builders-backlinks.com

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

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Why MCP is the point, not a feature

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

Install

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.

Local development

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

To see the inbox with something in it, seed a few threads:

pnpm seed:inbox                # local databases only; it refuses anything else

That writes four throwaway members and one thread per stage — undecided, waiting on you, agreed and talking, both links live, expired — plus .seed/inbox.json with their ids and sign-in cookies. pnpm test:inbox (the API) and pnpm test:e2e (the browser) seed the same fixtures themselves.

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. What shipped, and when, is in CHANGELOG.md.

Hosting

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.

Licence

MIT. See LICENSE.