Shipstack

Rules

Rank is dollars paid, nothing else. Here is every rule the board runs on. Watch them play out.

What can be listed

Things developers can actually use: a GitHub, GitLab or Codeberg repo, an npm, PyPI or crates package, a Hugging Face model or space, an MCP server (smithery.ai, glama.ai, mcp.so), a Chrome, Firefox, VS Code, Open VSX, Cursor or Raycast extension, an App Store or Google Play app, or a product site over https, including a SaaS you run (list it under SaaS & apps).

A product site is keyed to its host, with www dropped and the path ignored, so each site gets one listing. Pages on shared platforms that don't have their own listing type yet (Docker Hub, Product Hunt, Bitbucket and the like) are refused, since everything there would share one listing. Telegram, Discord and WhatsApp invites, NSFW content and bare X handles are rejected. An X handle can go in the optional field on a real listing.

Rank

  • Bids are whole US dollars. A new listing starts at $5. Raises go up by at least $1. The cap is $999,999.
  • Every payment adds to three scores at once: today, this week and all-time.
  • Taking #1 on a board costs $5 more than the current #1.
  • Equal bids: the older successful payment stays ahead.
  • Only the first payer can raise a listing. Use the same artifact URL and the same checkout email, and you pay only the difference.
  • Anyone else can back a listing through an open owner pool.
  • Every Monday at 00:00 UTC the week score is halved and rounded down.
  • Paying buys rank. It does not make you the owner of the project.

Today

The today board ranks by what was paid since midnight UTC and starts from zero every day. It ranks separately from the week, so a new $5 listing can win the day without matching a big week total. Taking today's #1 costs today's #1 plus $5.

Identity

There are no accounts. A listing is its artifact URL plus the email Stripe reports for the first successful payment. That payer controls the listing.

Pools

  • Only the owner can open a pool. It runs for 48 hours.
  • The target is the gap to #1 on the week board, fixed at the moment the pool opens.
  • A pool needs a GitHub repo with working GitHub data, a listing at least 24 hours old, and an owner who paid at least 30% of the current week score. A listing that is already #1 has nothing to fund.
  • Backers chip in $5 to $25. The owner has no cap. Cards are held, not charged, until the pool fills.
  • When it fills, the target is added to today, week and all-time in one step, and the holds are charged.
  • If it times out or is cancelled, every hold is released. Charges on a filled pool are not refunded.

Clicks, badges and emails

Outbound clicks go through /go/[id] and are counted. Rows show lifetime clicks. Cost per click is the last payment divided by clicks since that payment. Until there is a click after the last bid, no rate is shown rather than a made-up one.

Every listing can embed a live badge from /badge/[id].svg, with ?board=today or ?board=all-time for the other boards. If a payment pushes you down the week or today board, the first payer gets one email with a link to take the spot back.

Right before the Monday decay, the week board is frozen and published as a weekly recap. Owners get a short report on where their listing finished, and anyone can subscribe to the recap.