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Backlink Exchange for Indie Builders

A free backlink exchange for indie builders, driven from a coding agent, has launched at builders-backlinks.com. Built by nicklaunches.com, the platform exposes an MCP server that lets developers trade links directly from their repository, addressing the 71% reply rate and 35% publish rate for link requests. The open-source project requires Node 22+, pnpm, and PostgreSQL, and deploys automatically via Cloudflare Workers and Neon Postgres.

read2 min views1 publishedJul 30, 2026
Backlink Exchange for Indie Builders
Image: source

A free backlink exchange for indie builders, driven from your coding agent.

Submit a site, get matched with another builder in your category, and trade one link each. The whole exchange is exposed as an MCP server, so the trade happens where the work happens.

Built by nicklaunches.com · @nicklaunches

Ranking Raccoon publishes that 71% of link requests get a reply and only 35% become a published link. So roughly half of agreed trades die, not because anyone changed their mind, but because placing the link means opening an editor, finding the right page, writing a sentence, committing, and deploying.

An agent is already sitting in that repository.

> trade a link

⏺ list_matches            a masked partner in your category
⏺ respond_to_match        both sides accept, identities unlock
⏺ get_link_brief          target URL, approved anchors, guidance
⏺ Edit content/blog/…     the agent writes it into your repo
⏺ mark_link_placed        ✓ verified live · content · dofollow
claude mcp add --transport http builders-backlinks \
  https://builders-backlinks.com/api/mcp \
  --header "Authorization: Bearer bb_live_..."

Get a key at /app/key

. The read tools (search_partners

, get_categories

, get_rules

) need no key at all, so the server connects and is useful before you sign in to anything.

Eleven tools, fully documented at /docs/mcp. Cursor, Codex, and Gemini CLI config is on that page too, though only the Claude Code and Cursor forms have been confirmed against the real clients.

Requires Node 22+, pnpm, and a local PostgreSQL. The app lives in next-app/

; there is no root package.

cd next-app
pnpm install
cp .env.example .env.local     # then fill it in
createdb builders_backlinks    # or point DATABASE_URL anywhere
pnpm db:migrate
pnpm dev

pnpm dev

is Next on Node, which is convenient and is not the production runtime. CLAUDE.md has the full command list, how to run it the way it actually deploys, and the workerd behaviour that only shows up there.

Cloudflare Workers via OpenNext, with Postgres (Neon in production) behind a Hyperdrive binding. Analytics is Cloudflare Web Analytics, which is cookieless, and which is what keeps the claim on /privacy

true: the only cookie this site sets is your sign-in session.

Deploys are automatic. Push to main

and .github/workflows/deploy.yml

typechecks, lints, tests, applies migrations, builds and deploys. Nothing is run by hand.

MIT. See LICENSE.

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