Runs the community side of a software launch - the Show HN package (the title convention, the link-versus-text post decision, the author's first technical comment, and a criticism-response register) plus seeding etiquette for subreddits, Slack and Discord groups, and newsletters, each timed to its own community rhythm rather than the Product Hunt clock. Use when someone asks "how do we launch on Hacker News", "write our Show HN post and first comment", "which communities should we seed our launch in", "how do I respond to harsh comments on our launch post", or the launch plan names Hacker News or community channels and only the big-platform posts exist. Do NOT use for the X and LinkedIn announcements - use launch-thread-anatomy instead - or for the Product Hunt page itself - use product-hunt-launch instead; for ongoing community building beyond the launch window, use channel-strategy.
---
name: community-launch-mechanics
description: Runs the community side of a software launch - the Show HN package (the title convention, the link-versus-text post decision, the author's first technical comment, and a criticism-response register) plus seeding etiquette for subreddits, Slack and Discord groups, and newsletters, each timed to its own community rhythm rather than the Product Hunt clock. Use when someone asks "how do we launch on Hacker News", "write our Show HN post and first comment", "which communities should we seed our launch in", "how do I respond to harsh comments on our launch post", or the launch plan names Hacker News or community channels and only the big-platform posts exist. Do NOT use for the X and LinkedIn announcements - use launch-thread-anatomy instead - or for the Product Hunt page itself - use product-hunt-launch instead; for ongoing community building beyond the launch window, use channel-strategy.
---
# community-launch-mechanics
Communities convert better than feeds for developer and product-team tools - and they punish marketing register harder than any algorithm ever will. One superlative in a Show HN title or one undisclosed self-promotion in a subreddit burns the channel for the whole launch cycle, and often the account with it. This skill packages the technically-honest register each community rewards and the etiquette that keeps the team in good standing after launch day.
## Operating procedure
Run the steps in order. The Show HN package is built first because its register is the strictest and downgrades cleanly to every other community; seeding targets are mapped before any copy is written so each rendition answers a named community's rules; response choreography comes last because it operates on live comments.
### Step 1: Gather the inputs
Elicit these five inputs before drafting a word. If any input is a guess, label it a guess and move on.
1. **Charter**: Paste the charter block if one exists. If the client has a charter but the foundations pack is not installed, elicit the needed values directly and label them provisional. If no charter exists at all, halt and route to premium-design-foundations - never substitute worked-example values. Register and naming inherit from the charter.
2. **Story spine**: the locked five lines from launch-asset-orchestrator - problem, insight, demo, proof, ask. If the orchestrator was not run, elicit the five lines directly. Renditions restructure the spine; they never rewrite its facts.
3. **Technical substance**: what is genuinely interesting under the hood - the stack, the hardest problem, one design tradeoff. HN reads these, not benefit statements.
4. **Community roster**: the subreddits, Slack and Discord groups, and newsletters where someone on the team already participates, with the account name and a rough posting history. Ask for real standing - a community nobody on the team has ever posted in is an etiquette violation waiting to happen, not a channel.
5. **The rules**: each community's self-promotion policy - required disclosures, participation-to-promotion expectations, dedicated launch or show-and-tell threads.
### Step 2: Build the Show HN package