How Vercel got its users

Vercel put the integration code inside the framework repo itself. github.com/vercel/next.js/tree/canary/examples holds hundreds of `with-*` folders (with-supabase, with-stripe-typescript), and each README carries `npx create-next-app --example with-supabase` plus a vercel.com/button Deploy badge one line below. With no audience, run it in reverse: PR a `with-yourtool` example into the examples folder of a framework your users already run. Maintainers merge working code. They ban blog links.

done whenCount how many times in the last month someone asked you how to wire your product to one specific other tool. Three or more of the same pairing is your first `with-*` example folder.

Vercel posts architecture before code, as RFCs in the GitHub Discussions RFC category. Incremental Static Regeneration drew 453 comments, I18n Routing 230, the Image Component 160, Middleware 148. The format is a proposal listing tradeoffs and asking to be torn apart, not a launch announcement, which is exactly why moderators leave it up. Post your next feature that way in the room where your users already argue, and let them shred it before you build it.

done whenPost one design proposal instead of a launch in your users' room. Fewer than three substantive objections means you are in the wrong room or building the wrong thing.

Next.js support happens in the Discord help forum, which Google cannot read. A community member, rafaelalmeidatk, built nextjs-forum.com to mirror those threads onto the open web. Vercel's own forum, community.vercel.com, runs Discourse with Help, Showcase, Discussions, Open Source and v0 categories, and a bot posts known guides before a human replies. Answer in rooms that produce URLs. If your room is Discord, republish the answers somewhere indexable.

done whenSearch the exact wording of a question you answered last week. If your answer is not findable on the open web, the room you are answering in is a leak.

Community code becomes the storefront. Contributors open a PR on github.com/vercel/examples with front matter metadata, which creates a draft entry Vercel then publishes to vercel.com/templates. The submission bar is public: package.json, MIT license, README.md, a live demo URL the team deploys, and a .env.example when env vars are required. Every listing ends in a Deploy button. Write your own version of that bar before anyone asks for it.

done whenTime a stranger cloning your repo and getting a working instance. Past ten minutes, nobody will ever build a template on top of you.

Vercel ranks the people who answer on its behalf. The community.vercel.com Leaderboard scores shared projects, comments, likes, answers marked as solutions, reading time and daily visits, and monthly winners get a t-shirt plus a badge they can wear as their forum title. The v0 Ambassador Program adds credits, early access, swag, a referral link and micro-grants. Plainly: this stage needs people already answering. Until then you are the one replying, daily, for months.

done whenName the three non-employees who answered someone else's question about your product this month. If you cannot, skip the badges and go back to answering yourself.