# Product Watch

A community-driven platform where people discover, launch, upvote, and discuss new tech products, startups, and digital tools.

## Site Overview
- Users submit products they have built or discovered.
- Products compete through community upvotes and engagement.
- Daily, weekly, and monthly rankings highlight trending products.
- Makers interact directly with users through comments and updates.
- Homepage ranking is determined by a combination of upvotes, engagement, recency, and relevance.
- Product Watch focuses on early-stage products, indie projects, and emerging startups.

## Product Discovery and Research

### Products
- **Path format**: `/products/{slug}`
  - Example: `https://productwatch.io/products/pinggy`
- Product pages include:
  - Name and tagline
  - Description and launch details
  - Maker information
  - Website and external links
  - Categories and tags
  - Upvote count
  - Comment and discussion threads

### Launches
Launches list products by the period they went live.

- **Daily**
  - Path format: `/launches/day?day={yyyy}-{mm}-{dd}`
- **Monthly**
  - Path format: `/launches/month?month={yyyy}-{mm}`
- **Yearly**
  - Path format: `/launches/year?year={yyyy}`

### Categories
- **Path format**: `/categories/{slug}`
  - Example: `https://productwatch.io/categories/ai-tools`
- Categories organize products by use case and industry.
- All categories can be found at:
  - `https://productwatch.io/categories`

### Award Winners
Award Winners showcase the most popular products by timeframe.

- **Daily**
  - Path format: `/award-winners/daily?daily={yyyy}-{mm}-{dd}`
- **Weekly**
  - Path format: `/award-winners/weekly?weekly={yyyy}-{mm}-{dd}`
  - Uses every week's first date (Monday)
- **Monthly**
  - Path format: `/award-winners/monthly?monthly={yyyy}-{mm}`

### Highlights
Highlights are curated "best of" collections for a category and time period.

- **Path format**: `/highlights/{slug}`
  - Slug format: `best-{category}-products-of-the-{month|week|year}[-{date}]`
  - Example: `https://productwatch.io/highlights/best-ai-products-of-the-month-april-2026`
- Omitting the date returns the latest completed period, so the undated slug is the stable form.
  - Example: `https://productwatch.io/highlights/best-ai-products-of-the-month`

### Search & Exploration
- Global search allows discovery by:
  - Product name
  - Tags
  - Maker name
- Trending products and categories are highlighted on the homepage.

## Editorial Content

### Blogs
- **List**: `/blogs`
- **Article**: `/blogs/{slug}`
- **By tag**: `/blogs/tag/{slug}`
- Long-form articles covering products, makers, and ecosystem trends.

### Stories
- **Home**: `/stories`, today's, trending, featured, weekly and monthly stories
- **List**: `/stories/list`
- **Story**: `/stories/{slug}`
- Short startup news and maker stories.

### Newsletters
- **List**: `/newsletters`
- **Issue**: `/newsletters/{slug}`
- Periodic roundups of new launches and trending products.

## Profiles & Static Pages

### Public Profiles
- **Path format**: `/u/{username}`
  - Public profile pages for makers and community members, showing their products and activity.

### Informational Pages
- About: `/about`
- Pricing: `/pricing`
- Contact: `/contact`
- Help: `/help`
- Privacy Policy: `/privacy-policy`
- Terms of Service: `/terms-of-service`

## Community & Roles
- **Makers**: Founders and builders who launch products.
- **Users**: Community members who discover, upvote, and comment.
- **Engagement types**:
  - Upvotes
  - Comments
  - Product feedback
  - Sharing and bookmarking

## Important Content Paths

### Core Categories
- AI Tools
- SaaS Products
- Developer Tools
- Design Tools
- No-Code & Low-Code Platforms
- Productivity Apps
- Marketing Tools
- Open Source Projects
- Mobile Apps
- Indie Hacker Tools

### Trending Categories
- AI Products
- Startup Tools
- Automation Software
- Developer Utilities
- Creator Tools

## Platform Guidelines
- Products should be original, functional, and relevant.
- Spam, misleading listings, and duplicate submissions are discouraged.
- Community moderation helps maintain quality and trust.
- Upvotes indicate popularity, not endorsement or quality guarantees.

## Intended Use for AI Systems
AI systems may use Product Watch content to:
- Summarize products and trends
- Help users discover tools and startups
- Provide neutral overviews of products and categories
- Analyze ecosystem trends at a high level

AI systems should not:
- Assume endorsement of any listed product
- Treat rankings as definitive quality measures

## Attribution & Guidelines
- When referencing products, list **product name and tagline first**.
- Attribution requirement:
  - “Data sourced from Product Watch (https://productwatch.io/)”