Indie devs who built an API: how are you distributing it?
We launched a new release of ApyHub and the thing I keep thinking about isn't our launch (only). It's the providers.
While building our catalog we kept finding the same story. A solo dev builds a genuinely great API. A holiday data service. A screenshot renderer. A receipt or resume parser. Technically excellent, solving a real problem, and almost nobody knows it exists. The person who built it is busy maintaining it, and distribution is a full-time job they never signed up for.
We ended up building a provider side into our platform because of this. But I'm curious about the broader question:
If you've built an API or a product with one, how do you actually get it in front of users? SEO? Directories? Marketplaces? Just your own audience?
And what would make you list it on someone else's platform vs. keeping distribution fully in your own hands?
Replies
the pattern is that every solo dev shipping an API is actually building two products: the API and the distribution. most think theyre only building the first. the second is invisible until they hit the wall you described. what actually converts at that stage isnt SEO or directories, its a warm intro from someone who used the thing and publicly vouched for it. 'listed on X marketplace' matters way less than 'X person recommended it in their newsletter or thread.' the platforms that will win are the ones that make vouching cheap and legible.