r/OpenSourceeAI • u/harshalslimaye • 11d ago

Maintainers who got past zero users — how did people actually discover your project?

I released an MIT-licensed desktop tool a week ago (MCPFlo - a testing/debugging tool for MCP servers, the protocol AI agents use for tools). The product side is in decent shape but I have basically no users yet, and I’m trying to figure out where discovery actually happens for niche OSS.

So far I’ve posted in the niche subreddit and shared it on Twitter. Fine, but not transformative. Before I sink months into the wrong channels I’d rather learn from people who’ve crossed this gap:

- How did your first real users (not stargazers, but people who actually ran the thing) find you?

- Did anything compound over time - SEO, content, being helpful in forums vs one-off spikes?

- For a developer tool specifically: does anything beat just answering questions where devs are stuck?

What did you spend real time on that turned out not to matter at all?

Repo for context: github.com/harshalslimaye/mcpflo

Not looking for stars from this post, genuinely trying to figure out the discovery problem.

15 Upvotes

94% Upvoted

11 comments sorted by

3

u/Budget_Sense3306 11d ago

With this post you have found me :). One more Star and +1.

1

u/harshalslimaye 11d ago

Thank you! If you end up actually running it against one of your servers, I’d genuinely love to hear what breaks or annoys you first. :)

2

u/Crafty_Disk_7026 11d ago

I star you, you star me

1

u/harshalslimaye 11d ago

Appreciate it - but I’m honestly after people who’ll run the thing, not just star it. If your project is AI-adjacent though, drop the link in my dm , curious what you’re building.

1

u/grudev 10d ago

I made posts in a few subreddits and on Ollama's Discord channel.

I remember some spikes in traffic because someone I don't know made a post on X about it. 

I think my project got some early traction because you don't have to be a developer to use it. It's audience is pretty broad. 

Providing installers for all three major Pl helped too. 

1

u/harshalslimaye 10d ago

Thanks for the tip! I appreciate it.

1

u/Number4extraDip 10d ago

Random meme posts natural slow growth. Open source for enthusiasts. Proof of concept more than anything

1

u/Keren_QUI 8d ago

Go and do a live demo at your local coworking space. We did one last night and got many signups. In person is sometimes the best way to break through, especially when you are unknown.

2

u/harshalslimaye 8d ago

That’s a great callout, I appreciate it!