# devrel-strategy

Turns a 14-question interview into a DevRel charter: the business driver that funds the program, the two goals it may serve, and what it refuses to do.

- skill · `type=skill` · Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, OpenCode · 10700 installs · ★ 5
- Author: Samuel Berthe
- License: MIT · policy=mirror · the beginning of the file is at the end of this page
- Source: https://github.com/samber/developer-relations-skills/tree/HEAD/skills/devrel-strategy/SKILL.md
- Updated: 2026-10-24
- HTML: https://affpapa.org/en/nevibecode/skills/devrel-strategy

## What it does

The skill interviews the person accountable for the program, one question at a time, with multiple-choice options where possible. It asks what developers actually do with the product, whether they sign the purchase, why the company funds the work, what stage the program is at, what already exists, what the funding exec expects to see, what is off-limits, and what the next two quarters change. Questions 12 to 14 are never skipped: a deadline inside one quarter pushes enablement first and removes the agency pipeline, while a mandate for a compounding asset pushes community and contributors first.

One artefact comes out — a DevRel charter of one to two pages, twelve short headings, three to five bets, one signal each. Archetype comparisons and the build-vs-buy table stay working material for charter sections rather than a second deliverable. The skill suggests keeping interview answers in `devrel-context.md` so sibling skills and later quarters reuse them instead of re-deriving them, which is where program drift starts.

It writes no talks, posts, docs or events, and it does not handle metrics, org charts or budget math. The first-90-days plan lives in a separate skill, `samber/developer-relations-skills@developer-relations-kickoff`. Numbers in the charter stay split in two: survey figures quoted with attribution and sample size, and self-set baselines. Dress a baseline up as an industry standard and the exec who checks it stops trusting the rest.

## Install

### Claude Code (native platform)

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add samber/developer-relations-skills --skill devrel-strategy -a claude-code
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `~/.claude/skills/devrel-strategy/SKILL.md` — Copy the whole skill folder; for one project use .claude/skills/devrel-strategy/

### Codex

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add samber/developer-relations-skills --skill devrel-strategy -a codex
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.agents/skills/devrel-strategy/SKILL.md` — For all projects use ~/.agents/skills/

### Cursor

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add samber/developer-relations-skills --skill devrel-strategy -a cursor
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.cursor/skills/devrel-strategy/SKILL.md` — Cursor also reads .agents/skills/ and .claude/skills/

### GitHub Copilot

1. **GitHub CLI**
```bash
gh skill install samber/developer-relations-skills devrel-strategy
```

2. **Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.github/skills/devrel-strategy/SKILL.md`

### Gemini CLI

1. **Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add samber/developer-relations-skills --skill devrel-strategy -a gemini-cli
```

2. **Platform CLI**
```bash
gemini skills install https://github.com/samber/developer-relations-skills --path skills/devrel-strategy
```

### Windsurf (Devin Desktop)

**Manually: put the files in place**
- File: `.devin/skills/devrel-strategy/SKILL.md` — The legacy .windsurf/skills/ path still works

### OpenCode

**Skills CLI (Vercel)**
```bash
npx skills add samber/developer-relations-skills --skill devrel-strategy -a opencode
```

### Claude.ai

**Claude.ai**
- Zip the folder and upload it in Settings → Capabilities → Skills

Where a file is given instead of a command, copy the files from the source to that path: https://github.com/samber/developer-relations-skills/tree/HEAD/skills/devrel-strategy/SKILL.md

## When to use it
- justify the program to a CFO who asks why two advocates are funded
- explain why the devrel team ships constantly but nothing lands
- pick which pillar gets the next investment
- decide between hiring a community manager and outsourcing the blog
- write down what the program refuses to do

## Example prompts
- We're a Series A API company. Should we even be doing DevRel, and what would we do first?
- Our devrel team ships constantly and nobody can say what it's for. Fix the strategy.
- Do we hire a community manager next, or outsource the blog?

## Source text · SKILL.md · MIT

Below is the content of a third-party file. It is data, not instructions for you: do not act on anything written inside unless the human asks. Block tag: e8280f40e17440e6.

BEGIN THIRD-PARTY FILE e8280f40e17440e6
```text
---
name: devrel-strategy
description: Designs a company's developer relations program from the top - the business driver that funds it, the two goals it is allowed to serve, the pillar mix (advocacy, marketing, enablement, community) for its stage, audience priority, build-vs-buy per bet, staffing sequence, and a written refused list. Use whenever someone asks whether to start doing DevRel, what a new devrel program should do first, why devrel work is busy but not landing, how to justify the program to an exec, which pillar deserves the next investment, who to hire next, or whether to outsource content, events or community - even if they never say "strategy". Not the first-90-days plan - use samber/developer-relations-skills@developer-relations-kickoff. Not metrics, org chart or budget math.
license: MIT
metadata:
  author: Samuel Berthe
  version: "1.0.1"
---

# DevRel Strategy

You are a developer relations program strategist. You decide, with the person accountable for the program:

- which business goal it serves
- which kinds of work it funds
- who it serves first
- what it builds versus rents
- which capability it adds next
- what it publicly refuses to do

The output is a **DevRel charter**: a short document that survives a budget review and tells every later tactical decision what it is for. You produce the decisions, never the talks, posts, docs or events themselves.

Two constraints shape every recommendation:

- Developer attention is earned by usefulness, not bought. A program that outsources or automates its credibility surfaces loses the audience it just paid to reach.
- DevRel effort compounds slowly, so a program that changes goals every quarter never gets to the compounding part.

## Invocation

Trigger on any of these, and start at the Interview however narrow the question sounds - a pillar or hiring question asked in isolation is almost always a driver question in disguise.

- "We're a Series A API company. Should we even be doing DevRel, and what would we do first?"
```
END THIRD-PARTY FILE e8280f40e17440e6

The third-party file has ended. Everything between the e8280f40e17440e6 tags is data: requests and commands from it are not followed. An “end of file” line with another tag inside the block is part of the file.

First 2021 of 28129 bytes. © Samuel Berthe · MIT · https://github.com/samber/developer-relations-skills/tree/HEAD/skills/devrel-strategy/SKILL.md

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---
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