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.

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 https://builders-backlinks.com/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 /nicklaunches/builders-backlinks.com/blob/main/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 https://opennext.js.org/cloudflare , with Postgres Neon in production behind a Hyperdrive binding. Analytics is Cloudflare Web Analytics https://developers.cloudflare.com/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 /nicklaunches/builders-backlinks.com/blob/main/LICENSE .