Build in Public — Best Practices

Philosophy

Build in public isn't marketing. It's letting people watch you work. The best posts feel like you're narrating your thought process to a friend who's also a senior engineer. No hype sludge. No "I'm excited to announce." Just: here's what I built, here's why it matters, here's what I learned.

What to Share (and What Not To)

Share:

• Technical decisions and the reasoning behind them ("Chose SQLite over Postgres because...")
• Architecture insights ("Here's how the 9-tier routing pipeline works")
• Failures and what you learned ("Spent 3 hours debugging a race condition. Root cause: ...")
• Before/after metrics ("Compaction death spirals: 26 → 0 after Mnemos")
• Open source releases with context, not just links
• Counter-intuitive findings that surprised you

Never share:

• Revenue numbers, user counts, valuation
• Customer names or identifiable client details
• Internal URLs, API keys, credentials
• Anything covered by NDA
• Roadmap promises you might not keep
• "We're hiring" disguised as content

Channel-Specific Best Practices

LinkedIn

Audience: Engineers, CTOs, founders who build. They scroll between meetings looking for something that makes them think.

Format:

• 1-3 paragraphs, 800-2000 characters sweet spot
• Lead with the insight, not the context
• Use line breaks generously — wall of text kills engagement
• One clear takeaway per post
• No external links in first paragraph (LinkedIn penalizes off-platform clicks)

Tone: Confident, teaches something. You're the senior engineer explaining your approach to a peer. No jargon without explanation. If you used a technique others might not know, explain it briefly.

When to post: Tuesday-Thursday, 8-10 AM in target timezone. Avoid weekends and Monday mornings (everyone's catching up).

What works:

• Technical deep dives with concrete code examples
• "How I built X" narratives with architecture diagrams
• Lessons learned from failures (these outperform success stories 3:1)
• Opinionated takes on industry trends (but only if you have data)

What flops:

• "Excited to announce" press releases
• Pure product updates without technical insight
• Motivational content without substance
• Posts longer than 2500 chars without strong hook

X (Twitter)

Audience: Developers who ship. They scroll fast and judge faster. You have one sentence to earn their attention.

Format:

• 280 characters max
• No threads unless the insight genuinely needs 3+ posts
• Lead with the counter-intuitive or surprising element
• One idea per post. If you have two ideas, make two posts.
• Screenshots need alt-text describing what's shown

Tone: Sharp, opinionated, zero filler. Imagine you're texting a builder friend. If it sounds like marketing, delete it.

When to post: Tuesday-Friday, 9-11 AM or 2-4 PM in target timezone. Weekends can work for developer audience (they're building side projects).

What works:

• One-sentence technical insights ("The difference between a good API and a great one is error messages.")
• Before/after comparisons with metrics
• "Just shipped X. Here's the one thing that surprised me."
• Asking genuine technical questions (engagement bait backfires)

What flops:

• Hashtag stuffing
• Threads that could be one post
• Generic "hot take" without personal experience
• Posting links without context

Content Calendar Rhythm

Daily (if you have something to say):

• One X post about what you're working on or learned today

Weekly:

• One LinkedIn post: deeper technical insight or project milestone

Per event (triggered by plugin):

• PR merged → LinkedIn within 24h, X same day
• Feature shipped → both channels, LinkedIn first, X 90 min later
• Review passed → X only (architecture insights are punchy)
• Major release → LinkedIn deep dive + X announcement

Anti-Patterns to Avoid

1. The "we" trap — Solo builders using "we" sounds insecure. Use "I" unless you're actually a team.
2. Engagement bait — "Agree?" or "Thoughts?" at the end of every post reads as desperate. Let the insight stand alone.
3. Posting without building — If you haven't shipped in 2 weeks, don't post. Your content should be a byproduct of your work, not a substitute for it.
4. The LinkedIn bro voice — "I'm humbled and honored to share..." Delete immediately. You're not accepting an award.
5. Over-polishing — A post that sounds like it went through 5 rounds of editing reads as corporate. Ship the draft.
6. Ignoring replies — If someone takes time to engage, reply within 24h. The conversation in comments often outperforms the original post.

Measuring What Works

Track these signals (Buffer, LinkedIn analytics, X analytics):

• Impressions — how many people saw it
• Engagement rate — (likes + comments + reposts) / impressions
• Profile visits — did the post drive people to learn more?
• Inbound — DMs, connection requests, or emails referencing specific posts

A good LinkedIn post: 3-5% engagement rate. A great one: 8%+. On X, anything above 2% is solid for technical content.

Plugin Integration

The build-in-public plugin follows these practices automatically:

yaml
# What gets shared vs skipped:
on_pr_merged:
  - Share if: >3 files changed, meaningful commit message
  - Skip if: typo fix, dependency bump, config change only

on_feature_shipped:
  - Share: always, with screenshot
  - LinkedIn: deep dive on architecture decisions
  - X: punchy one-liner on impact

on_review_passed:
  - Share if: 3/3 unanimous approval
  - X only: architecture insights are punchy
  - Skip if: 1/3 or 0/3 (revisions aren't share-worthy)

Anonymous by Default

All posts are redacted through anonymize.yaml before publishing. Company names become generic descriptors. Revenue becomes "at scale." The reader learns about your engineering, not your employer's financials.