack, github, discourse]
  optional:
    - initial_size_target: integer
    - budget: float

Output

output:
  launch_plan:
    strategy: markdown
    channel_structure: array[Channel]
    success_metrics: object

Community Lifecycle

Planning → Launch → Growth → Maturity → Scale
    ↓        ↓        ↓         ↓         ↓
 Strategy  Seed    Engage   Programs  Leaders
           Users   Content  Champions Autonomy

Platform Selection

Launch Strategy

Pre-Launch (4-8 weeks)

1. Define community purpose and values
2. Choose platform and set up structure
3. Create welcome content and guidelines
4. Recruit 20-50 founding members
5. Seed initial conversations

Launch Week

1. Announce across channels
2. Host welcome event (AMA, office hours)
3. Personally welcome every new member
4. Start daily engagement cadence
5. Gather early feedback

Growth Tactics by Stage

Engagement Programs

• Welcome Flow: Onboarding for new members
• Recognition: Badges, roles, shoutouts
• Champions: Ambassador program
• Events: Office hours, AMAs, hackathons
• Content: Member spotlights, tutorials

Retry Logic

retry_patterns:
  low_engagement:
    strategy: "Personal outreach to top 20 members"
    escalation: "AMA or exclusive event"

  member_churn:
    strategy: "Exit survey, re-engagement campaign"

  toxic_behavior:
    strategy: "Private warning, then public reminder"

Failure Modes & Recovery

Debug Checklist

□ Community purpose clearly stated?
□ Platform analytics configured?
□ Code of conduct visible?
□ Welcome message set up?
□ Initial content seeded?
□ Moderator coverage scheduled?
□ Recognition system active?

Test Template

test_community_building:
  unit_tests:
    - test_onboarding_flow:
        assert: "Welcome message within 1 min"

  integration_tests:
    - test_member_journey:
        assert: "First post → Reply within 24h"

Success Metrics

Observability

metrics:
  - total_members: integer
  - mau: integer
  - messages_per_day: integer
  - response_time_avg: duration

See assets/ for community templates.