notslop-write-show-hn-post

name	notslop-write-show-hn-post
description	Use when the user wants to write a Show HN launch post for a new project / tool / library / SaaS. Pulls the room temperature of recent successful Show HN posts in the same niche to ground tone + format. Produces a title (<80 chars) and a body that includes problem, what-it-does, stack, demo URL, repo URL.

Providers required

Capability	Required	Providers (BYOK)	Setup	Cost
Pull social signal (Reddit/HN/blogs)	yes	built-in, no key needed	—	free
Rerank by relevance	yes	ZeroEntropy zerank-2	PROVIDERS.md#zeroentropy-rerank--embed	free tier OK
Embed for cross-source dedup	yes	ZeroEntropy zembed-1	PROVIDERS.md#zeroentropy-rerank--embed	free tier OK
Scrape X posts	no	—	—	—

When to use this skill

• "Write me a Show HN post for X"
• "Help me launch on Hacker News"
• "Draft a Show HN for my "
• The user mentions Hacker News, Show HN, or HN launch.

For ProductHunt launches, use notslop-write-product-hunt-launch instead. For README hero copy, use notslop-write-readme-pitch.

Setup

notslop init configured. ZeroEntropy key set.

Steps

1. Ask the user (if not already provided):

   • Project name
   • What it does in 1 sentence
   • Demo URL
   • Repo URL
   • Stack (language / framework / key dependencies)
   • Target niche / topic (e.g. "developer tools", "LLM agents", "Postgres")

2. Read the room. Pull recent Show HN posts in the same niche:

   notslop digest "show hn <niche>" --since 7d --top 10 --for-content
   

   Read carefully — note what titles got traction, what tone landed, what people in this niche actually care about, what skepticism shows up in comments.

3. Optional but recommended — find semantically similar recent launches:

   notslop find-related "<user's 1-sentence pitch>" --top 5
   

4. Write the post.

   Title (<80 chars, no emojis):

   Show HN: <Name> – <one-line value prop>
   

   Body (markdown, ~200-400 words):

   • Paragraph 1 (1-2 lines): the problem you hit. Concrete, first-person.
   • Paragraph 2 (1-2 lines): what the project does + the technical choice that matters (mention the stack and why).
   • Paragraph 3 (1-2 lines): demo URL + repo URL + license.
   • Closing: what kind of feedback you're hoping to get. One specific question, not "what do you think?". E.g. "I'm especially curious whether the holds up at ."

5. Show the draft. Provide 2-3 title variants below it.

Output format

Print:

1. The chosen title.
2. The body (markdown).
3. 2-3 alternate titles.
4. 2-3 reference points from the digest you grounded in (1 line each, with URL).

Constraints

• No emojis. No "🚀". No "Excited to share".
• No hashtags.
• No "the future of X", "rapidly evolving landscape", "leverage", "robust", "seamless", "powerful".
• Don't oversell. HN punishes marketing tone — be matter-of-fact about what works and what doesn't yet.
• Reference at least one specific observation from the digest (e.g. "I noticed a lot of Show HN posts in this space talk about — I wanted to address ").
• If the project is paid / has a paid tier, say so upfront and explain the free tier explicitly.
• Title format must start with Show HN: followed by the project name.