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.

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

Two Ways to Build Context

Option 1: Auto-Draft from Codebase (Recommended)

Analyze existing materials to draft an initial version:

README.md — Product description, features, getting started
Documentation — /docs, API reference, tutorials
Landing pages — index.html, marketing copy
package.json / pyproject.toml — Dependencies reveal ecosystem
GitHub Issues — Common questions, frustrations, use cases
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.

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

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]

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

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

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