Description

When the user wants to promote via forums, communities, or invite users to join a community. Also use when the user mentions "forum promotion," "Indie Hacker...

README (SKILL.md)

Channels: Community & Forum Promotion

Name: community-forum
Author: kostja94

Guides forum promotion, community invitation, and vertical community marketing. Community-led growth (CLG) costs ~90% less than paid acquisition with ~3.2x higher customer LTV. Indie Hackers delivers ~23% conversion vs Product Hunt ~3%; HN and Reddit require sustained engagement. For cold start planning (first users, launch channels), see cold-start-strategy. For indie hacker strategy (first 100 users, Build in Public content framework, Indie Hackers tactics), see indie-hacker-strategy.

When invoking: On first use, if helpful, open with 1-2 sentences on what this skill covers and why it matters, then provide the main output. On subsequent use or when the user asks to skip, go directly to the main output.

Initial Assessment

Check for project context first: If .claude/project-context.md or .cursor/project-context.md exists, read it for product, audience, and brand voice.

Identify:

Goal: Leads, community growth, brand awareness
Platform fit: Indie Hacker, HN, Reddit, Discord, vertical forums
Timeline: One-time launch vs sustained (4-6 months for Indie Hackers)

Forum Types

Platform	Audience	Use
Indie Hacker	Indie makers, founders	Sustained engagement; authentic journey posts; ~23% conversion vs PH 3%
Hacker News	Tech, startups	Show HN launch; ~1,300 posts/day; front page = luck + timing
Hackernoon	Dev, tech readers	Content distribution
Industry forums	Niche verticals	Discount codes for leads; search "[industry] forum"; post event/activity promotion; see discount-marketing-strategy for code strategy
Reddit	Subreddit-specific	See reddit-posts; 90/10 rule; 29+ posts for traction

Hacker News Launch

Practice	Guideline
Title	"Show HN: [Product] - [specific problem solved]"; honest, no clickbait
Timing	Tue-Thu; peak US hours; avoid weekends, Mon, Fri
First comment	Invitation to engage; product status (beta/MVP); differentiated solution; try-it link
Assets	Live demo, GIFs, screenshots, 30-60s demo video
Expectation	Traffic spike, not sustained growth; partly luck-dependent

Indie Hackers Best Practices

Sustained engagement: 4–6 months; not a one-time launch
Content: Authentic journey posts; product "sprinkled within"; avoid heavy promotion
Result: ~23% conversion vs Product Hunt ~3%; organic traffic from authentic sharing

For full Indie Hackers tactics, Build in Public content framework (40/30/20/10), first 100 users → indie-hacker-strategy.

Community Invitation Tactics

Channel	Method
Welcome email	Post-signup automation; 4x open, 5x CTR vs regular campaigns
Homepage CTA	Button, popup, banner; above-the-fold upgrade CTA
In-site placement	High-visibility areas; user-focused sections (e.g. dashboard, settings)
Banner	Homepage, carousel below hero
Registration emails	Success/confirmation email with community link
EDM campaign	Newsletter + banner, interview-for-membership
Discord	Post event/community info; founder engagement 2-3h/day
Vertical forums	Search "[industry] forum"; post event/activity promotion
Post-login form	In-app signup form shown after login; high-intent placement

Welcome email best practices: One clear CTA per email; front-load value in subject; personalize (signup source, interests); link to best content, events; ask questions (~75% reply rate). Automated 2-4 email sequence.

Vertical Community Channels

Principle	Guideline
Target	Find channels where target audience gathers
Niche over broad	Industry-specific subgroups; avoid mass posting
Caution	Mass posting risks removal; match community tone; choose wording carefully
Examples	Reddit subreddits, Discord servers, Quora, X, Hacker News, Stack Overflow, niche B2B communities
Regional	Large communities by locale—event/activity promotion; target vertical channels within each; see localization-strategy

Community-led growth: Engage before promoting; build trust; contribute value first.

Natural Traffic (Complementary)

Channel	Use
Hashtags	Social tag optimization
Facebook groups	Indirect referral
Giveaways	Attention and conversion

Brand Basics (Encyclopedia, Q&A)

Platform	Use
Wikipedia	Global; neutral, cited content; brand credibility
Quora	Q&A; brand discussion, thought leadership, long-term SEO
Stack Overflow	Tech/dev; expertise signals, backlinks
Regional	Local encyclopedias and Q&A by locale; verified credentials; see localization-strategy

Wikipedia: Neutral language, credible references, no promotional content. Regional platforms require verified credentials; prioritize local search share. Free and sustainable; supports long-term conversion while search habits persist.

Output Format

Forum selection and approach (HN vs IH vs industry)
Community invitation plan (welcome email, CTA, banner, EDM, Discord)
Vertical channel targeting
Content strategy (authentic vs promotional mix)
Timeline (launch vs sustained)

Related Skills

reddit-posts: Reddit post copy, subreddit rules
cold-start-strategy: Cold start orchestrates Product Hunt, Reddit, Indie Hackers, directories; this skill handles forum/community tactics
indie-hacker-strategy: Indie hacker first 100 users; Build in Public; Indie Hackers tactics; this skill = forum/community tactics; indie-hacker = strategy + context
directory-submission: Product Hunt, Taaft; different from forum community
affiliate-marketing: Communities as recruitment channel
top-banner-generator, popup-generator: Homepage CTA, banner
newsletter-signup-generator: EDM, welcome email
localization-strategy: Regional markets (local platforms by locale)

Usage Guidance

This skill appears to do what it says (forum/community promotion) and has no install or credential demands — good. Before installing, review the SKILL.md and confirm you're comfortable with the agent reading project-context files (.claude/project-context.md or .cursor/project-context.md) from your workspace. Those files can contain sensitive or proprietary information; if you keep secrets or credentials in your project files, remove them or prevent the agent from accessing those paths. Because the skill can be invoked autonomously, consider disabling autonomous invocation or only enabling the skill when you explicitly request forum-promotion actions. If you want stronger guarantees, ask the skill author to declare required config paths and/or to make file reads explicit in the manifest.

Capability Analysis

Type: OpenClaw Skill Name: community-forum Version: 1.1.0 The skill bundle provides legitimate marketing and community growth strategies for platforms like Hacker News, Reddit, and Indie Hackers. It contains no executable code, suspicious network calls, or instructions that would lead to data exfiltration or unauthorized access, primarily serving as a structured knowledge base for an AI agent (SKILL.md).

Capability Assessment

✓ Purpose & Capability

Name, description, and the SKILL.md content consistently describe community/forum promotion, platform-specific tactics (HN, Indie Hackers, Reddit, Discord, vertical forums), and related outputs. There are no unrelated credential or binary requirements.

⚠ Instruction Scope

The runtime instructions explicitly tell the agent to 'Check for project context first' and to read .claude/project-context.md or .cursor/project-context.md if present. Those file reads are not listed in the skill's declared requirements/config paths. Reading workspace files is a legitimate way to get context, but the skill should declare that behavior so users know what will be accessed.

✓ Install Mechanism

Instruction-only skill with no install spec and no code files. This minimizes supply-chain and disk-write risk.

ℹ Credentials

The skill requests no environment variables or credentials — appropriate for its purpose. However, it asks to read project-context files (undisclosed in requires.config paths), which could contain sensitive tokens or proprietary info depending on the user's workspace.

ℹ Persistence & Privilege

always is false and the skill is user-invocable. The skill can be invoked autonomously (platform default). That autonomous capability combined with the undisclosed file-read behavior increases the privacy blast radius: the agent might access workspace context without the user explicitly expecting it.

Version History

v1.1.0

Automated batch sync

Metadata

Slug community-forum

Version 1.1.0

License MIT-0

All-time Installs 1

Active Installs 1

Total Versions 1

Frequently Asked Questions

What is community-forum?

When the user wants to promote via forums, communities, or invite users to join a community. Also use when the user mentions "forum promotion," "Indie Hacker... It is an AI Agent Skill for Claude Code / OpenClaw, with 218 downloads so far.

How do I install community-forum?

Run "/install community-forum" in the OpenClaw or Claude Code chat to install it in one step — no extra setup required.

Is community-forum free?

Yes, community-forum is completely free, licensed under MIT-0. You can download, install and use it at no cost.

Which platforms does community-forum support?

community-forum is cross-platform and runs anywhere OpenClaw / Claude Code is available (cross-platform).

Who created community-forum?

It is built and maintained by Kostja Zhang (@kostja94); the current version is v1.1.0.

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