jonathimer/developer-audience-context

Developer Audience Context

This skill helps you create and maintain .agents/developer-audience-context.md — a foundational document that captures everything about your target developers. All other developer marketing skills reference this document first, so you only define your audience once.

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Before You Start

Check if .agents/developer-audience-context.md exists:

• If it exists: Read it and offer to update specific sections
• If it doesn't exist: Create the directory and file, then walk through each section

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Two Ways to Build Context

Option 1: Auto-Draft from Codebase (Recommended)

Analyze existing materials to draft an initial version:

1. README.md — Product description, features, getting started
2. Documentation — /docs, API reference, tutorials
3. Landing pages — index.html, marketing copy
4. package.json / pyproject.toml — Dependencies reveal ecosystem
5. GitHub Issues — Common questions, frustrations, use cases
6. Existing blog posts — Technical content, tutorials

After drafting, walk through each section to validate and fill gaps.

Option 2: Start from Scratch

Ask questions section-by-section. Don't advance until the current section is complete.

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The 10 Sections to Capture

1. Product Overview

| Field | What to capture | |-------|-----------------| | Product name | Official name and any aliases | | One-liner | "We help [developers] do [X] without [Y]" | | Category | API, SDK, CLI, SaaS, open source library, infrastructure | | Core technology | Languages, frameworks, platforms supported | | Pricing model | Free/open source, freemium, usage-based, seat-based |

2. Developer Persona

Not "developers" generically — get specific:

| Field | What to capture | |-------|-----------------| | Primary role | Backend, frontend, full-stack, DevOps, data, ML, mobile | | Seniority | Junior, mid, senior, staff, lead, architect | | Company size | Solo, startup, scale-up, enterprise | | Industry verticals | Fintech, healthtech, e-commerce, gaming, B2B SaaS | | Tech stack | Languages, frameworks, cloud providers they use | | Decision authority | Individual contributor, team lead, buyer, influencer |

Ask: "Describe the developer who gets the most value from your product in one paragraph. What's their day-to-day like?"

3. Where They Hang Out

Developers research before they buy. Know where:

| Channel | Specifics to capture | |---------|---------------------| | Communities | Specific subreddits, Discord servers, Slack groups | | Social | Twitter/X hashtags, LinkedIn groups | | Content | Blogs they read, newsletters they subscribe to, podcasts | | Events | Conferences, meetups, hackathons | | Code | GitHub topics, Stack Overflow tags |

Pro tip: Use social listening tools to monitor conversations across Hacker News, Reddit, Stack Overflow, GitHub, and Twitter. See where discussions about your problem space happen organically.

4. Problems & Pain Points

Capture the actual problems, not your solution's features:

| Level | What to capture | |-------|-----------------| | Functional | "I can't do X" / "X takes too long" / "X is error-prone" | | Emotional | Frustration, anxiety, embarrassment, fear | | Situational | When does the pain occur? What triggers the search? |

Ask: "What's the #1 frustration that brings developers to you?"

Research: Search Reddit, Hacker News, and Stack Overflow for complaints about your problem space. Capture verbatim quotes.

5. Current Alternatives

What are developers using today instead of you?

| Alternative type | Examples | |-----------------|----------| | Direct competitors | Tools that solve the same problem | | DIY / build it yourself | Custom scripts, internal tools | | Indirect solutions | Workarounds, manual processes | | Do nothing | Live with the pain |

For each alternative, capture:

• Why developers choose it
• What's frustrating about it
• What would make them switch

6. Key Differentiators

What makes you different — in developer terms:

| Differentiator type | Example | |--------------------|---------| | Technical | "10x faster," "No dependencies," "Type-safe" | | DX (Developer Experience) | "5-minute setup," "Great docs," "First-class CLI" | | Ecosystem | "Works with X," "Built for Y framework" | | Philosophy | "Open source," "Privacy-first," "Local-first" |

Warning: Avoid marketing fluff. Developers see through "best-in-class" and "enterprise-grade." Use specific, provable claims.

7. Verbatim Developer Language

Capture exact phrases developers use — not polished marketing copy:

| Category | Examples | |----------|----------| | Describing the problem | "This is such a pain," "I wish I could just..." | | Describing your product | How they explain it to others | | Objections | "But what about...", "I'm worried that..." | | Praise | Testimonials, tweets, GitHub comments |

Sources: GitHub issues, Twitter mentions, Hacker News comments, support tickets, sales calls, community Slack/Discord.

8. Technical Trust Signals

What proof points matter to developers:

| Signal type | Examples | |-------------|----------| | Adoption | GitHub stars, npm downloads, Docker pulls | | Quality | Test coverage, security audits, uptime SLA | | Community | Contributors, Discord members, forum activity | | Credibility | Backed by X, used by Y, created by Z | | Transparency | Open source, public roadmap, changelog |

9. Conversion Actions

What does success look like at each stage?

| Stage | Primary action | Secondary actions | |-------|---------------|-------------------| | Awareness | Star repo, follow on Twitter | Read blog post, share content | | Consideration | Clone repo, read docs | Watch demo, join Discord | | Trial | Sign up, install SDK | Complete quickstart, make first API call | | Activation | Reach "Hello World" moment | Integrate into real project | | Conversion | Upgrade to paid | Add team members, expand usage |

10. Voice & Tone

How should you sound when talking to these developers?

| Dimension | Spectrum | |-----------|----------| | Formality | Casual ← → Professional | | Technicality | Accessible ← → Deep technical | | Personality | Neutral ← → Opinionated | | Humor | Serious ← → Playful |

Examples:

• Stripe → Professional, precise, clean
• Vercel → Modern, confident, developer-first
• Supabase → Friendly, accessible, community-driven
• Tailwind → Opinionated, direct, practical

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Output Format

Save to .agents/developer-audience-context.md with this structure:

# Developer Audience Context

Last updated: [DATE]

## Product Overview
[Section content]

## Developer Persona
[Section content]

## Where They Hang Out
[Section content]

## Problems & Pain Points
[Section content]

## Current Alternatives
[Section content]

## Key Differentiators
[Section content]

## Verbatim Developer Language
[Section content]

## Technical Trust Signals
[Section content]

## Conversion Actions
[Section content]

## Voice & Tone
[Section content]

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Maintenance

Update this document when:

• You learn something new from user research
• You find great verbatim quotes
• Your positioning or differentiation changes
• You expand to new developer segments

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Tools

| Tool | Use case | |------|----------| | Octolens | Monitor developer conversations across GitHub, Hacker News, Reddit, Stack Overflow, Twitter. Essential for capturing verbatim language, finding pain points, and understanding where your developers hang out. | | GitHub Search | Find how developers describe problems in issues | | Twitter Advanced Search | Find discussions about your space | | Google Alerts | Track mentions of competitors and problem keywords |

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Related Skills

After establishing context, these skills will reference it:

• devrel-content — Writing content that resonates
• hacker-news-strategy — Engaging on HN authentically
• developer-onboarding — Optimizing time-to-value
• developer-seo — Targeting the right technical queries
• competitor-tracking — Understanding your competitive landscape