🇺🇸 Open-Source Marketing & GitHub Stars Growth System — Decision framework for each growth stage. Pre-launch readiness → Show HN / Reddit / Product Hunt launch → 6-month growth loop. README rules, KOL outreach, dev-content matrix (dev.to / Zenn), anti-star-farming. Built from taking AFFiNE 0 → 60K stars.
🇨🇳 开源营销与 GitHub Star 增长系统 — 每个增长阶段的决策框架。Pre-launch 就绪 → Show HN / Reddit / Product Hunt 发布 → 6 个月增长循环。README 规则、KOL 合作、开发者内容矩阵（dev.to / Zenn）、防刷 star。提炼自 AFFiNE 0 → 60K star 实战。
🇯🇵 オープンソースマーケティング＆GitHub スター成長システム — 各成長段階の意思決定フレームワーク。Pre-launch → Show HN / Reddit / Product Hunt → 6ヶ月成長ループ。READMEルール、KOL連携、開発者コンテンツマトリックス。
🇰🇷 오픈소스 마케팅 & GitHub 스타 성장 시스템 — 각 성장 단계별 의사결정 프레임워크. 사전 출시 → Show HN / Reddit / Product Hunt → 6개월 성장 루프. README 규칙, KOL 아웃리치, 개발자 콘텐츠 매트릭스.
Triggers: "open source marketing" | "GitHub stars" | "star growth" | "Show HN" | "Hacker News launch" | "OSS launch" | "developer marketing" | "Reddit launch" | "dev.to" | "open source growth" | "开源营销" | "GitHub star 增长" | "开源发布" | "Show HN 怎么发" | "开发者营销" | "オープンソース" | "오픈소스 성장"
when_to_use
Use this skill when you need to: launch an open-source project (Show HN / Reddit / Product
Hunt), grow GitHub stars from 0 to 1K in 72 hours, set up README for developer conversion,
run KOL outreach for dev tools, or build a 6-month OSS growth loop.
Trigger phrases: "open source launch" | "GitHub stars" | "Show HN" | "OSS marketing" |
"开源发布" | "GitHub star增长" | "开源营销" | "开发者营销" | "오픈소스 성장"
Open-Source Marketing — GitHub Stars Growth System
Stars don't come from a great repo — they come from a great repo placed in front of the right developers, in the right order. This is the staged decision framework used to take AFFiNE from 0 to 60K stars.
English Version
The 3-stage framework
Stage 1 — Pre-launch (T-30 → T-0)
README in English-first; the first screen must be understandable in <3 seconds.
No single country/region should exceed 20% of your total stars.
Global healthy split reference: China 19-21%, US 19-21%, rest scattered across Europe / Russia / Canada / Indonesia.
Tools: star-history.com (trend chart) · oss.cool / OSS Insight (per-country breakdown, built by Chinese devs)
Launch sequence: Week 1 → overseas-only outreach. Week 2 → domestic (Chinese) outreach. Reversing this breaks the distribution and kills Trending eligibility.
AFFiNE real case: deliberately skipped WeChat Moments / Chinese community posts in week 1.
README essentials (conversion checklist)
Structure: big logo → one-liner → badges → short description (reference: Dify, Lobechat, AFFiNE).
≤ 8 screens — dev docs go in a separate link, not inline.
Add a "⭐ star reminder" GIF (same psychology as Bilibili "like / coin / collect" prompt — users need a nudge).
Backlinks loop: every outbound link (website, blog, docs) must have a visible GitHub link back. Don't let traffic escape with no return path.
PR article strategy
Publish one authoritative article (official blog / Medium / dev.to) that fully explains the project's value.
Purpose: give anyone who wants to spread your project a ready-made script. They will use it without asking.
AFFiNE case: a German user independently posted to 40+ forums with no prior contact — only possible because a clear reference article existed.
Competitor follower DMs
DM followers of your top competitors on Twitter/X (Notion, Miro, etc.).
Real benchmark: ~hundreds of DMs → ~hundreds of star conversions.
Target: users who actively complain about the competitor — they already have switching intent.
Channel order that works
English > multilingual > Chinese-only. Unless your target is Chinese users, launching an English project to Chinese communities first wastes your best shot.
Anti-patterns (the things that get you un-discovered)
❌ Farming stars — GitHub detects it fast; the penalty is disappearing from search.
❌ Posting to Reddit once and leaving — communities resent it; high ban risk.
❌ Too many emojis / badges in the README — lowers credibility.
❌ Treating Show HN as a one-shot — engage every comment for the full day.
What to do next
Stage 1 done → run the Product Hunt launch sequence.
Show HN succeeds → add SEO monitoring on "<project> github".
Need a content engine → move to the blog-writing workflow.
Spotted a competitor's new play → run a competitor teardown.
