launch-sequence

name	launch-sequence
description	Use when the user wants to plan and execute a multi-platform launch. Triggers: "launch plan", "launch sequence", "launch checklist", "multi-platform launch", "coordinate launch", "launch timeline".

Read .agents/content-context.md first (if it exists).

Purpose

Orchestrate a multi-platform launch across three tiers: a short spike, community seeding, and long-tail distribution. Each tier has different mechanics, timing, and content formats.

Three-Tier Framework

Tier	Channels	Window	Goal
Spike	Product Hunt, Show HN, BetaList	24–72 h	Burst visibility, initial users
Community	IndieHackers, Reddit, Twitter #buildinpublic	Weeks 1–4	Qualified audience, trust
Long-tail	dev.to / Hashnode, directories, awesome-* lists	Months–years	Compounding organic traffic

Do not treat all three tiers as simultaneous. Spike content burns fast; long-tail content compounds slowly.

Recommended Timeline

Day	Action
-14	Publish teaser on Twitter/Bluesky, open waitlist, start IH presence
-7	"I'm building X" post on IndieHackers, Reddit r/SideProject
-3	BetaList submission (7-day lead time); finalize PH assets (social preview, maker comment)
0	Product Hunt at 12:01 AM PST; Show HN at 8–10 AM PT (same day or next)
+1	Reply to all PH and HN comments; post Twitter/Bluesky launch thread
+3	"I built X" article on dev.to / Hashnode (link back to PH/HN threads)
+7	Post-mortem / lessons-learned post on IndieHackers with real numbers
+14	Submit to directories (BetaPage, Uneed, Lobste.rs, etc.)
+28	Submit to awesome-* lists; write SEO-targeted follow-up article

Per-Platform Checklist

Product Hunt

• Social preview image (1200×630 px)
• Tagline ≤60 chars, no superlatives
• Maker comment drafted (≤800 chars)
• 300+ waitlist / supporters ready to upvote at launch

Show HN

• Thing is live and runnable (Show HN rejects pure announcements)
• Title ≤80 chars, plain English
• First comment written and ready to paste within 5 min of submission

IndieHackers

• 90+ days of community participation before launch post
• Real numbers (revenue, users, growth)
• 750–1,500 words, includes failures

Reddit

• Correct subreddit tier identified (permissive / cautious / Showoff Saturday)
• Link goes in first comment, not post body
• War-story framing, not announcement framing

dev.to / Hashnode

• canonical_url set to own domain
• Published on own domain first
• Tags relevant and within platform limits

GitHub

• Social preview image set (1280×640 px)
• Up to 20 tags applied
• GitHub Release with full changelog published

Process

1. Ask: What are you launching? (product, feature, version — include URL if live)
2. Ask: Which tiers? (Spike only, Community only, Full sequence)
3. Ask: Launch date (to back-calculate the timeline).
4. Generate a timeline table customized to their dates.
5. For each platform in the plan, call the relevant skill:
   • Content drafts → launch-post skill
   • Social threads → social-thread skill
6. Track completion: update .content-ops-state.json with platform statuses.
7. After launch day: prompt for post-mortem numbers (PH rank, HN points, signups) to feed the IH lessons post.

Notes

• Never post Spike content and Community content on the same day — pace it
• IH and Reddit require community presence before the launch post pays off; start early
• Long-tail directories have cumulative value but low single-day impact — do not skip them
• Show HN and PH on the same day is high-risk (splits attention); 24 h apart is safer