I recently released an open-source tool that solves a real problem I kept running into, and now I’m wondering how other developers get visibility for their projects.
I'm not trying to “promote” anything here — I’m genuinely curious about the process.
I’ve posted on GitHub Discussions and Reddit, but it’s still hard to get people to notice a new repo unless it randomly hits the right place at the right time.
Do i need to do anything else on my repo?
kevin061•12h ago
Cool project. And good luck. Genuinely good luck.
What I have observed is that a project's popularity has almost zero correlation to the amount of effort behind it, or how well done it is. You just need to get lucky. Maybe one person noticed your utility, invited you to some podcast, and then your repo explodes in popularity.
One thing I can tell you is that you should stop seeking to get notoriety, because the effort you are spending on that is effort you don't spend in improving your open source tools. I know it is probably quite frustrating, but you just have to continue building stuff in public and hoping to get noticed at some point.
chrilleweb•11h ago
Thanks for the advice, and i think you are 100% right.
i am already working as a software developer, so the only reason that i want it to get noticed, its because i just think its cool to have made something other people find useful. And i love programming, and this project is definitely making me a better software developer, with or without tons of downloads or stars :)
Just wanted to make sure that i didn't do anything miserable wrong
maxkfranz•7h ago
(1) Solve a problem with your project that a lot of people experience.
(2) Differentiate your project, e.g. higher ease of use.
(3) The big one: Time. Most things don't get popular quickly, and many things that do get popular quickly become unpopular just as quickly.
chrilleweb•12h ago
I recently released an open-source tool that solves a real problem I kept running into, and now I’m wondering how other developers get visibility for their projects.
I'm not trying to “promote” anything here — I’m genuinely curious about the process. I’ve posted on GitHub Discussions and Reddit, but it’s still hard to get people to notice a new repo unless it randomly hits the right place at the right time.
Do i need to do anything else on my repo?
kevin061•12h ago
What I have observed is that a project's popularity has almost zero correlation to the amount of effort behind it, or how well done it is. You just need to get lucky. Maybe one person noticed your utility, invited you to some podcast, and then your repo explodes in popularity.
One thing I can tell you is that you should stop seeking to get notoriety, because the effort you are spending on that is effort you don't spend in improving your open source tools. I know it is probably quite frustrating, but you just have to continue building stuff in public and hoping to get noticed at some point.
chrilleweb•11h ago
i am already working as a software developer, so the only reason that i want it to get noticed, its because i just think its cool to have made something other people find useful. And i love programming, and this project is definitely making me a better software developer, with or without tons of downloads or stars :)
Just wanted to make sure that i didn't do anything miserable wrong