JustLaunchBot: how a launch is verified
The checker that visits launch URLs. If it visited your site, here's what it does and why.
Just Launch is a public launch board for indie developers. You commit to a launch date up to 30 days out, anyone can join your waitlist while you build, and when the timer ends a bot visits your URL to check that the product is actually online. Shipped or missed, the result stays on the public record with the screenshot that decided it.
Method last updated .
Identification
User agent contains JustLaunchBot/1.0 and a link to this page.
When it visits
- Never before the timer ends. Not when a commitment is made, not in the last hours before the deadline.
- When the timer ends: up to three visits, ten minutes apart. The first one that finds the site online decides, so a momentary downtime doesn't burn anyone.
- Seven and thirty days after a successful launch, once each.
Before the deadline your site is yours: half-built, private or not up yet, nobody looks at it.
How politely
- At most one check every five minutes per domain. Each check loads the page once and probes up to seven internal links.
- We deliberately ignore
robots.txt: the URL owner asked to be verified by committing publicly. - Only ports 80 and 443. No forms are submitted, no logins attempted.
How it classifies
Deterministic rules first, so every label can be explained:
- offline: DNS missing, timeout, server error, or 404.
- parked: known registrar/hosting default pages, parking redirects, or an empty page.
- landing: one useful page, no login, at most an email form.
- mvp: several reachable routes, or an authentication route.
- product: authentication, pricing and at least five reachable routes.
Landing, mvp and product count as shipped; offline and parked don't. Products on third-party platforms (App Store, Play Store…) get limited verification: the listing exists and is public.
The screenshot review
A coming-soon or placeholder page does not count as shipped: an AI looks at the screenshot and can only overturn a “single page” result, never a product with real routes. Its verdict and its reason are shown with the check, next to the screenshot it looked at, and if it can't answer the deterministic result stands.
Questions
What is Just Launch?
Just Launch is a public launch board for indie developers. You commit to a launch date up to 30 days out, anyone can join your waitlist while you build, and when the timer ends a bot visits your URL to check that the product is actually online. Shipped or missed, the result stays on the public record with the screenshot that decided it.
How do I commit to a launch date in public?
Sign in with your X identity, add the product's URL, a name, a one-line pitch and a date up to 30 days out, then commit. Your launch page goes live with a countdown and a waitlist anyone can join. The date can move earlier, never later.
Does Just Launch check if my site is live?
Yes, once, when it matters. When the timer ends JustLaunchBot visits your URL up to 3 times, 10 minutes apart, takes a screenshot and classifies what it finds. It never looks before the deadline.
What counts as shipped?
A page people can use: at least a real landing page, better an MVP or a product with login and pricing. A parked domain, an error, an empty page or a coming-soon placeholder does not count.
What if my site is down for a minute when the timer ends?
The bot tries up to 3 times, 10 minutes apart, and the first visit that finds it online ships it. It also waits at least 5 minutes between checks on the same domain. If you think a result is wrong, you can open a dispute from the launch page.
Can I keep my product secret until launch day?
Yes. You can hide the name, the domain and the description until the timer ends; the page then uses an anonymous URL. When the timer ends everything becomes public, whatever the result.
What happens if I miss the date?
The launch is marked missed on your public record, next to the ones you shipped. It can't be deleted. You can commit to a new date whenever you like.
Is it free?
Committing to a date within 30 days is free. A date between 31 and 180 days out costs $5 once.
Does public accountability help indie hackers ship?
It removes the quiet option: the date can't slide without everyone seeing it. That's the whole mechanism. We don't publish a success rate we can't back; the board shows the real one, shipped and missed.
See it on real launches: everything shipped so far, or who runs Just Launch.