BacklinkFlow

Zero-cost backlink & directory submission engine for indie hackers.

1,123 vetted directories · AI-tailored submission copy · Playwright browser automation · proof-of-submission reports — no SaaS, no credits, no $79 upsell.

TL;DR — Submitator, ListingBott, BoringLaunch charge $29–499 to do what BacklinkFlow does for free: a curated directory list, AI-generated per-directory copy, browser automation, and a status report. The only thing you bring is your own AI endpoint (OmniRoute, OpenAI, or any OpenAI-compatible API). Live-verified. MIT licensed.

The what:

| | What it does | How | |---|---|---| | Database | 1,123 directories across 9 categories (SaaS, AI, travel, startup, general, community, reddit, etc.) | Merged from 11 open-source lists, deduped, live-verified | | AI copy | Per-directory tagline + description matching your site's voice | Your AI endpoint (OpenAI-compatible) | | Automation | Real browser submissions via Playwright (--go) | Headless Chromium + smart field detection | | Proof | Screenshots + per-directory markdown report | .linkflow/report.md + .linkflow/proofs/*.png | | Curation | db:review flags dead links / homepage-as-submit | Idempotent regeneration from sources | | Cost | $0 (you provide the AI endpoint, typically free) | No paid APIs, no SaaS subscription |

Why BacklinkFlow?

Every paid directory-submission service is the same three things wrapped in a dashboard:

1. A list of where to submit — this is open data
2. Per-directory copy — this is a 5-line AI call
3. A status report — this is a JSON file + a markdown table

BacklinkFlow gives you all three, plus actual browser automation for sites with open forms. The moat is honesty: 876 directories live-verified, 221 marked dead with reason, 26 marked paid. No padding with self-owned link farms. No "AI" that means "Army of Indians."

vs competitors:

| | BacklinkFlow | Submitator | ListingBott | BoringLaunch | |---|---|---|---|---| | Directories | 1,123 (876 alive) | ~150 | ~250 | ~200 | | Cost | $0 | $29–79 | $499 | $249 | | Time to submit | 24–48h (with --go) | 24–48h | 1 month | 7 days | | Your AI endpoint | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | | Self-hostable | ✅ | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ | | Source list | ✅ CREDITS.md | ❌ proprietary | ❌ | ❌ | | Badges handled | manual (v0.3) | ✅ | ✅ | ❌ | | Open source | ✅ MIT | ❌ | ❌ | ❌ |

Install

# from source
git clone https://github.com/imsankz/backlinkflow.git
cd linkflow && npm install && npm run build

# or (when published)
npm install -g linkflow

Quick start

# 1. Create config
backlinkflow init

# 2. Edit linkflow.config.json + .env.local (AI endpoint)
#    AI_BASE_URL=http://192.168.0.254:20128/v1  (OmniRoute)
#    AI_API_KEY=...  AI_MODEL=auto/best-free

# 3. Explore the database
backlinkflow stats
backlinkflow list --category startup --limit 10
backlinkflow search "product hunt"

# 4. Generate AI-tailored submission copy (no submission)
backlinkflow payload https://yoursite.com --directory "Future Tools"

# 5. Plan submissions (dry-run — nothing recorded)
backlinkflow submit https://yoursite.com --dry-run --limit 10

# 6. Real automation — Playwright browser submits for you
backlinkflow submit https://yoursite.com --go --limit 10

# 7. Track + report
backlinkflow status
backlinkflow report   # → .linkflow/report.md (Submitator-style proof)

Multiple sites, one tool

BacklinkFlow is generic — bring your own site config. Each product = one config file:

# SaaS product
backlinkflow submit https://kreatorlane.com --config examples/linkflow.config.kreatorlane.json --category startup --go --limit 5

# Travel blog
backlinkflow submit https://chasingwhereabouts.com --config examples/linkflow.config.chasingwhereabouts.json --category travel --go --limit 5

No hardcoded sites. Examples in examples/.

Commands

| Command | Description | |---|---| | backlinkflow list [--category X] [--limit N] | List directories in the database | | backlinkflow search <query> | Search directories by name/notes/URL | | backlinkflow submit <url> [--dry-run] [--limit N] [--category X] [--go] [--config file.json] | Generate payloads + submit. --go = real Playwright automation | | backlinkflow payload <url> [--directory X] | AI-tailored submission copy only | | backlinkflow status | Tracker summary (submitted/pending/failed) | | backlinkflow report | Regenerate proof-of-submission report | | backlinkflow stats | Database stats (counts by category, alive/dead) | | backlinkflow indexnow <url> | Ping IndexNow (Bing/Yandex/Naver/Seznam) + Google for instant indexing | | backlinkflow awesome <repo> --dry-run | Generate awesome-list PR snippet (never opens PRs) | | backlinkflow measure <url> | Measure backlinks via free Common Crawl index | | backlinkflow badge [list\|show <name>\|install] | Badge registry + install instructions (the high-DR moat) | | backlinkflow db:review | Flag DB quality issues (dead links, homepage-as-submit) | | backlinkflow db:regenerate | Rebuild DB from source lists | | backlinkflow init | Write config template |

Database

ai: 331   startup: 612   general: 80   travel: 26
ai-zh: 33  general-zh: 14  community: 13  reddit: 10  awesome: 4
TOTAL: 1,123  ·  auto-submittable: 183  ·  alive: 876  ·  dead: 221  ·  paid: 26

Every URL was live-verified via concurrent HTTP + DNS resolution — 76 truly dead (DNS), 79 with dead submit paths (HTTP 404), 6 connection refused, 29 timeout-confirmed. Soft-errors (402/500/526) are flagged but not killed (may be transient).

Source coverage (11 lists, all credited in CREDITS.md):

| Source | Stars | Type | |---|---|---| | s87343472/backlink-pilot | ⭐348 | Base target set (rich metadata) | | mmccaff/PlacesToPostYourStartup | ⭐6,881 | Canonical "Ask HN" directory list | | theshubh77/awesome-saas-directories | ⭐56 | SaaS launch platforms | | best-of-ai/ai-directories | ⭐868 | AI tool directories | | volodstaimi/Startup-Launch-List | ⭐8 | 580+ startup directories | | BossChow/ultimate-submit-list | ⭐151 | Top-100 directory table | | rushout09/directory-submission-sites | ⭐12 | 250+ free sites | | submitdirectories/submitdirectories | ⭐9 | AI/SaaS/Tool/Startup lists | | nilandev/startup-directories | ⭐26 | Subreddits + directories | | mahseema/awesome-saas-directories | ⭐242 | SaaS directories | | DirectorySurf/awesome-launch-platforms | ⭐252 | Launch platforms |

Per-entry provenance is in the data itself: notes: [from <source>] in the YAML.

Configuration

linkflow.config.json:

{
  "siteName": "My Product",
  "siteUrl": "https://example.com",
  "siteDescription": "A short, honest description.",
  "tags": ["saas", "devtools"],
  "contentDomain": "SaaS product",
  "writingSample": "2-3 sentences in your site voice",
  "ai": {
    "provider": "openai",
    "baseUrl": "http://192.168.0.254:20128/v1",
    "apiKey": "your-omniroute-key",
    "model": "auto/best-free",
    "maxCallsPerRun": 20
  },
  "pacing": { "minSeconds": 60, "perDay": 10 }
}

.env.local (overrides config):

AI_PROVIDER=openai
AI_BASE_URL=http://192.168.0.254:20128/v1
AI_API_KEY=sk-...
AI_MODEL=auto/best-free

Works with any OpenAI-compatible endpoint:

• OmniRoute (free, local)
• OpenAI, Anthropic, Groq, OpenRouter
• LM Studio, Ollama, vLLM (local)
• Any custom server

The AI client is SSE-tolerant — works with providers that stream even when stream: false is requested (OmniRoute).

Database curation

The directory database is the product's moat. scripts/regenerate-db.py rebuilds it idempotently from the 11 source lists (annotated [from <source>]). backlinkflow db:review flags quality issues.

Review verdict:

• 1,123 entries, 9 categories — full coverage from all 11 sources
• 876 verified alive — every URL live-checked via scripts/check-urls.py (concurrent HTTP + DNS verification)
• 221 verified dead — marked status: dead with reason
• 26 paid — carry explicit status: paid
• 183 auto-submittable (real form adapters via Playwright)
• ~420 "homepage-as-submit" flags are alive directories whose real submit pages need discovery — ongoing curation task

Curation workflow:

python3 scripts/check-urls.py /tmp/linkflow-urls.txt   # live-check all URLs
python3 scripts/apply-urlcheck.py                      # mark verified-dead in DB
backlinkflow db:review                                     # see remaining flags
backlinkflow db:regenerate                                 # rebuild from sources (idempotent)
backlinkflow stats                                         # confirm counts

The flow series

BacklinkFlow is the third in a series of zero-cost CLI tools, all MIT, all npm-published:

| Tool | Job | Engines | npm | |---|---|---|---| | SECflow | Security scanning for AI-driven repos | gitleaks, trivy, npm audit, custom regex | secflow | | SeoFlow | AI-powered SEO pipeline (audit, internal links, content gen, GSC) | GSC, PSI, Pexels, Ubersuggest, 6 LLMs | seoflow | | BacklinkFlow | Backlink & directory submission automation | Your AI endpoint + Playwright | backlinkflow (this repo) |

Same DNA across all three: free engines + your own AI agent as the "smart" layer + npm-published + zero-cost.

Architecture

backlinkflow submit <url> --go
        ↓
   config loader (linkflow.config.json + .env.local)
        ↓
   payload generator (AI + template fallback)
        ↓
   database (1,123 directories, 9 categories)
        ↓
   for each target:
        ↓
   preflight HTTP check ── dead ──→ mark failed
        ↓
   launch Chromium ──→ navigate submit URL
        ↓
   detect fields (name/url/email/description)
        ↓
   site adapter (generic | saashub | ph)
        ↓
   fill + submit
        ↓
   verify (success message, redirect)
        ↓
   screenshot → .linkflow/proofs/
        ↓
   record → .linkflow/tracker.json
        ↓
   report → .linkflow/report.md
        ↓
   pacing → next directory (per-day limit)

src/
  index.ts                # CLI entry
  config.ts               # config + .env loader
  database.ts             # YAML loader + search
  payload.ts              # AI + template payload gen
  ai.ts                   # OpenAI-compat client (SSE-tolerant)
  tracker.ts              # submission history
  report.ts               # proof-of-submission markdown
  types.ts                # shared interfaces
  engine/
    browser.ts            # Playwright wrapper
    fields.ts             # smart field detection
    adapters.ts           # site-specific + generic adapter
    submit.ts             # orchestration: preflight → fill → verify

data/directories.yaml     # 1,123 vetted directories
scripts/
  regenerate-db.py        # idempotent DB rebuild
  review-db.py            # quality flagger
  check-urls.py           # live URL checker
  apply-urlcheck.py       # mark verified-dead
  sources/                # 18 vendored source files
examples/                 # 2 example site configs

Roadmap

• [x] v0.1 — directory DB, AI payloads, tracker, reports
• [x] v0.2 — Playwright automation engine (--go), site adapters, pacing, proof screenshots
• [x] v0.3 — IndexNow pinger, awesome-list PR generator
• [x] v0.4 — Common Crawl backlink measurement
• [x] v0.5 — Badge handling (registry + install instructions — the high-DR moat)
• [ ] v0.6 — Automated badge install (inject into site footer via config path)

Badge handling (v0.5)

The highest-DR directories are badge-gated: they only accept your listing if you display their badge. Submitator's "never paste a badge again" is their killer feature. BacklinkFlow does it open-source:

backlinkflow badge list                          # 10 badge-requiring dirs (7 required)
backlinkflow badge show "StartupFame"            # HTML + JSX snippet for one badge
backlinkflow badge install --framework nextjs    # full install instructions + all snippets
backlinkflow badge install --framework html      # plain HTML variant

Badges open DR 80+ directories (StartupFame DR83, Dang.ai DR81, Turbo0 DR80) and jump submission queues. Registry lives in data/badges.yaml — add yours with a PR. Badge URLs are best-effort; verify they load before submitting.

License

MIT (see LICENSE). Source data compiled from 11 open-source projects — see CREDITS.md for per-source licenses and provenance.

☕ Support

BacklinkFlow is free forever. If it saves you $79 (or 40 hours), buy me a coffee — it funds more free tools.