Where to post your dev tool on Reddit (without getting roasted)

Last updated 5/16/2026

Dev tools are a weird category to launch. Your users are skeptical, allergic to marketing copy, and will absolutely call out a half-baked README. But they're also some of the most generous early adopters on the internet if you show up with something genuinely useful.

Reddit works for dev tools because developers actually hang out there. The catch is that the rules vary wildly between subs. r/programming will nuke a self-promo post in minutes. r/SideProject will upvote it. Knowing the difference is most of the battle.

Below are the subreddits I'd actually consider if I were launching a CLI, library, IDE plugin, or any developer-facing product today. Not every one will fit your tool, so pick the four or five that match your audience and treat them well.

The subreddits worth your time

r/SideProject

~300k members

Friendliest place on Reddit to share an early-stage dev tool, especially if it's still rough. Devs make up a huge chunk of the audience.

Rules to know: Self-promo is welcome as long as you're sharing something you built. Low-effort or AI-generated spam gets removed.

  • — I built a CLI that does X — feedback welcome
  • — Launched my first dev tool, here's what I learned
  • — Open-sourced my side project, looking for contributors

r/indiehackers

~100k members

Founder-heavy, so the discussion skews toward how you're building and monetizing your dev tool, not just the tech itself.

Rules to know: Direct 'check out my product' posts get flagged. Frame around lessons, revenue, or a real question.

  • — How I got my first 10 paying users for a CLI tool
  • — Pricing a developer tool: flat fee vs usage-based
  • — Switching from free to freemium killed my signups

r/SaaS

~350k members

Useful if your dev tool has a hosted or SaaS component. The audience cares about GTM more than implementation details.

Rules to know: Mods crack down on pure promo. Posts need substance — a story, a teardown, a real lesson.

  • — Marketing a dev tool when developers hate marketing
  • — From open source to paid SaaS: what changed
  • — How I got dev tool signups without paid ads

r/programming

~6.5M members

Massive reach, but extremely picky. Works if your tool has a genuinely interesting technical story or blog post behind it.

Rules to know: No self-promo, no Show HN-style launches. Link to a technical writeup, not a landing page.

  • — How we built a faster grep in Rust
  • — A technical deep-dive on parser performance
  • — Why we rewrote our build tool in Zig

r/devops

~300k members

Perfect if your tool touches CI/CD, infra, observability, or deployment. The audience is technical and buys real products.

Rules to know: Self-promo allowed sparingly and usually with the [Self-Promo] or similar tag. Check the wiki.

  • — Built a tool to debug Kubernetes deploys faster
  • — Free CLI for monitoring CI pipelines
  • — How we cut Terraform plan times in half

r/webdev

~2.5M members

Huge audience for tools aimed at frontend, full-stack, or web framework developers. Showcase Saturday is your friend.

Rules to know: Self-promo is limited to the weekly Showcase Saturday thread. Outside of that, expect removal.

  • — Showcase Saturday: my open-source component inspector
  • — Built a dev tool for debugging React renders
  • — Free CLI for auditing Next.js bundles

r/opensource

~230k members

Strong fit if your dev tool is open source or has an OSS core. Audience values contribution and licensing clarity.

Rules to know: Promotion of your own OSS project is allowed but must be clearly open source with a real repo.

  • — Released v1.0 of my open-source dev tool
  • — Looking for contributors to my Go CLI
  • — Switched my project from MIT to AGPL — here's why

r/coding

~400k members

Broader than r/programming, more tolerant of project shares. Decent for general-purpose dev tools and libraries.

Rules to know: Some self-promo allowed but heavily curated. Quality bar is moderate.

  • — Made a tool that visualizes regex execution
  • — Built a code snippet manager for the terminal
  • — Sharing my Git workflow CLI

r/commandline

~75k members

Small but extremely on-target if you're building a CLI or TUI. People here genuinely love new terminal tools.

Rules to know: Self-promo of your own CLI is fine and encouraged, as long as it's actually a command-line tool.

  • — New TUI for browsing Docker containers
  • — My take on a better find/grep combo
  • — CLI for managing local dev environments

r/selfhosted

~500k members

Great fit if your dev tool can be self-hosted — runners, dashboards, internal platforms. Audience is hands-on and loyal.

Rules to know: Promotion of self-hostable projects is allowed. Pure SaaS pitches get removed.

  • — Open-source self-hosted alternative to [tool]
  • — Built a self-hosted CI runner for small teams
  • — Self-hosted dashboard for monitoring side projects

Reddit is great for getting your first hundred users, finding bugs, and seeing how people actually describe your tool back to you. It is not great for sustained growth, and one viral post rarely translates into long-term revenue. Treat each post as a conversation, not a launch.

The other thing worth saying: most founders post in five subs, get a spike, and have no idea which one actually drove signups or installs. That's the boring part — tagging your traffic, watching which communities convert, and posting more where it works. Tools like quirre exist to make that tracking less painful so you can spend your time building instead of squinting at referrer logs.

Common questions

How often should I post about my dev tool on Reddit?
Once per subreddit per major update or milestone is a safe pace. Posting the same project across multiple subs in a single day is a fast way to get flagged as a spammer. Space things out and vary the angle each time.
Will I get banned for self-promoting my CLI or library?
You can get banned, yes — especially in larger subs like r/programming if your account is mostly promotional links. The standard guideline is that fewer than 10% of your posts and comments should be self-promo. Comment, help others, and build a real account before dropping your project.
What works better than just dropping a link to my GitHub?
Lead with a story or a problem, not the link. A post titled 'I was tired of slow Docker builds so I built this' will outperform 'Check out my new tool' every time. Include a GIF or screenshot, explain the trade-offs, and respond to every comment in the first few hours.
Should I post in big subs or small niche ones?
Both, but small niche subs almost always convert better for dev tools. r/commandline with 75k subs will send you more actual users than a borderline-removed post in r/programming. Start small, nail the message, then go bigger.
Is it worth posting if my dev tool isn't open source?
Yes, but expect more friction. Closed-source tools do fine in r/SaaS, r/indiehackers, and r/devops, but communities like r/opensource and r/selfhosted will largely ignore you. Be upfront about pricing and licensing in the post itself — developers hate finding out it's paid only after clicking through.
How do I know which subreddit actually drove signups?
Use UTM parameters on every Reddit link you post, and check your analytics by source. Reddit strips referrers in some cases, so tagged URLs are the only reliable way. This is exactly the kind of attribution quirre is built to handle for indie founders posting across many communities.