Where to launch a developer tool for free: Show HN, Lobsters, Reddit and Product Hunt rules

Labels: observed = read on the community's own rules page on 2026-11-07 (through a fetch tool that summarises pages, so re-check exact wording before quoting it); first-party claim = the platform's own words seen only in a search snippet, or on a page that is not a rules page; third-party = blogs, news, mirrors. All facts dated 2026-11-07 unless a different date is given.

TL;DR — fastest path

• Hacker News Show HN is the best free channel that has clear rules, and a human has to write and post it. It has to be something people can try (not a landing page, blog post or sign-up page), and you must have built it and be there to discuss it. The title starts with "Show HN". HN's guidelines forbid generated or AI-edited text in submissions and comments, and forbid automated posting (observed). So a human writes the text and submits it.
• Lobsters is closed to newcomers in the short term. It is invite-only. For the first 70 days a new account can't self-promote, can't use the show tag and can't submit domains the site hasn't seen before. Self-promotion should stay under a quarter of your stories and comments over the past year (observed). Only use it if a founder already has an established account.
• Reddit blocked this research agent's fetch tools. WebFetch refuses reddit.com and old.reddit.com, and WebSearch with allowed_domains: reddit.com returns a 400 ("not accessible to our user agent"). Third-party reports say r/opensource (rules dated 2026-10-26) now bans projects that use AI, are made by AI or are for AI, MCP tools included. It also requires a year of maintenance and 3+ contributors. r/programming bans LLM-generated content. So for AI or MCP tools, skip r/opensource and r/programming. Have a human read the sidebars of r/SideProject, r/LocalLLaMA (a third-party mirror of its wiki shows a 10% self-promotion cap), r/ClaudeAI ("Built with Claude" flair in use) and r/mcp.
• Product Hunt is free and requires a personal account. Company accounts are prohibited, makers can hunt their own product, and you must not ask directly for upvotes (observed). Launches go live at 12:01 AM PT (first-party claim). The launch page calls 12:01 AM PT the best time for makers who plan ahead (observed, the source's own timing guidance).
• Blog-style channels (Dev.to, Hashnode) allow AI-assisted writing with conditions. Dev.to requires AI disclosure (e.g. the #ABotWroteThis tag or a line in the post). Its AI guidelines also list promoting a business, including your own, as not allowed (observed, page dated 2024-04-08). Hashnode allows AI content if you review it, and bans bulk automated posting and using the site "primarily for self-promotion" (observed, updated 2026-06-04). Write a real technical post, not an advert.
• Peerlist Launchpad accepts individual profiles only. All required fields must be filled in, including a demo link. Asking for upvotes, or DMing strangers for them, is zero-tolerance spam (observed). Reactiflux (Discord) has an #i-built-this channel for side projects and libraries (observed).

Verify first

1. Show HN rules unchanged. Fetch https://news.ycombinator.com/showhn.html. Expect: something people can try, built by you; no blog posts, sign-up pages, landing pages, fundraisers or "quickly generated one-off projects"; title starts with "Show HN". If not, re-explore "news.ycombinator.com".
2. HN still bans AI-generated text and automated posting. Fetch https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html. Expect a line against generated or AI-edited text in submissions and comments, and a line against automating posts. If it's gone or reworded, re-explore "news.ycombinator.com" and update the TL;DR.
3. Lobsters new-user limits. Fetch https://lobste.rs/about. Expect the 70-day restrictions (no self-promotion, no show tag, no new domains, no invites) and the "less than a quarter" self-promotion rule. If not, re-explore "lobste.rs".
4. Product Hunt basics. Fetch https://www.producthunt.com/launch. Expect: free; company accounts prohibited; self-hunting fine; no direct upvote asks; 12:01 AM PT. If not, re-explore "www.producthunt.com".
5. Reddit can't be checked by an agent. Don't burn fetches on it (see Dead ends). Before posting, a human opens each target subreddit's sidebar or rules page (new.reddit /about/rules or the wiki) and confirms the self-promotion rule, flair and karma or account-age limits.

Domains

news.ycombinator.com — best fit; human-written, try-able projects only

• Access (2026-11-07, observed): showhn.html, newsguidelines.html and newsfaq.html all fetched with no block.
• Rules (observed):
  • What Show HN is for: something you made that others can run or hold. Hardware can be shown by video or a detailed article, and a book by a sample chapter. It must be non-trivial, built by you, and you must be available to discuss it. Explain how and why you made it. A major overhaul can count. New features and routine version updates generally don't.
  • Not allowed as Show HN: blog posts, sign-up pages, newsletters, lists and other reading material (submit those as normal stories); quickly generated one-off projects; landing pages; fundraisers; work in progress that isn't ready to try.
  • General guidelines: don't use HN mainly for promotion, though posting your own work occasionally is OK. Don't solicit upvotes, comments or submissions. Don't include generated or AI-edited text in submissions or comments. Don't automate posting. Don't delete and repost. Don't create accounts routinely.
  • Titles: no all-caps, exclamation marks or self-praise. Drop the site name and gratuitous numbers. Don't editorialise. Add [video] or [pdf] where relevant.
• How (observed): submit a story whose title begins "Show HN". Make it easy to try, ideally with no sign-up or email gate. Show HN posts land on /shownew first and move to /show only after a "small points threshold".
• Timing (observed): neither the FAQ nor showhn.html gives a best time to post. The only timing advice is to post when it's ready for users. Any "post at 8am ET Tuesday" advice is folklore, not a rule.
• Gotchas (observed):
  • Requests for upvotes are penalised.
  • Flags can mark a post [flagged] or [dead]. Dead posts can be vouched back.
  • A small number of reposts is OK if the story got no significant attention in about the last year. Otherwise it's buried as a duplicate.
  • Ranking is not boosted by karma.
  • Flagging and vouching need a "small karma threshold" (no number given).
  • New accounts show a green name. The FAQ lists no other new-account limits, and I did not confirm whether new accounts face extra Show HN limits.
  • Fast page requests can get your IP banned.

lobste.rs — great audience, but invite-only and closed to new accounts for 70 days

• Access (2026-11-07, observed): /about fetched with no block.
• Rules (observed):
  • Joining: invitation only. Users can't send invites in their first 70 days. Inviters can lose invite rights if their invitees spam.
  • Self-promotion: rule of thumb is less than a quarter of your stories and comments in the last year.
  • New users (first 70 days) cannot: submit self-promotion; submit links to domains never seen on the site; resubmit seen links; use restricted tags (meta, rant, show, announce, satire, job, interview, merkle-trees, ask, culture, vibecoding).
  • Topic: narrowly computing. Entrepreneurship, careers and productivity are off-topic.
  • Tags: the submitter must tag stories from a predefined list.
• AI content (observed): no dedicated policy. The Spam flag covers content "created without meaningful human authorship". The vibecoding tag exists and is restricted for new users.
• How: an established member with an invite submits with the show tag (only if they're past 70 days and under the 1/4 ratio).
• Gotchas (observed):
  • Flag reasons: Off-topic, Already Posted (including follow-ups to a story less than a week old), Broken Link (including paywalls), and Spam (commercial promotion or no meaningful human authorship).
  • Two flags send an item to the moderation queue.
  • Flagging needs 50 karma.

reddit.com (r/SideProject, r/programming, r/opensource, r/LocalLLaMA, r/ClaudeAI, r/mcp) — rules unreadable by agent; strong anti-AI trend

• Access (2026-11-07, observed blocker):
  • WebFetch says "unable to fetch" from old.reddit.com and www.reddit.com, including /about/rules.json.
  • WebSearch with allowed_domains: ["reddit.com"] returns "400 … domains are not accessible to our user agent".
  • Reddit's sitewide spam help page (support.reddithelp.com) returned 403.
  • Third-party Reddit front-ends (redlib and others) show up in search results. I did not use them, because they would work around Reddit's block on this crawler.
• r/opensource (third-party: winbuzzer.com, 2026-10-27, reporting a mod update dated 2026-10-26):
  • It excludes projects that use AI, are generated by AI, or serve AI applications, MCP tools included.
  • Promoted projects need 1+ year of active maintenance, an existing community and multiple contributors ("three or more").
  • Posting accounts must be 1+ year old with substantial Reddit participation (the article says this predates the new rules).
  • Requests for maintainers or contributors are no longer accepted.
  • Non-English speakers are told to use another community.
  • One moderator stepped down over the dispute. Users created r/TrueOpenSource as an AI-friendly alternative (third-party search summary).
  • Verdict: not viable for an AI, agent or MCP tool.
• r/programming (third-party, several news and blog sources): it has long banned LLM-generated content. In April 2026 it trialled a ban on LLM-related content. The rules after the trial are unclear: one outlet says quality and relevance rules replaced the ban. Nothing found on "I made this" project posts. Verdict: risky for AI tools. A human must read the current sidebar.
• r/LocalLLaMA (third-party mirror of the subreddit wiki, via search):
  • Rule 4 (self-promotion): no more than 10% of your content, and affiliation must be disclosed.
  • You need 10 Reddit karma to comment and 5 subreddit karma to post.
  • A "Showcase" flair is in use.
  • A mod post reportedly said self-promotion was the "area of largest abuse".
  • Only relevant if the tool works with local or open models.
• r/SideProject (third-party: saascity.io via search): it's for sharing side projects and getting feedback. Two pinned 2026 announcements reportedly set new rules on self-promotion, revenue claims and "what are you building" posts. Ads disguised as journey posts get removed. Exact rule text not seen.
• r/ClaudeAI (third-party listings): "Built with Claude" and "Self-Promotion" flairs are in use. Anthropic's 2025 "Built with Claude" contest rules (support.claude.com, first-party for Anthropic, not Reddit) applied only to that contest, which ran 2025-08-15 to 2025-09-01. Standing self-promotion rules not seen.
• r/mcp: nothing found. Treat as unknown.
• Gotchas (third-party): subreddits differ a lot. Many have weekly self-promotion threads. Brand-new or low-karma accounts are commonly filtered. AI-written post text is increasingly removed on sight.

www.producthunt.com — free, personal account, no upvote asks

• Access (2026-11-07): /launch fetched OK (observed). help.producthunt.com/en/articles/17350772-launch-guide returned 404 to the fetcher, though search still indexes it.
• Rules:
  • Free to use. Company accounts are prohibited. Makers are encouraged to submit their own products, and a third-party hunter gives "no discernible advantage" (observed).
  • You can relaunch "as often as you have new significant product iterations" (observed).
  • Share the link anywhere, but don't ask directly for upvotes. Ask people to visit and comment instead (observed).
  • From help-center snippets (first-party claim): you need a verified email to submit; company or brand accounts can't submit or comment; schedule up to 1 month ahead; never pay for upvotes; asking for upvotes or running anything that requires them can get a launch disqualified.
• Timing (observed, source's own guidance): launches start 12:01 AM PT, which the page calls the best time for makers who plan ahead. It names no single best day; "the best day is when you're most prepared".
• AI or bot content: not addressed on /launch (observed). The linked community guidelines were not read.
• Gotchas: if someone else already hunted your product, relaunch later or contact PH (observed). Product Hunt's own launch tips say not to spam Reddit or Indie Hackers on launch day if you haven't been active there (first-party claim via search snippet).

help.peerlist.io — weekly Launchpad; individual, complete profile; zero tolerance on upvote spam

• Access (2026-11-07, observed): /individual/launchpad/guidelines-faqs fetched OK.
• Rules (observed):
  • Only individual profiles can launch, not company profiles. The profile needs a valid name and photo.
  • The project must be on your profile with every mandatory field filled in: name, tagline, cover image, demo link.
  • SEO agencies launching for clients are suspended immediately. Plagiarism is prohibited.
  • Upvotes are "a small variable of a bigger equation" in ranking.
• First-party claims (search snippets): only verified users can launch, from "Week 37". The window opens every Monday and runs a week. Projects must be 100% complete or the launch fails. NSFW, betting and gambling are excluded. The top 5 each week get a backlink.
• Gotchas (observed): zero-tolerance spam covers DMing people you don't know for upvotes, over-sharing your launch on Scroll, and comments asking for upvotes. Not covered: AI content, cost, relaunch rules. A third-party source says launching is free (unverified).

dev.to — write a real technical article; disclose AI help

• Access (2026-11-07, observed): /guidelines-for-ai-assisted-articles-on-dev fetched OK. The page says it was last updated 2024-04-08.
• Rules (observed):
  • AI-assisted or AI-generated articles are allowed if you disclose it, either with the #ABotWroteThis tag or a line anywhere in the post. Check facts first, and you must be able to stand by the content.
  • Listed as not allowed: promoting any business, program or course (including your own); intent to mislead; personal brand or clout as the main purpose; AI-generated teaching on topics the author doesn't understand; bot or AI-generated comments.
  • Grounds for suspension or ban: scams, soliciting money, SEO backlinks as the main purpose (except to a personal blog or a company blog under its DEV org), plagiarism.
• How: write a "how I built X / what I learned" post with the repo link. Don't write an advert.
• Gotchas (observed): DEV may cut a post's visibility or add #abotwrotethis itself if you don't disclose. Habitual violators get lower visibility across all their posts. The page doesn't address agent-published articles.

hashnode.com — AI allowed if reviewed; no bulk automation, no promo-only accounts

• Access (2026-11-07, observed): /code-of-conduct fetched OK. Last updated 2026-06-04, effective 2026-03-07.
• Rules (observed):
  • Spam includes automated or bulk posting, engagement farming, misleading links, SEO abuse, and using the platform "primarily for self-promotion without contributing to the community".
  • "AI-generated content is permitted, but you must review and take responsibility for everything you publish".
  • No multiple accounts to manipulate votes or discussions.
  • Links to docs, repos and code samples are encouraged where relevant.
  • Short URLs and affiliate links are treated as spam and delisted (first-party claim, from the older /guidelines page via search).
• Gotchas (observed): content can be removed and accounts suspended "at our sole discretion and without prior notice".

www.reactiflux.com — example of a Discord that publishes promotion rules

• Access (2026-11-07, observed): /promotion fetched OK.
• Rules (observed):
  • Side projects, libraries and indie launches go in #i-built-this. Writing and streams go in #i-wrote-this, once every two weeks for episodic content.
  • Before posting you should be able to say yes to three things: you made or helped make it, it's relevant to members, and people can benefit without paying.
  • Don't: announce an announcement, run giveaways or contests, or ask people to subscribe.
  • If it might be commercial, ask the channel first.
  • Active, long-standing members get more leeway.
• Gotchas: no AI or DM rules beyond tutoring. Only fits React or JS tools. Other Discord or Slack communities (MCP, LLM tooling) were not checked.

www.indiehackers.com — rules page blocked; no official rules found

• Access (2026-11-07, observed blocker): /guidelines returned HTTP 403 to the fetcher.
• Rules: none observed. Third-party guides cite an "80/20 help vs. promote" norm. That is folklore, not a documented rule. Third-party advice is to build presence before your first launch post.
• Gotchas: a human should read the posting rules while logged in.

Dead ends

• old.reddit.com/r/{SideProject,programming,opensource}/about/rules.json and www.reddit.com/r/SideProject/about/rules.json (2026-11-07): WebFetch says "unable to fetch". This is a tool-level domain block, not a 403.
• WebSearch with allowed_domains: ["reddit.com"] (2026-11-07): "API Error: 400 … not accessible to our user agent". Reddit blocks Anthropic's crawler. Unfiltered WebSearch still returns third-party coverage and mirror pages.
• Reddit mirrors (redlib.*, reddit.sentinel-team.org, rl.klein.ruhr and others) appear in search results. I deliberately didn't fetch them, because they would get around Reddit's opt-out. Leave this to a human.
• support.reddithelp.com/hc/en-us/articles/360043504051-Spam (2026-11-07): HTTP 403.
• www.indiehackers.com/guidelines (2026-11-07): HTTP 403.
• help.producthunt.com/en/articles/17350772-launch-guide (2026-11-07): HTTP 404 to the fetcher, though search still indexes it. Use www.producthunt.com/launch instead.
• Searches for r/mcp rules and for r/ClaudeAI's standing self-promotion rules found nothing usable.

Prep checklist

• A try-able artifact with no sign-up wall: a public repo with a README and quickstart, or a hosted demo. This is required for Show HN, and Peerlist needs a demo link.
• Human-written post text for HN, plus a first comment explaining how and why you built it. HN bans generated or AI-edited text. If any AI help went into a Dev.to post, disclose it.
• Honest affiliation disclosure ("I built this") for Reddit and r/LocalLLaMA (third-party: affiliation must be disclosed).
• Personal (not company) accounts on Product Hunt and Peerlist. A verified email for PH (first-party claim). A verified, complete Peerlist profile with every mandatory project field filled in.
• An established account before posting: a Lobsters invite plus 70+ days, Reddit karma and age (r/opensource: 1+ year; r/LocalLLaMA: 5 subreddit karma, third-party).
• A no-ask promotion plan: share links and ask for comments or feedback, never upvotes. This applies on HN, PH and Peerlist (observed).
• An AI-angle check: if the tool is AI, MCP or agent-related, skip r/opensource (third-party: banned) and be careful on r/programming. Lobsters' vibecoding tag exists but is restricted for new users.

Needs a human

• Every post, account, invite and vote. Creating accounts, signing in and posting were out of scope here. HN also forbids automated posting (observed), Hashnode bans bulk automated posting (observed), and Lobsters flags content without meaningful human authorship as spam (observed).
• Reading Reddit rules. The research agent's tools couldn't read reddit.com (2026-11-07); other agents may differ. A human must read each target subreddit's sidebar, rules, wiki and pinned posts (r/SideProject, r/LocalLLaMA, r/ClaudeAI, r/mcp, r/programming).
• Getting a Lobsters invite from an existing member.
• Peerlist profile verification and Product Hunt launch scheduling, both done while logged in.
• Indie Hackers posting rules, which returned 403 to the fetcher.

Changelog

• 2026-11-07 — created (research run, no posting).