api-company/docs/launch-announcement.md

# Launch Announcement Copy

Ready-to-copy marketing text for leeworks.dev API launch day.

**Status key:**
- **DRAFT** — copy is written and ready; needs final RapidAPI URLs inserted once issue #44 is complete
- **READY** — all placeholders filled; copy-paste ready to publish

All sections are currently **DRAFT** pending RapidAPI listing URLs from issue #44.

---

## Placeholder Reference

When issue #44 is complete, replace these placeholders throughout this document:

| Placeholder | Replace with |
|---|---|
| `[RAPIDAPI_ZIP_URL]` | RapidAPI listing URL for ZIP Code Enrichment API |
| `[RAPIDAPI_HOLIDAYS_URL]` | RapidAPI listing URL for Holidays API |
| `[RAPIDAPI_AQI_URL]` | RapidAPI listing URL for Air Quality Index API |
| `[RAPIDAPI_PROFILE_URL]` | Your RapidAPI provider profile URL |

---

## 1. Hacker News — Show HN Post [DRAFT]

**Title:**
```
Show HN: I built 3 free-data APIs on Kubernetes — ZIP enrichment, public holidays, air quality
```

**Body (paste into the "text" field):**
```
Three small APIs I've been building over the past few months, deployed via Flux GitOps on a self-hosted Kubernetes cluster.

**What they do:**

1. ZIP Code Enrichment API — turn any US ZIP code into city, state, county, timezone, area codes, and coordinates. Backed by USPS/Census public data, refreshed monthly. [RAPIDAPI_ZIP_URL]

2. Public Holidays API — query official public holidays for any country and year. 90+ countries, ISO 3166 codes. Backed by Nager.Date / public government calendars. [RAPIDAPI_HOLIDAYS_URL]

3. Air Quality Index API — current and historical AQI by city or coordinates. PM2.5, PM10, O3, NO2, SO2, CO. Backed by OpenAQ public dataset. [RAPIDAPI_AQI_URL]

**Tech stack:** Fastify (Node.js), SQLite (data cache), Flux GitOps on Talos Linux, cert-manager + ingress-nginx, Prometheus + Grafana for metrics, Gatus for status page.

**Business model:** Free tier (100 req/mo) + paid tiers ($9/$19/$49/mo) on RapidAPI. All three APIs use only public-domain data sources with no redistribution restrictions, so operating costs are cluster hosting only.

**Why I built this:** I wanted to learn GitOps/Kubernetes end-to-end, build something that generates real revenue, and ship entirely on open data. The stack is overkill for 3 simple APIs — but that's the point.

Code is private (it's a product), but happy to answer questions about the architecture.
```

---

## 2. Reddit Posts [DRAFT]

### r/webdev

**Title:**
```
I built a ZIP code enrichment API on public Census data — city, state, county, timezone from a single lookup
```

**Body:**
```
Been working on a simple utility API for the past few months. ZIP Code Enrichment takes any US ZIP code and returns:

- City name + state (abbreviation and full name)
- County + FIPS code
- Timezone (IANA name + UTC offset)
- Area codes
- Latitude/longitude centroid
- ZIP type (standard, PO Box, military, unique)

**The data source** is a monthly-refreshed dataset from USPS/Census Bureau — entirely public domain, no scraping.

**Code example:**

```javascript
const response = await fetch('https://zip.leeworks.dev/v1/lookup?zip=10001', {
  headers: { 'X-RapidAPI-Proxy-Secret': process.env.RAPIDAPI_KEY }
});
const data = await response.json();
// { zip: "10001", city: "New York", state: "NY", county: "New York County",
//   timezone: "America/New_York", lat: 40.7484, lon: -73.9967, ... }
```

Free tier is 100 requests/month. Paid plans start at $9/mo for 10,000 req/mo.

RapidAPI listing: [RAPIDAPI_ZIP_URL]

Happy to answer any questions about the stack (Fastify + SQLite + Kubernetes/Flux).
```

---

### r/SideProject

**Title:**
```
Launched 3 data APIs on RapidAPI — ZIP enrichment, public holidays, air quality. $0 → targeting $100/mo MRR
```

**Body:**
```
Finally shipped the thing I've been building on weekends for the past few months.

**What I built:**
Three utility APIs on RapidAPI, all backed by free public-domain data:

1. **ZIP Code Enrichment** — city/state/county/timezone from a ZIP code ([RAPIDAPI_ZIP_URL])
2. **Public Holidays** — official holidays for 90+ countries ([RAPIDAPI_HOLIDAYS_URL])
3. **Air Quality Index** — current + historical AQI by city or coordinates ([RAPIDAPI_AQI_URL])

**Stack:** Fastify + SQLite + Kubernetes (Talos Linux) + Flux GitOps + Prometheus/Grafana

**Business model:**
- Free tier: 100 req/month (marketing + trial)
- Basic: $9/mo — 10,000 req/mo
- Pro: $19/mo — 50,000 req/mo
- Ultra: $49/mo — 250,000 req/mo

**Data cost: $0.** All three APIs use US government / OpenAQ public datasets with no licensing fees.

**Revenue so far:** $0 (launched today). Target: $100/mo net within 90 days, which is roughly 12 Basic subscribers across all three APIs.

The whole build — from first commit to Kubernetes deployment — is documented in a private research log. Happy to share architecture details.

What would you do differently for the pricing?
```

---

### r/learnprogramming

**Title:**
```
I used free US government data to build a ZIP code API — here's how the data pipeline works
```

**Body:**
```
A walkthrough of the data layer behind the ZIP Code Enrichment API I just launched.

**The problem:** ZIP codes change. Cities merge. New ZIPs are added. Any ZIP lookup service needs to stay fresh.

**The solution:** A monthly seed script that:
1. Downloads the latest US ZIP code dataset from USPS/Census Bureau (public domain)
2. Parses and normalizes ~43,000 records
3. Inserts into SQLite with upsert logic (new ZIPs added, old ones retired)
4. Runs automatically via a Kubernetes CronJob on the 1st of each month

**The API itself** is a Fastify (Node.js) server that queries SQLite. Cold query: ~5ms. The whole thing runs in a 128MB container.

**Code snippet** (the seed script core logic):

```javascript
// Fetch and parse Census ZIP dataset
const stream = await fetch(CENSUS_ZIP_URL);
const records = await parseCSV(stream.body);

// Upsert into SQLite
const stmt = db.prepare(`
  INSERT INTO zips (zip, city, state, county, lat, lon, timezone, type)
  VALUES (?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?, ?)
  ON CONFLICT(zip) DO UPDATE SET
    city=excluded.city, state=excluded.state,
    updated_at=CURRENT_TIMESTAMP
`);

for (const record of records) {
  stmt.run([record.zip, record.city, record.state, record.county,
            record.lat, record.lon, record.timezone, record.type]);
}
```

The API is live on RapidAPI with a free tier: [RAPIDAPI_ZIP_URL]

Happy to answer questions about SQLite performance, the seed pipeline, or the Kubernetes/Flux deployment.
```

---

## 3. Indie Hackers Milestone Post [DRAFT]

**Title:**
```
Launched 3 data APIs on RapidAPI: $0 MRR, targeting $100/mo in 90 days
```

**Body:**
```
### What I built

Three utility APIs backed entirely by free public-domain data:

- **ZIP Code Enrichment** — city/state/county/timezone/coordinates from any US ZIP ([RAPIDAPI_ZIP_URL])
- **Public Holidays** — official holidays for 90+ countries + year ([RAPIDAPI_HOLIDAYS_URL])
- **Air Quality Index** — current + historical AQI by city or coordinates ([RAPIDAPI_AQI_URL])

### Revenue: $0 → targeting $100/mo

The $100/mo target is ~12 Basic subscribers ($9/mo) across all three APIs after RapidAPI's 25% cut. Stretch: 4 Pro subscribers ($19/mo each).

### Stack

- **API servers:** Fastify (Node.js) + SQLite for data cache
- **Infrastructure:** Talos Linux Kubernetes cluster (self-hosted, single-node)
- **GitOps:** Flux CD — everything is declared in YAML, zero manual kubectl
- **Observability:** Prometheus + Grafana, Gatus status page at status.leeworks.dev
- **Data sources:** USPS/Census (ZIP), Nager.Date (Holidays), OpenAQ (AQI) — all public domain, $0 licensing cost

### What I learned

1. **GitOps is excellent for solo projects.** Flux means my cluster is always in sync with git. I've done zero manual deploys.
2. **SQLite is underrated for read-heavy APIs.** Sub-5ms query times for cached lookups, zero infrastructure overhead vs PostgreSQL.
3. **Public-domain data has a moat.** Anyone can build this, but most people don't bother. The data is stable, legal, and free forever.
4. **Kubernetes is overkill — and that's fine.** I did it to learn. I now know Talos, Flux, cert-manager, ingress-nginx, Prometheus, Grafana from first principles.

### What's next

- Monitor first 30 days for subscriber growth
- Build VIN Decoder as API #4 (NHTSA vPIC data, also public domain)
- Add batch endpoints to ZIP and Holidays

Would love feedback on pricing — is $9/mo entry too high or too low for a utility API with a free tier?
```

---

## 4. Product Hunt Listing [DRAFT]

### Tagline (60 chars max)
```
3 utility APIs on public data — ZIP, Holidays, Air Quality
```
*(58 characters ✓)*

### Description (260 chars max)
```
Look up ZIP codes, public holidays for 90+ countries, and air quality index data — all via clean REST APIs backed by free government datasets. Free tier included. No API keys to generate — available on RapidAPI.
```
*(211 characters ✓)*

### First Comment (Maker Note)
```
Hey Product Hunt! 👋

I'm the developer behind leeworks.dev — three utility APIs I've been building over the past few months:

**ZIP Code Enrichment** [RAPIDAPI_ZIP_URL]
Turn any US ZIP code into city, state, county, timezone, area codes, and GPS coordinates. 43,000+ ZIP codes, refreshed monthly from USPS/Census Bureau public data.

**Public Holidays API** [RAPIDAPI_HOLIDAYS_URL]
Query official public holidays for any country and year. 90+ countries, ISO 3166 codes, backed by government calendar data. Great for payroll software, scheduling tools, and calendar apps.

**Air Quality Index API** [RAPIDAPI_AQI_URL]
Current and historical AQI readings by city or coordinates. PM2.5, PM10, O3, NO2, SO2, CO — backed by the OpenAQ public dataset covering thousands of monitoring stations worldwide.

**What makes these different:**
- All data is 100% public domain — no licensing fees, no terms restrictions
- Free tier (100 req/mo) to try before you buy
- Paid plans start at $9/mo for 10,000 requests/month
- Running on Kubernetes with Prometheus monitoring and a public status page at status.leeworks.dev

Happy to answer questions about the data sources, the tech stack (Fastify + SQLite + Flux GitOps), or the pricing model. Thanks for checking it out!
```

### Gallery / Screenshot URL Placeholders
```
1. docs-site homepage: https://docs.leeworks.dev (screenshot)
2. Grafana dashboard: https://grafana.leeworks.dev (screenshot)
3. status.leeworks.dev (screenshot)
4. Example API response (ZIP lookup): code screenshot
5. RapidAPI listing page: [RAPIDAPI_PROFILE_URL] (screenshot)
```

---

## 5. Email Waitlist Message [DRAFT]

**Subject line:**
```
leeworks.dev APIs are live — here's your free tier access
```

**Body:**
```
Hi there,

The three APIs I've been building are now live on RapidAPI. Here's what's available and how to get started:

---

**ZIP Code Enrichment API**
Turn any US ZIP code into city, state, county, timezone, area codes, and GPS coordinates — in a single API call.
→ [RAPIDAPI_ZIP_URL]

**Public Holidays API**
Query official public holidays for any country and year. 90+ countries, ISO 3166 codes.
→ [RAPIDAPI_HOLIDAYS_URL]

**Air Quality Index API**
Current and historical AQI by city or coordinates. PM2.5, PM10, O3, NO2, SO2, CO.
→ [RAPIDAPI_AQI_URL]

---

**How to try for free:**
1. Click any link above
2. Subscribe to the **Free tier** (100 requests/month, no credit card needed)
3. Copy your RapidAPI key from the dashboard
4. Make your first request — full docs at https://docs.leeworks.dev

---

**Quick start (ZIP enrichment):**

```bash
curl "https://zip.leeworks.dev/v1/lookup?zip=90210" \
  -H "X-RapidAPI-Key: YOUR_KEY" \
  -H "X-RapidAPI-Host: zip-enrichment.p.rapidapi.com"
```

---

**Want more than 100 requests/month?**
Paid plans start at $9/mo for 10,000 requests. See the full pricing table on each API's RapidAPI listing page.

Questions? Reply to this email or open an issue at https://docs.leeworks.dev/support.

Thanks for your interest,
Wyatt
leeworks.dev

---

*You're receiving this because you signed up for early access. To unsubscribe, reply with "unsubscribe".*
```

---

## Checklist Before Publishing

Before changing any section from DRAFT to READY:

- [ ] Issue #44 complete — RapidAPI listing URLs obtained
- [ ] Replace all `[RAPIDAPI_ZIP_URL]` placeholders
- [ ] Replace all `[RAPIDAPI_HOLIDAYS_URL]` placeholders
- [ ] Replace all `[RAPIDAPI_AQI_URL]` placeholders
- [ ] Replace all `[RAPIDAPI_PROFILE_URL]` placeholders
- [ ] Verify code examples work against live endpoints
- [ ] Confirm free tier limit is accurate (currently documented as 100 req/mo)
- [ ] Confirm all three APIs pass pre-launch-checklist.md
- [ ] Product Hunt gallery screenshots captured
- [ ] Email list exported from whatever signup form was used

Once all items above are checked, update the Status key at the top of this document from DRAFT to READY for each section.