Building on your own is easier with people who understand the work. Slack is where Crafter’s Lab members compare notes, ask for honest feedback, and keep each other moving.
Where members talk
Slack is where members discuss the resources, share what they are building, and help each other work through questions. Use the rooms included with your pass, join Workshop Hour on Sundays, and continue the conversation whenever your schedule allows.
I take part too: I share work in progress from my own studio, answer questions, and point to the resources that explain the reasoning in depth.
How the rooms are organized
Some rooms are open to everyone in the Lab’s Slack, some open with your pass, and some connect back to the Lab website so useful threads stay attached to the work. “Open” means open to the people invited into the Lab’s Slack, not readable on the public web.
- Open rooms: welcome, announcements, general chat, help desk, off-topic, ship-it, feedback, Pulse, and the OpenAI and Anthropic rooms.
- #the-bench: the workbench for builds, blockers, experiments, and AI workflows. It is open to everyone in the Lab’s Slack, including invited guests, and hosts Workshop Hour on Sundays.
- Builder rooms: resource discussions in #resource-threads, connected to the resources on the Lab website.
- Crafter and Founder rooms: rooms for The Foundry, Swift Brain, Ops Lab, and Crew AMA.
- Crafter Mentorship: the Crafter rooms plus a private channel with me about your studio.
Channels you’ll use most
- #welcome — introduce yourself and meet the crew. These intros also appear in Crew Log.
- #general-chat — the main daily room for indie dev talk, quick thoughts, and community conversation.
- #help-desk — support, account questions, and anything confusing inside the Lab.
- #ship-it — launches, App Store updates, releases, and the moments worth celebrating.
- #feedback — test each other’s apps, get real eyes before shipping, and ask for honest notes.
- #pulse — polls and predictions, connected to Crew Log.
- #resource-threads — resource discussions connected to the Lab website. Reply from Slack or the website.
- #the-bench — work in progress, experiments, agent sessions, and Workshop Hour.
Conversations that stay connected
A few rooms connect directly to the Lab website, so useful conversations do not disappear into scrollback. This is a selected connection, not a full Slack archive.
- #welcome and Crew Log: post your intro in Slack and it appears in the Crew Log Intros tab. Replies stay connected.
- #resource-threads and resource discussions: when a member starts a discussion below a resource, a matching Slack thread opens. Replies can happen from either side.
- Replies, reactions, and edits: on connected threads, these stay in step on both sides, so you never need to post twice.
Share safely
Screenshots, code snippets, and recordings make questions easier to answer. Before you post in a shared room, remove passwords, API keys, personal information, customer data, and anything confidential to your work or clients. Invited guests can read #the-bench and the open rooms, and intros and resource discussions also appear in Crew Log for members.
What each pass opens
- Slack guest: by invitation, selected open rooms for community moments and Workshop Hour in #the-bench. Guest access does not include the resource library, the dashboard, the Notion teamspaces, or member rooms. Request a workshop invitation.
- Builder: the open rooms and #the-bench, plus #resource-threads.
- Crafter and Founder: Builder rooms plus #studio-foundry, #swift-brain, #ops-lab, and #crew-ama.
- Crafter Mentorship: Crafter rooms plus your private channel with me.
Crafter, Founder, and Mentorship members also start their Notion invitation here: join Slack first, and I arrange the teamspace access from there.
Join and stay connected
- Join a paid pass and use the Slack button in onboarding, the dashboard, or Profile.
- Post in #welcome so the crew can meet you and your intro can appear in Crew Log.
- If your Slack account ever looks out of sync, use the Slack card in Profile to reconnect or repair access.
- When your pass changes, your member rooms update to match. #the-bench stays open to everyone in the Lab’s Slack.
House rules
- Share real work: builds, blockers, launches, lessons, and useful experiments.
- Keep it focused and kind. Strong feedback is welcome; drama is not.
- Use threads when a conversation gets detailed so channels stay readable.
- No spam, cold pitching, or generic growth-hack noise.
- Help each other finish, not just start.
The Crafter Code applies in every room.