One link, both ways.

Why we ask

A directory that hands out links without asking for anything becomes a link farm within a month — every scraper on the internet finds it, floods it, and the links stop being worth having. The badge is what keeps the listings real: it costs a maker thirty seconds and it costs a spammer their whole business model.

In exchange your listing gets a permanent page with a plain dofollow anchor to your site. No redirect, no rel="sponsored", no cloaking.

What we check for

An <a> element on your landing page whose href points at your listing — https://hatchdir.com/a/your-app. That's it.

• The image is optional. If your CDN blocks our SVG or you'd rather use your own artwork, the check still passes. The link is the thing.
• It has to be on the page you listed. Not a subpage, not a /partners page nobody visits.
• rel="nofollow" doesn't count. A nofollow link passes nothing, so it isn't the thing you're trading for. We treat it as absent.
• Client-rendered pages are fine. If the badge isn't in your served HTML we render the page in a real browser before deciding.

When we check

1. Before your first Monday The check has to pass before your listing joins an issue. If it hasn't by publish time we roll you to the following week — we don't reject you, and there's nothing to resubmit.
2. Weekly, after that One request to your landing page, at most once a day, identifying itself as hatchdir-bot.
3. If it goes missing You get an email and seven days. Your listing stays live the whole time — a CDN hiccup shouldn't cost anyone their launch.
4. If the week runs out The listing is hidden, not deleted. Votes, notes and the URL all survive, and the next passing check brings it straight back.

If you'd rather not

A featured launch carries no badge requirement. It also sits at the top of its issue with a hatched card and a homepage slot for the week. The details are here, and you can pick it at submission or upgrade any time before your issue goes out.