Community Building

This skill helps you build and manage developer communities on Discord, Slack, forums, and other platforms. Covers channel structure, onboarding, engagement programs, handling toxicity, and community-led growth.

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Before You Start

Load your audience context first. Read .agents/developer-audience-context.md to understand:

• Who your developers are (role, seniority, interests)
• Where they already hang out (to avoid competing platforms)
• What problems they discuss (community topic focus)
• How they communicate (formal vs. casual tone)

If the context file doesn't exist, run the developer-audience-context skill first.

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Platform Selection

Comparison Matrix

Platform	Best For	Pros	Cons
Discord	Developer tools, gaming, OSS	Real-time, rich features, free	Can be chaotic, less enterprise
Slack	Enterprise, B2B SaaS	Professional, familiar	Expensive at scale, message limits
GitHub Discussions	OSS projects	Integrated, async, searchable	Less community feel
Discourse	Long-form, searchable	SEO, threading, ownership	Maintenance, hosting costs
Circle	Courses, paid communities	Courses integration, clean	Paid, less developer-native

Decision Framework

If your audience is...	Consider
Individual developers, OSS	Discord
Enterprise teams	Slack
Technical, async-preferred	GitHub Discussions
Mixed, need searchability	Discourse
Course/education based	Circle

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Channel Structure

Discord Channel Template

📢 INFORMATION
├── #welcome — First landing, rules, links
├── #announcements — Official updates (admin-only posting)
├── #rules — Code of conduct
└── #introductions — New member intros

💬 GENERAL
├── #general — Main discussion
├── #off-topic — Non-project chat
└── #show-what-you-built — Share projects

❓ SUPPORT
├── #help — General questions
├── #troubleshooting — Bug help
└── #feature-requests — Suggestions

🔧 TECHNICAL
├── #backend — Backend discussions
├── #frontend — Frontend discussions
└── #devops — Infrastructure discussions

🤝 COMMUNITY
├── #jobs — Job postings (if allowed)
├── #events — Meetups, conferences
└── #content — Blog posts, videos

📚 RESOURCES
├── #learning — Tutorials, courses
└── #tools — Useful tools and libraries

Slack Channel Template

# welcome
# announcements (admin-only)
# general
# help
# random (off-topic)
# jobs (optional)
# introductions
# feedback

Channel Guidelines

Channel Type	Posting Rules	Moderation Level
Announcements	Admin only	N/A
General	On-topic discussion	Light
Help	Questions welcome, be patient	Medium
Off-topic	Anything goes (within CoC)	Light
Jobs	Structured format required	Heavy
Introductions	One post per person	Light

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Onboarding Experience

New Member Journey

Join Server
    ↓
Welcome Message (DM or public)
    ↓
Read Rules / Accept
    ↓
Verify (optional: GitHub, email)
    ↓
Introduce Yourself
    ↓
First Interaction
    ↓
Regular Member

Welcome Message Template

Discord DM:

Welcome to [Community Name]! 👋

Here's how to get started:

1. Read the rules in #rules
2. Introduce yourself in #introductions
3. Ask questions in #help — we're friendly!

Quick links:
• Documentation: [link]
• Getting started: [link]
• GitHub: [link]

We're glad you're here!

Public #welcome channel:

# Welcome to [Community Name]!

We're [brief description of who you are and what you do].

## Quick Start

1. **Read the rules** → #rules
2. **Introduce yourself** → #introductions
3. **Get help** → #help
4. **Chat with us** → #general

## Useful Links

- [Documentation]
- [GitHub]
- [Website]

## Questions?

Drop a message in #help or mention @moderators

Role Assignment

Role	How to Get	Permissions
New Member	Auto on join	Limited channels
Member	Verify or time-based	Full access
Contributor	PR merged, active helper	Badge, special channel
Moderator	Invited	Moderation powers
Admin	Core team	Full access

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Engagement Programs

Discussion Prompts

Schedule regular engagement:

Day	Prompt Type	Example
Monday	This week's goals	"What are you working on this week?"
Wednesday	Technical question	"Controversial: Tabs or spaces?"
Friday	Show & Tell	"Share what you shipped this week"

Recognition Programs

Program	Description	Frequency
Contributor of the Month	Recognize top helpers	Monthly
First PR Celebration	Welcome new contributors	As happens
Milestone Badges	10/50/100 messages	Automatic
Expert Roles	Domain expertise recognition	Quarterly

Event Ideas

Event Type	Format	Effort
Office Hours	Live Q&A with team	Low
Show & Tell	Members demo projects	Low
Workshops	Teaching sessions	Medium
Hackathons	Build challenges	High
Game Night	Non-tech fun	Low
AMA Sessions	Guest experts	Medium

Engagement Metrics

Metric	What It Tells You
DAU/MAU	Daily vs monthly active users
Messages per user	Individual engagement depth
Questions answered	Community self-sufficiency
New member retention	Onboarding effectiveness
Event attendance	Program resonance

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Handling Toxicity

Code of Conduct Essentials

# Code of Conduct

## Our Standards

**Do:**
- Be respectful and inclusive
- Help others learn (no "RTFM")
- Assume good intentions
- Give constructive feedback
- Report problems, don't engage

**Don't:**
- Personal attacks or harassment
- Discrimination of any kind
- Spam or self-promotion
- NSFW content
- Doxxing or privacy violations
- Bad faith arguments

## Enforcement

1. **Warning** — First offense, good faith
2. **Temp mute** — Repeated issues
3. **Temp ban** — Serious violations
4. **Permanent ban** — Egregious or repeated

## Reporting

DM any @moderator or use the report feature.
All reports are confidential.

Moderation Playbook

Situation	Response
Heated debate	"Let's keep this constructive. Both perspectives have merit."
Help vampire	"Here's a guide on asking good questions: [link]"
Self-promotion spam	Delete, warn, or ban depending on frequency
Off-topic drift	"Great discussion! Let's move this to #off-topic"
Harassment	Immediate mute, investigate, likely ban
Bad faith troll	Don't engage publicly, ban quietly

De-escalation Techniques

1. Acknowledge feelings — "I can see this is frustrating"
2. Move to DM — "Let's continue this privately"
3. Take a break — "Let's pause and revisit tomorrow"
4. Clarify intent — "I think there might be a misunderstanding"
5. Set boundaries — "We're here to help, but not to be yelled at"

Moderator Self-Care

Risk	Mitigation
Burnout	Rotate moderator duties
Taking it personally	Remember: it's not about you
Imposter syndrome	Regular team check-ins
Isolation	Moderator private channel

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Community-Led Growth

Word-of-Mouth Tactics

Tactic	How
Referral program	Rewards for invites that stick
Share-worthy content	Exclusive insights, early access
Member spotlights	Feature members → they share
Success stories	"I got a job through this community"

User-Generated Content

Content Type	How to Encourage
Tutorials	"Share your setup in #show-what-you-built"
Q&A threads	Reward helpful answers
Project showcases	Monthly demo events
Testimonials	Ask happy members

Community Champions

Identify and empower super-users:

Champion Type	Role
Greeters	Welcome new members
Helpers	Answer support questions
Content creators	Tutorials, videos, guides
Event organizers	Run community events
Connectors	Introduce people to each other

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Community Metrics

Health Dashboard

Metric	Healthy	Warning	Action Needed
Response time (support)	<24h	24-72h	>72h
Unanswered questions	<10%	10-25%	>25%
New member 7-day retention	>40%	20-40%	<20%
Monthly active ratio	>20%	10-20%	<10%
Moderator messages ratio	<30%	30-50%	>50%

Growth Metrics

Metric	How to Track
Total members	Platform analytics
Join rate	New members per week
Churn rate	Leaves per month
Engagement depth	Messages per active user
Support success	% questions resolved

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Automation

Useful Bots (Discord)

Bot	Purpose
MEE6 / Carl-bot	Moderation, welcome messages, roles
Statbot	Analytics and metrics
Ticket Tool	Support ticket system
GitHub Bot	Repo activity notifications
YAGPDB	Advanced moderation, custom commands

Automation Ideas

Automation	Benefit
Welcome DM	Consistent onboarding
Auto-role on join	Immediate access
Inactive member ping	Re-engagement
Support ticket creation	Organized help
GitHub notifications	Keep community informed
Scheduled posts	Regular engagement

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Tools

Tool	Use Case
Octolens	Monitor community mentions across GitHub, Twitter, Reddit. Find where your community members talk about you. Track sentiment. Discover community content to amplify.
Commsor	Community operations platform
Notion	Community wiki and resources
Luma	Event management
StreamYard/Restream	Live event streaming

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Related Skills

• developer-audience-context — Know your community members
• open-source-marketing — OSS community building
• developer-advocacy — Personal brand in community
• developer-newsletter — Community digest content