Agent-Skills.md

Agent Skills: Community Builder

Expert community-led growth and community management guidance. Use when building developer communities, Discord/Slack communities, online communities, managing community platforms, designing member onboarding, creating engagement programs, running ambassador programs, measuring community health, setting up moderation systems, or implementing DevRel strategies. Use for community-led growth, member activation, user-generated content programs, and community governance.

UncategorizedID: ncklrs/startup-os-skills/community-builder

Repository

ncklrs/startup-os-skills
ncklrs
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pnpm dlx add-skill https://github.com/ncklrs/startup-os-skills/tree/HEAD/skills/community-builder

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skills/community-builder/SKILL.md

Skill Metadata

Name
community-builder
Description
Expert community-led growth and community management guidance. Use when building developer communities, Discord/Slack communities, online communities, managing community platforms, designing member onboarding, creating engagement programs, running ambassador programs, measuring community health, setting up moderation systems, or implementing DevRel strategies. Use for community-led growth, member activation, user-generated content programs, and community governance.

Community Builder

Expert guidance for building, growing, and nurturing thriving online communities — from platform selection to engagement programs to community-led growth strategies.

Philosophy

Great communities are built on three pillars:

  1. Shared purpose — Members need a reason bigger than the product
  2. Genuine connection — People stay for people, not features
  3. Member empowerment — The best communities run themselves

How This Skill Works

When invoked, apply the guidelines in rules/ organized by:

  • strategy-* — Community-led growth, positioning, and strategic planning
  • platform-* — Discord, Slack, Circle, and platform selection
  • onboarding-* — Member welcome flows and activation
  • engagement-* — Programs, rituals, and recurring activities
  • content-* — User-generated content and content programs
  • programs-* — Ambassador, champion, and super-user programs
  • metrics-* — Community health and analytics
  • moderation-* — Governance, moderation, and conflict resolution
  • devrel-* — Developer relations and technical community building

Core Frameworks

The Community Flywheel

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                                                             │
│   ┌──────────┐    ┌──────────┐    ┌──────────┐             │
│   │  ATTRACT │───▶│ ACTIVATE │───▶│  ENGAGE  │             │
│   │ (Reach)  │    │ (Value)  │    │ (Habit)  │             │
│   └──────────┘    └──────────┘    └──────────┘             │
│        ▲                                │                   │
│        │          ┌──────────┐          │                   │
│        │          │ ADVOCATE │          │                   │
│        └──────────│ (Amplify)│◀─────────┘                   │
│                   └──────────┘                              │
│                                                             │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Community Maturity Model

| Stage | Characteristics | Focus | |-------|-----------------|-------| | Nascent | Founder-led, <100 members | 1:1 conversations, manual everything | | Growing | Early champions emerge, 100-1,000 | Systems, rituals, first programs | | Scaling | Self-sustaining activity, 1,000-10,000 | Governance, moderation, delegation | | Mature | Community-led initiatives, 10,000+ | Platform, sub-communities, ecosystem |

Member Journey Stages

| Stage | Goal | Key Metric | |-------|------|------------| | Lurker | First interaction | Post/reply count | | Newcomer | Find value, connect | Retention D7 | | Regular | Form habits, contribute | Weekly active | | Champion | Lead initiatives | Content created | | Ambassador | Represent externally | Referrals, reach |

The 1-9-90 Rule

In most communities:

  • 1% create content (Creators)
  • 9% engage with content (Contributors)
  • 90% consume content (Lurkers)

Goal: Move people up the engagement ladder, not force everyone to create.

Community vs Audience

| Dimension | Audience | Community | |-----------|----------|-----------| | Direction | One to many | Many to many | | Value | From creator | From each other | | Ownership | Creator owns | Members co-own | | Content | Creator produces | Members produce | | Retention | Content-dependent | Relationship-dependent | | Scalability | Linear | Network effects |

Platform Comparison at a Glance

| Platform | Best For | Key Strength | Key Weakness | |----------|----------|--------------|--------------| | Discord | Gaming, dev, real-time | Rich features, free | Overwhelming UX | | Slack | Professional, B2B | Familiar, searchable | Expensive at scale | | Circle | Courses, creators | Clean UX, courses | Less real-time | | Discourse | Long-form, async | SEO, knowledge base | Old-school feel | | GitHub Discussions | Open source, devs | Code integration | Limited features | | Reddit | Public discovery | SEO, scale | Less control |

Key Metrics Overview

| Category | Metrics | |----------|---------| | Growth | New members, referral rate, churn rate | | Engagement | DAU/MAU, posts per member, response time | | Health | Sentiment, helpful answers, retention | | Value | NPS, support deflection, product influence |

Community-Led Growth (CLG) Quick Reference

| Motion | Description | Best For | |--------|-------------|----------| | Community-Assisted | Community supports product users | Support deflection | | Community-Qualified | Leads emerge from community | B2B, enterprise | | Community-Distributed | Growth through member networks | Viral products | | Community-Created | Members build on platform | Platforms, APIs |

Engagement Program Types

| Program | Frequency | Goal | |---------|-----------|------| | Office Hours | Weekly | Direct access, Q&A | | Show & Tell | Weekly/Monthly | Member showcases | | AMAs | Monthly | Expert access | | Challenges | Monthly/Quarterly | Activation, content | | Conferences | Annual | Milestone, celebration |

Anti-Patterns

  • Build it and they will come — Communities require constant nurturing, especially early
  • Metrics over meaning — Vanity metrics don't equal healthy community
  • Over-engineering early — Start simple, add complexity as needed
  • Ignoring lurkers — 90% of your community provides value by consuming
  • Founder absence — Early communities need visible leadership
  • Feature obsession — People join for people, not features
  • Forced engagement — Authentic connection beats gamification
  • One-size-fits-all — Different member types need different experiences
  • Scaling too fast — Growth without engagement destroys community
  • Neglecting moderation — One bad actor can poison the well