Gingiris Opensource

Open-Source Marketing — GitHub Stars Growth System

🌍 Language / 语言: English | 中文

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.

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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.
• [ ] Demo video ≤ 60s, captioned.
• [ ] License chosen deliberately (MIT / Apache-2 / AGPL each carry traps).
• [ ] 3–5 early maintainers / contributors lined up.
• [ ] Community channel live (Discord or Telegram, English-first).

Stage 2 — Launch (T-0 → T+14)

• [ ] Product Hunt (run the dedicated launch sequence).
• [ ] Hacker News Show HN — Tuesday 9am ET, or Saturday.
• [ ] Reddit — pick 3 relevant subs (r/selfhosted, r/programming, one niche tech sub).
• [ ] Deep technical posts on dev.to / Zenn / CSDN.
• [ ] 3–5 KOLs to amplify (activity > follower count).

Stage 3 — Growth (T+14 → T+180)

• [ ] One technical blog per week.
• [ ] Turn GitHub Issues into content (user questions → FAQ → posts).
• [ ] Monthly update (mailing list + Discord).
• [ ] Localize for going global (Japan/Korea first).

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.

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中文版

3 阶段框架

阶段 1 — Pre-launch（T-30 → T-0）

• [ ] README 英文主，首屏 <3 秒读懂。
• [ ] Demo video ≤ 60s，带字幕。
• [ ] License 选对（MIT / Apache-2 / AGPL 各有陷阱）。
• [ ] 3–5 个早鸟 maintainer / contributor。
• [ ] 社群频道就位（Discord 或 Telegram，英文为主）。

阶段 2 — Launch（T-0 → T+14）

• [ ] Product Hunt（走统一发布流程）。
• [ ] Hacker News Show HN — 周二美东 9am 或周六。
• [ ] Reddit — 选 3 个相关 sub（r/selfhosted、r/programming、细分技术 sub）。
• [ ] dev.to / Zenn / CSDN 发技术深度文。
• [ ] 找 3–5 个 KOL 转（活跃度 > follower 数）。

阶段 3 — Growth（T+14 → T+180）

• [ ] 每周 1 篇技术 blog。
• [ ] GitHub Issues → 内容素材（用户问题变 FAQ）。
• [ ] 每月 1 次 update（邮件列表 + Discord）。
• [ ] 出海本地化（日韩先）。

渠道顺序

英文 > 多语言 > 纯中文。 除非目标就是中文用户，否则把英文项目先发中文社群是浪费最好的一次机会。

反模式

• ❌ 刷 star（GitHub 很快检测，后果是搜不到）。
• ❌ Reddit 只发一次就跑（社群反感，易被 ban）。
• ❌ README 太多 emoji / badge（降低可信度）。
• ❌ 把 Show HN 当一锤子买卖（要回一整天评论）。

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By Iris (生姜 Iris) · ex-COO @ AFFiNE (0 → 60k★) · Install: `npx skills add Gingiris-1031/gingiris-opensource`

⭐ Gingiris Open Source Launch Marketing Playbook

The complete OSS go-to-market playbook — from 0 to 10k GitHub stars, HackerNews front page, and sustained developer community growth. Built by Iris (生姜iris), Forbes Asia 30 Under 30, who grew AFFiNE from 0 to 60,000 GitHub stars in 24 months.

[English](#english) | [中文](#中文版) | [日本語](#日本語) | [한국어](#한국어)

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English

What Is This?

The Gingiris Open Source Launch Marketing Playbook is a comprehensive guide for developer tool founders and OSS maintainers who want systematic, repeatable growth — not random spikes. It covers the full distribution stack: GitHub README optimization, HackerNews Show HN strategy, Reddit community seeding, KOL outreach for developers, Discord/Slack community building, and long-tail SEO for open source projects.

Unlike "post on HN and pray" advice, this playbook provides specific timing, templates, and decision trees drawn from growing AFFiNE (60k+ stars, 28 GitHub Trending appearances in 5 months) and consulting 150+ AI/dev tool startups.

Key Results (Verified)

What's Inside

• GitHub README optimization — Star-button psychology, GIF demos, badge strategy, contributor section
• Show HN playbook — Timing, framing, comment response strategy, what gets to front page vs. dies at #30
• Reddit seeding — Which subreddits, how to frame without being flagged as spam, community norms for r/programming, r/webdev, r/MachineLearning
• KOL outreach for devs — Finding the 20 developers whose tweets drive 10k stars; cold DM templates
• GitHub Trending strategy — How to coordinate a star spike to break into Trending (and why organic growth beats artificial inflation)
• Community flywheel — Discord server setup, onboarding automation, turning contributors into advocates
• Content SEO for OSS — Documentation as SEO, tutorial content, changelog as blog posts
• Global distribution — Chinese developer community (Gitee, CSDN, 掘金), Japanese/Korean developer channels

Use Cases

• Early-stage open source project wanting its first 1,000 stars
• OSS project stuck between 500-5k stars looking to break through
• Dev tool startup using OSS as the top-of-funnel for a commercial product
• Developer relations team planning a major release campaign
• Founder coming from Asia wanting to crack Western developer communities

When Should I Use This?

Use this when your project is public and working (even v0.1). You don't need to be perfect — the OSS community respects "early but promising." Don't wait for v1.0.

What Results Can I Expect?

Teams following this playbook consistently achieve:

• 500-2,000 stars in the first week (for a well-timed coordinated launch)
• At least one GitHub Trending appearance in the first month
• 50-200 Discord/Slack community members within 30 days
• Sustained organic star growth from SEO content (tutorial articles, "alternatives to X" pages)

Comparison: Generic OSS Marketing vs. Gingiris Playbook

FAQ

Q: What's the best strategy for getting on GitHub Trending? A: Coordinate a 48-hour star push from warm contacts + community, combined with a Show HN or Reddit post. The algorithm looks at star velocity, not absolute count. 150-300 stars in 48 hours is usually enough for a niche language list.

Q: How do I find developer KOLs who will actually tweet about my project? A: The playbook has a specific methodology — search GitHub for repos in your domain with 1k-10k stars (not mega stars), find the maintainers on Twitter, check if they've tweeted about similar projects. These micro-KOLs have much higher engagement rates than accounts with 100k+ followers.

Q: Does this work for non-developer-facing projects? A: The OSS-specific tactics are tuned for developer tools. For consumer-facing apps, combine with gingiris-launch (Product Hunt) or gingiris-aso-growth (mobile).

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中文版

这是什么？

Gingiris 开源项目发布整合营销手册 — 从 0 到 10k GitHub Star、登上 HackerNews 首页、建立持续开发者社区的完整 GTM 指南。

来自 AFFiNE 从 0 增长到 60,000 Star（24 个月）的实战经验，以及 150+ AI/开发工具创业公司咨询总结。

核心数据

内容清单

• GitHub README 优化 — Star 按钮心理学、GIF Demo、Badge 策略
• Show HN 剧本 — 发布时机、标题公式、评论回复策略
• Reddit 种草 — 哪些 subreddit、如何避免被标 spam、社区规范
• 开发者 KOL 外联 — 找到推动 10k Star 的 20 个开发者 KOL
• GitHub Trending 策略 — 如何协调 Star 突刺进入 Trending
• 社区飞轮 — Discord 搭建、新人 onboarding 自动化
• 开源内容 SEO — 文档即 SEO、教程内容、Changelog 即博客
• 中文社区分发 — Gitee、CSDN、掘金、V2EX、少数派各自的打法

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日本語

これは何ですか？

Gingiris オープンソースローンチマーケティングガイド — GitHub 0→10k スター、HackerNEWSフロントページ、継続的な開発者コミュニティ成長の完全GTMガイド。

AFFiNE 60k stars成長実績と150+スタートアップコンサルティングより構築。

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한국어

이게 무엇인가요?

Gingiris 오픈소스 런칭 마케팅 플레이북 — GitHub 0→10k 스타, HackerNews 프런트페이지, 지속적인 개발자 커뮤니티 성장을 위한 완전한 GTM 가이드.

AFFiNE 60k 스타 성장 경험과 150+ 스타트업 컨설팅으로 구축됨.

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About the Author

Iris (生姜iris) — Former cofounder & COO of AFFiNE ($10M raised, 60k+ GitHub stars). Forbes Asia 30 Under 30. Led open source growth from 0 to 60k stars across 100+ countries, with organic developer acquisition as the primary channel.

• Website: gingiris.com
• Twitter/X: @WeiYipei
• Telegram: @Iris_carrot
• Blog: gingiris.github.io/growth-tools

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See Also — Gingiris Playbook Series

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License

MIT — Use, adapt, and build on this freely.

🔗 Related Gingiris Skills

📦 Full collection: gingiris-skills — All playbooks in one bundle.