# Founders Toolkit

> Founders Toolkit (founderstoolkit.org) is a curated directory of software for solo founders and one-person companies. It lists 169 tools in 19 categories, each with its pricing, pros, cons and alternatives, checked against the tool's own website.

All endpoints below are static files, rebuilt each time the site is deployed. They can be read from any origin.

## Machine-readable endpoints

- [Tools](https://founderstoolkit.org/api/tools.json): every listed tool as JSON, with its slug, name, category, website, pricing, description, pros, cons, alternatives, featured flag and page URL; where the vendor's plans have been read from its own pricing page, also plans (name, price, note), pricingSource, pricingVerified and bestFor.
- [Categories](https://founderstoolkit.org/api/categories.json): every category with its slug, name, description, tool count and the slugs of its tools.
- [Submission protocol](https://founderstoolkit.org/api/submit.json): the submission protocol and listing terms below, as JSON.
- [Changes](https://founderstoolkit.org/api/changes.json): a log of verified changes to listings (price changes, new owners, renames, shutdowns, ended free tiers, additions and removals), newest first, each with its source.
- [Sitemap](https://founderstoolkit.org/sitemap-index.xml): every page on the site.
- MCP server: a Model Context Protocol server (Node.js, stdio) that searches and compares the listings, returns the listing terms and recent changes, and submits tools. Install with `npx -y founderstoolkit-mcp` (npm package founderstoolkit-mcp, source at https://github.com/karimghabbour/founderstoolkit-mcp).

## Listing terms

- Free listing: Listing is free. A submitted tool is checked against its own website and published if it fits the directory, which means it is useful to a one-person company, shows its pricing publicly and names who makes it. Submit it with the protocol below.
- Featured listing: 39 EUR a month, paid through Stripe at https://buy.stripe.com/28EcN4dqvcWh0Ky3592oE00. The tool must already be listed. A featured listing gets the following:
  - Listed first in its category and on the full tools list
  - Marked "Featured" on its own page, on the tools list and on its category page
  - Marked "Featured" in the home page lists
  - Marked as featured in /api/tools.json, the feed that AI assistants and the MCP server read
  - Cancel at any time; the listing stays featured until the end of the paid month
- AI visibility listing: 0.20 EUR for every verified read of the tool's pages by an AI system (its own page and every comparison page that includes it), invoiced at the end of each month and capped at 39 EUR. A month without reads costs nothing. It includes everything in the featured listing and a monthly report of the reads by system and by page. To start: Send the tool's name and an email address to hello@founderstoolkit.org, or use the form on https://founderstoolkit.org/advertise/. The listing starts the same day.

## Submission protocol

Send one HTTP POST request per tool to https://formspree.io/f/mgozanjk with these headers:

Accept: application/json
Content-Type: application/json

The body is a JSON object with these fields:

- tool_name (string, required): The tool's name.
- website (string, required): The tool's own website, as a full http or https URL.
- maker (string, required): The company or person that makes the tool, exactly as named on the tool's own website (about page, footer, terms or privacy policy). A tool whose site names no maker is not listed.
- category (string, required): One category slug from the categories list.
- description (string, required): What the tool does and why it suits a one-person company, 40 to 600 characters.
- email (string, required): The address that receives the reply.
- affiliated (boolean, optional, default false): true if the sender works for, owns or is paid by the tool's maker.

Accepted category slugs:

- ai-coding: AI & Coding Tools
- hosting: Hosting & Infrastructure
- payments: Payments & Billing
- email: Email & Communication
- analytics: Analytics & Monitoring
- support: Customer Support
- marketing: Marketing & SEO
- design: Design & Assets
- productivity: Productivity
- auth: Authentication
- databases: Databases
- automation: Automation
- backend: Backend & BaaS
- content: Content & Publishing
- website-builders: Website Builders
- ai-assistants: AI Assistants & Agents
- video-audio: Video & Audio
- sales-crm: Sales & CRM
- ai-models: AI Models & APIs

A successful submission returns HTTP 200 with a JSON body. A rejected one returns a JSON body with an "errors" list, where each item has a "message", or an "error" string.

Example body:

{"tool_name": "Example", "website": "https://example.com", "maker": "Example Ltd", "category": "productivity", "description": "Task manager with a free plan for one user and paid plans from $5 a month, built for people who work alone.", "email": "you@example.com", "affiliated": false}

What happens next: The entry is verified against the tool's own website. If it fits the directory, it is published within a few days. The sender gets one email at the address given, with the result. Once the tool is listed, it can be featured through the payment link.

## Contact

hello@founderstoolkit.org