# Developer Communities

> Decide what community you need, then run it: health metrics, champions, meetups and events.

A Heavybit skill in developer relations and community, from The Developer Marketing Guide.

HTML version: https://www.devmarketingguide.com/skills/developer-communities/

A developer community can drive adoption for years, or turn into a cost nobody can explain. This skill helps you decide what kind of community you need, how to run it and measure its health, how to set up champion programs, meetups and virtual events, and where the community team should sit. It draws on practitioners from Twilio, MongoDB, DigitalOcean and others.

Draws from: Peggy Rayzis, Patrick Woods, Mary Thengvall, Matt McClure, Caroline Lewko, Don Goodman-Wilson, Jono Bacon, Mike Stowe, Tamao Nakahara, Dave Nugent, Jesse Davis, Surbhi Rathore, Brian Rinaldi, Sam Noland, Jeff Atwood, Rachel Chalmers, Jade Wang, Dave McClure, Meghan Murphy, Adrian Cockcroft, Nick Gottlieb, Stormy Peters, Brian Douglas

## Use it when you're

- Deciding whether you need a community, and what kind
- Choosing an engagement model
- Measuring community health
- Starting a champion or advocacy program
- Planning meetups and virtual events
- Balancing what the community wants with what the business needs
- Deciding where the community team should report

## Try it with your agent

Connect Crucible, then describe your situation. For example:

> Use the Developer Communities skill to help me decide whether our community team should report to marketing or product.

> Use the Developer Communities skill to plan our first local meetup, from objectives to follow-up.

MCP endpoint: https://crucible.heavybit.com/mcp?utm_source=devmarketingguide&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=developer-communities

## The talks and articles behind it

This skill was built from these pieces in the Heavybit Library. All of them are free to read or watch if you want the source material yourself.

- [Is AI Killing Open Source Software? with Stormy Peters](https://www.heavybit.com/library/podcasts/open-source-ready/ep-37-is-ai-killing-open-source-software-with-stormy-peters?utm_source=devmarketingguide&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=developer-communities) (Podcast, 2026)
- [Authentic Communities in the Era of AI](https://www.heavybit.com/library/video/Authentic-Communities-in-the-Era-of-AI?utm_source=devmarketingguide&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=developer-communities) (Video, 2023)
- [Using Brain Chemistry to Build 0-to-1 Developer Communities](https://www.heavybit.com/library/article/how-to-build-zero-to-one-developer-communities?utm_source=devmarketingguide&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=developer-communities) (Article, 2023)
- [Community Lessons from GitHub, Google & GitLab with Jono Bacon](https://www.heavybit.com/library/video/community-lessons-from-github-google-gitlab-with-jono-bacon?utm_source=devmarketingguide&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=developer-communities) (Video, 2021)
- [Community Strategies from Early to Late Stage w/ Auth0, DigitalOcean, LaunchDarkly, GitHub](https://www.heavybit.com/library/video/community-strategies-from-early-to-late-stage-w-auth0-digitalocean-launchdarkly-github?utm_source=devmarketingguide&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=developer-communities) (Video, 2021)
- [So, You Want a Community: 3 Considerations with Orbit](https://www.heavybit.com/library/video/so-you-want-a-community-3-considerations-with-orbit?utm_source=devmarketingguide&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=developer-communities) (Video, 2021)
- [3 Lessons from 4 Years of Running Virtual Developer Events](https://www.heavybit.com/library/article/3-lessons-from-4-years-of-running-virtual-developer-events?utm_source=devmarketingguide&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=developer-communities) (Article, 2021)
- [Why Developer Communities are Essential for DevTools Startup Growth](https://www.heavybit.com/library/article/developer-community-startup-growth?utm_source=devmarketingguide&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=developer-communities) (Article, 2020)
- [Building Vibrant Developer Communities](https://www.heavybit.com/library/video/building-vibrant-developer-communities?utm_source=devmarketingguide&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=developer-communities) (Video, 2019)
- [3 Lessons from DevRel Experts on Building Developer Communities](https://www.heavybit.com/library/article/lessons-from-devrel-experts-on-building-developer-communities?utm_source=devmarketingguide&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=developer-communities) (Article, 2019)
- [Developer Support Best Practices](https://www.heavybit.com/library/article/developer-support-best-practices?utm_source=devmarketingguide&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=developer-communities) (Article, 2019)
- [Crossing the Chasm: From Community to Commercialization](https://www.heavybit.com/library/video/crossing-the-chasm-from-community-to-commercialization?utm_source=devmarketingguide&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=developer-communities) (Video, 2018)
- [Civilized Discourse… But How?](https://www.heavybit.com/library/video/civilized-discourse-but-how?utm_source=devmarketingguide&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=developer-communities) (Video, 2017)
- [So You Want To Host A Meetup? Pt. 1: Getting Started & Objectives](https://www.heavybit.com/library/article/so-you-want-to-host-a-meetup-pt-1-getting-started?utm_source=devmarketingguide&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=developer-communities) (Article, 2016)
- [So You Want to Host a Meetup? Pt.2: Promotion & Audience Targeting](https://www.heavybit.com/library/article/part-2-meetup-planning-for-dev-cos-promotion-and-audience-targeting?utm_source=devmarketingguide&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=developer-communities) (Article, 2016)
- [So You Want To Host A Meetup? Pt. 3: Program Design & Audience Follow-up](https://www.heavybit.com/library/article/part-3-meetup-planning-for-dev-cos-program-design-audience-follow-up?utm_source=devmarketingguide&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=developer-communities) (Article, 2016)
- [Building Successful Developer Communities](https://www.heavybit.com/library/video/building-successful-developer-communities?utm_source=devmarketingguide&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=developer-communities) (Video, 2016)
- [DX and Open Sourcing at Netflix](https://www.heavybit.com/library/video/dx-and-open-sourcing-at-netflix?utm_source=devmarketingguide&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=developer-communities) (Video, 2016)
- [User-Driven Product at Stack Overflow & Stack Exchange](https://www.heavybit.com/library/video/user-driven-product-at-stack-overflow-stack-exchange?utm_source=devmarketingguide&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=developer-communities) (Video, 2015)
- [Q&A: Building a Global Community](https://www.heavybit.com/library/video/qa-building-a-global-community?utm_source=devmarketingguide&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=developer-communities) (Video, 2015)
- [Rules for Radicals and Developer Marketing](https://www.heavybit.com/library/video/rules-for-radicals-and-developer-marketing?utm_source=devmarketingguide&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=developer-communities) (Video, 2014)
- [Building and Leveraging an Open Source Developer Community.](https://www.heavybit.com/library/video/building-and-leveraging-an-open-source-developer-community?utm_source=devmarketingguide&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=developer-communities) (Video, 2014)
- [The ROI of Community](https://www.heavybit.com/library/video/the-roi-of-community?utm_source=devmarketingguide&utm_medium=markdown&utm_content=developer-communities) (Video, 2014)

## More in this collection

- [DevRel Strategy](https://www.devmarketingguide.com/skills/devrel-strategy.md)
- [Developer Onboarding & Documentation](https://www.devmarketingguide.com/skills/developer-onboarding-documentation.md)