Developer community monitoring
Monitor Hacker News, GitHub, Stack Overflow and DEV
Developers judge your product in Ask HN threads, GitHub issues, Stack Overflow answers and DEV tutorials. One keyword list covers all four. AI keeps the mentions that matter and sends them to Slack, email, webhooks, API or MCP.
7-day free trial · No credit card · 2-min setup
Ask HN: What is everyone using for brand monitoring? Google Alerts catches almost nothing anymore
throwaway_builds · Ask HN · 2m
Buy intentHighNeutral
Webhook signature check fails after upgrading the SDK to v3, repro attached
lena-k · issue · 9m
Bug reportHighNegative
How do I retry a failed job without duplicating events? Docs only cover the happy path
user4417 · question · 14m
QuestionHighNeutral
I tried five ORMs for a side project. Here is what I kept
Tom Becker · article · 31m
ComparisonHighNeutralWould you accept a PR adding an exporter for your product? Our team already uses it
opsbot-dev · discussion · 48m
Feature requestHighPositive
From the people who use it
“I wanted something that monitored the places our users actually hang out. I did not want to miss conversations because I was at the wrong party. Seeing Hacker News, Reddit, and GitHub was enough for me to try it.”
Where developers talk
Four communities, one feed
Each one tells you something different about how developers see your product.
- Hacker NewsAsk HN recommendations, Show HN launches, technical criticismReply while the thread is still on the front page
- GitHubIssues and discussions that name you, READMEs and awesome listsCatch integration bugs and get onto the lists
- Stack OverflowHow-to questions, error threads, outdated workaroundsAnswer, then fix the docs page that caused it
- DEVTutorials, comparison posts, listicles, migration writeupsCorrect old setup steps and thank the authors
Hacker News
Hacker News monitoring
HN has no notifications and no tagging. A thread about you can peak and fade before anyone on your team sees it.
What Octolens tracks
- Stories
- Comments
- Show HN
- Ask HN
- Who's hiring threads
Ask HN picks a winner
Someone asks what to use for the job your product does. The first few answers decide what the thread recommends.
Wrong claims collect upvotes
An outdated benchmark near the top of a thread reads as fact. Reply with specifics while people are still reading.
Your launch, as it happens
A Show HN or a story about you shows up in your feed when it is collected, so you can answer questions in the comments.
Hacker News mentionsAsk HN: What is everyone using for brand monitoring? Google Alerts catches almost nothing anymore
throwaway_builds · Ask HN · 6m
Buy intentHighNeutralTheir self-hosted setup docs are outdated, spent half a day fighting the install
grumpy_sre · comment · 18m
ComplaintHighNegativeComparing a few listening tools that actually cover HN and Reddit, recommendations welcome
side_project_sam · comment · 47m
ComparisonMediumNeutral
HN's Firebase and Algolia APIs are free. Neither one pushes new matches to you or tells a passing mention from a real one. Octolens runs that part. Hacker News in Claude or Cursor
“Before Octolens, I would go to Hacker News, Reddit, LinkedIn, X, search Metabase, and save those searches as bookmarks. I would spend the first half of my day manually monitoring and helping.”
GitHub
GitHub monitoring
Issues, discussions and READMEs are where developers decide which tools stay in the stack.
What Octolens tracks
- Issues in public repos
- GitHub Discussions
- READMEs
- Awesome lists
Bugs in someone else's repo
Your SDK breaks inside another project and the issue lands in their tracker. You never see it unless you search for it.
Requests that name you
Users ask other maintainers to support your product. Each of those issues is demand you can point to.
Lists that recommend tools
Awesome lists and project READMEs compare tools in your category. Know when you get added, and when a competitor does.
GitHub mentionsWebhook signature check fails after upgrading the SDK to v3, repro attached
lena-k · issue · 12m
Bug reportHighNegativeWould you accept a PR adding an exporter for your product? Our team already uses it
opsbot-dev · discussion · 35m
Feature requestHighPositiveAdded to Monitoring: three alternatives with a short note on pricing and API access
awesome-devtools · README · 2h
CompetitorMediumNeutral
“Octolens is very helpful for us to find relevant conversations in social media for our open-source product. Would not want to miss this in my toolchain anymore!”
Robin Guldener, Co-Founder, Nango (YC W23)Stack Overflow
Stack Overflow monitoring
Every question about your product on Stack Overflow is a support ticket you never received.
What Octolens tracks
- Questions
- Answers
- Error threads
- Workarounds
Docs gaps in their words
The same question asked three times tells you exactly which page of your docs needs work.
Old answers stay on top
An accepted answer from two major versions ago keeps sending people to a workaround. Post the current fix.
Features nobody found
People ask how to build something your product already does. That is a positioning problem you can see.
Stack Overflow mentionsHow do I retry a failed job without duplicating events? Docs only cover the happy path
user4417 · question · 9m
QuestionHighNeutralThis was fixed in 2.4, the workaround in the accepted answer is no longer needed
m_arora · answer · 1h
User feedbackMediumPositiveRate limit error when calling the API from a serverless function, anyone seen this?
dkr · question · 3h
Bug reportHighNegative
“Someone will say, 'I'm trying to run a workflow and I want a durable agent, but I don't know how to do this.' We have a feature called Workflows that does exactly that; they're just not aware of it. That tells me our docs aren't findable enough, or we haven't promoted the feature well.”
Hazal Mestci, Developer Relations Engineer, RenderDEV
DEV.to monitoring
Tutorials and writeups on DEV decide how many developers first set up your tool.
What Octolens tracks
- Articles
- Tutorials
- Comparison posts
- Listicles
Tutorials go stale
A popular post written for last year's version sends readers straight into errors. A note to the author fixes it for everyone.
Comparisons get written anyway
Writers compare you with competitors whether you know or not. Add facts early, before the post gets shared around.
Fans write first
People who write about your tool unprompted are your best candidates for guest posts and community programs.
DEV mentionsSetting up type-safe database access in 10 minutes (step 3 uses the old CLI flag)
Priya N. · tutorial · 22m
TutorialHighPositiveI tried five ORMs for a side project. Here is what I kept
Tom Becker · article · 1h
ComparisonHighNeutralWhy we moved our background jobs off cron and what broke on the way
Ana Ruiz · article · 4h
User feedbackMediumNeutral
“People may post things like 'Prisma is slow,' but it's based on outdated info or hearsay. With Octolens, we can jump in, respond with the facts, and over time, that really shifts public perception.”
Marc Hess, Developer Advocacy Manager, PrismaDelivery
Where the mentions go
All four communities are on every plan, and so are webhooks, API and MCP.
Slack and email
A channel per community or per product, with High relevance only if you want it quiet.
Webhooks
Open a Linear issue for every GitHub bug report or Stack Overflow error thread.
API
Pull every mention as structured JSON into your warehouse or your own dashboards.
MCP
Ask Claude or Cursor what developers said about your last release this week.
New mentions arrive hourly on Pro and in real time on Scale.
Pricing
Finally, social listening with fair pricing
API, webhooks and MCP on every plan. Set a spend cap anytime. 7-day free trial, no credit card.
Pro
For growing brands
Billed annually
React faster & integrate with your workflows
- 15,000 mentions
- 10 keywords
- Covers all socials & community platforms
- Hourly refresh
- API, Webhooks & MCP server
- Slack & Email alerts
- AI filters all mentions
- Analytics & daily brief email
Scale
For brands with communities
Billed annually
Full visibility into your brand's reputation
- 50,000 mentions
- 40 keywords
- Additionally covers podcasts, news, web & newsletters
- Real-time refresh
- API, Webhooks & MCP server
- Slack & Email alerts
- AI filters all mentions
- Analytics & daily brief email
Enterprise
For viral brands
Talk to us about volume
Custom monitoring for multi-brand portfolios
- Multiple workspaces
- Unlimited mentions
- Unlimited keywords
- Custom AI agents
Need more mentions or keywords? Every plan flexes with your volume: mentions beyond your plan's quota keep flowing and are billed at your plan's rate (from $0.01 per mention). Set a monthly spend cap or turn flex mentions off anytime in settings. Extra keywords from $5/month.
Pricing calculatorWhat is developer community monitoring?
It means tracking mentions of your brand, products, competitors and industry terms in the places developers talk shop: Hacker News, GitHub, Stack Overflow and DEV. You see the questions, bug reports, recommendations and criticism about your product without searching each site by hand.
Which developer communities does Octolens monitor?
Hacker News, GitHub, Stack Overflow and DEV. The same keywords also cover Reddit, Twitter/X, LinkedIn, YouTube, Bluesky and the rest of the sources Octolens monitors, so an HN thread and the Reddit crosspost about it show up in one feed.
What Hacker News content can I monitor?
Public HN stories and the comments under them. That includes Show HN launches, Ask HN questions and job threads that contain your keywords.
What GitHub content can I monitor?
Public GitHub issues, discussions and READMEs. That covers bug reports and feature requests in any public repo, GitHub Discussions threads, and README files such as awesome lists and project docs that recommend or compare tools.
What Stack Overflow content can I monitor?
Public Stack Overflow questions and answers that contain your keywords: the how-to questions, error threads and workarounds where your product gets discussed.
What DEV.to content can I monitor?
Public DEV.to articles that contain your keywords, including tutorials, comparison posts, listicles and writeups where developers document the tools they use.
How often does Octolens check for new mentions?
New mentions arrive hourly on the Pro plan and in real time on the Scale plan. Questions about your setup? Write to hi@octolens.com.
Do I need an account on these platforms?
No. Octolens monitors public content independently of any personal or company account. You only need your own account when you want to reply.
How is this different from Google Alerts?
Google Alerts only covers pages Google has indexed. HN comments, GitHub issues and fresh Stack Overflow questions show up late or not at all. Octolens collects them as they appear and scores each one for relevance, so you can join a thread while it is still live.
Can I send developer mentions to Slack, Linear or my own tools?
Yes. Send alerts to Slack or email, push them anywhere with webhooks, or pull them through the API or the MCP server. Webhooks, API and MCP are included on every plan.
How much does developer community monitoring cost?
Octolens starts with a free 7-day trial. After that, Pro costs $159/month billed annually or $199/month billed monthly, and includes Hacker News, GitHub, Stack Overflow and DEV.
Other platforms
Monitor other platforms
One keyword list covers every source. Explore monitoring for:
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