Get paid to build in public
Ship something real on Cosmic, post it, and earn a $250 Build Bounty. After that your referral code pays up to $250 on every upgrade it drives, with no cap.
Free to join • Your code and your submissions both live on the Rewards page
What you get
One payment for the work, then an uncapped rate for the results.
$250 once
Build Bounty
Account credit for your first qualifying post. Paid once, and it is worth the same whether you are on the free plan or already paying us.
$250 / upgrade
Creator referral rate, uncapped
The creator rate on your referral code, up from $100. Every person who signs up with your code and upgrades earns it, for as long as your posts keep working.
The person who uses your code still gets their own $100 in credit, at either rate. Nothing is taken out of your payout to fund theirs.
How it works
Four steps. No application, no contract, no negotiation.
Get your code
Create a referral code on the Rewards page in your dashboard. Codes are letters and numbers only, so MAYABUILDS rather than MAYA-BUILDS.
Build something and post it
Show the product doing real work. Keep your own angle and your own copy, add a disclosure, and link to whichever page fits your content.
Submit the post
Paste the link on the Rewards page, right under your code. A human reviews it within five business days and applies your $250 Build Bounty if it qualifies.
Earn on every upgrade
Once you are in the program, your code pays up to $250 per upgrade instead of $100, uncapped, for as long as people keep signing up with it.
Create or find your code on the Rewards page in your dashboard, which is also where you submit a post and where signups, upgrades, and credit earned per code are listed.
What you can submit
Any public format works. Pick the one you are already good at rather than the one you think we want.
A build post on X
A thread or a single post carrying a short screen recording of the thing running, with the live link in the post itself.
The demo has to be visible in the video. A post that only describes what you built does not qualify.
See a site built from a single promptA LinkedIn post
The same idea, written for people evaluating tools at work. A short demo video plus what it replaced and what it cost you to switch.
Turn on the branded content toggle, and keep the disclosure in the post rather than the first comment.
See Chris Mintz's agent demoA video, talk, or stream
A YouTube build-along, an honest comparison against whatever you used before, a conference talk, or a livestream recording. Short vertical video on TikTok or Reels counts too, where thirty seconds of the thing working carries further than an explanation.
Say the disclosure out loud or put it on screen, and switch on the platform’s paid promotion or branded content toggle.
A written post or tutorial
On dev.to, Hashnode, your own domain, or anywhere with a public URL. Written work keeps earning through search long after a feed moves on.
Include the code and a link to the deployed result, so a reader can check that it works.
A project in the community area
Publish the build itself so anyone can open it, read the code, and clone it into their own account.
The strongest submission, because the artifact outlives the post that announced it.
An agent or MCP demo
An agent answering in Slack, WhatsApp, or Telegram, or an MCP session driving Cosmic from Cursor or Claude.
Show the tool calls or the messages. The interesting part is the work, not the setup screen.
The linked examples are here for the shape of the demo rather than the paperwork. One is our own post, and the other was published independently before this program existed, so neither carries a compensation disclosure. Yours needs one.
Whatever the format, the post has to show the product working
A mention or a logo read earns nothing. What counts is one of these on screen or in the code:
- A deployed project running on Cosmic that a viewer can open
- An agent artifact posted into Slack, WhatsApp, or Telegram
- A working integration, MCP server session, or CLI workflow
To be explicit about where the line sits: we never touch your opinion or your copy, and we have no approval right over what you conclude about the product. We do require that the post show the product working, because that is what the bounty pays for.
Four ideas that clear the bar every time
Not a required list, and your own angle is usually better. These are here so you can start without wondering whether the work will count.
- 1Port a site you already runMove a real project onto Cosmic and post the numbers: how long it took, what broke, what you deleted afterwards.
- 2Put an agent in a channel your team usesWire one into Slack, WhatsApp, or Telegram and show it answering a question someone genuinely asked.
- 3Compare it honestly against what you leftA side-by-side with your previous CMS, including where we come out worse. Nobody trusts a comparison that has no losses in it.
- 4Drive Cosmic from your editorAn MCP session in Cursor or Claude creating content and shipping a change, with the tool calls left on screen.
Got something else in mind and want a second opinion before you spend the evening on it? Ask in Discord and we will tell you what we think. It is a read on the idea rather than an approval, since the bounty is decided on the post you actually publish.
Already published something?
Paste the link on your Rewards page. A human replies within five business days.
Builds to model yours on
Projects published in the community area, the ones we rate and the ones people clone most. Each is open to read and clone, and any of them is the kind of artifact a submission gets built around.
My Online Store
THE ARCHIVE is a premium streetwear e-commerce platform and digital culture hub for Ahmedabad, offering curated oversized tees, denim, hoodies, sneakers, and collectible pieces presented as numbered artifacts in a cinematic, 3D-driven experience inspired by Kith and Hypebeast. It combines immersive visual storytelling, community features, and AI-powered discovery to position streetwear as cultural currency rather than commodity.
kratagya singh rao
Untitled Project
Rishi
Create Website CyberSecurity
A comprehensive web development project to build a professional website for a cybersecurity company with an AI-friendly backend CMS for content management and SEO, featuring a certificate validation system with unique QR codes for ISO 27001, PCI DSS 4.0.1, and other certifications.
Manpreet SIngh
My Company
A modern, SEO-optimized website for Lemon Team Moving, a trusted NYC moving company with 8+ years of experience offering residential, commercial, local, and long-distance moving services across New York City, Westchester County, and New Rochelle. Designed to convert visitors into leads through high-converting CTAs, trust-building credibility sections, and mobile-first responsive layout with lemon yellow accents.
Lemon Team Moving
Preventative care smartest
Rainshield Roofing's preventative maintenance program maximizes roof lifespan through proactive inspections, debris removal, and flashing maintenance to help homeowners avoid costly replacements. The service offers customized maintenance plans designed to keep roofing systems in peak condition year-round.
Rainshield Roofing
Create image gallery
Create a multimedia gallery featuring space and time-themed images and videos for the Space Time Navigators Guild website. This custom project combines visual content showcasing cosmic imagery with video components to engage guild members.
Douglas Cumali
Publishing your own project here is free and does not require the program. It does make a submission easier to review, because the build is already open for anyone to check.
Link wherever it fits
Your code tracks through from any page on the site, so pick the page that matches your post rather than a generic landing page.
| Page | Good for |
|---|---|
| /ai/agents | Agent builds, agent artifacts in Slack or WhatsApp |
| /mcp-server | MCP walkthroughs, Cursor and Claude workflows |
| /docs/quickstart | CLI and SDK demos, first-project tutorials |
| /pricing | Cost comparisons against another CMS |
| / | General overviews and "what is Cosmic" posts |
Append your code as ?ref=YOURCODE on any page. If your call to action is explicitly “use my code for $100 in credit,” link straight to signup instead, since that is signup intent already.
Add utm_source=creator&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=creators&utm_content=yourhandle as a second trail. The referral code is what pays; the UTM is how we tell posts apart when someone converts without the code.
On TikTok and Instagram the post cannot carry a tappable link, so put your code in your bio or profile link and say it out loud. Those posts still earn the $250 Build Bounty on the same terms; they just rarely drive the per-upgrade side of this, which is where the uncapped money is.
Disclosure is not optional
Credits are a material connection under FTC 16 CFR Part 255, and the UK ASA requires disclosure too. A post without one is ineligible, no appeal.
- It lives in the post itself, visible without expanding “more.” Not in a comment, not in your bio.
- Where the platform has a native toggle, enable that as well: the YouTube paid promotion checkbox, LinkedIn branded content, or the TikTok and Instagram branded content switches.
- Video needs it spoken or on screen. A line in the description does not count.
- Accepted wording: #ad, #sponsored, Paid partnership with Cosmic, I may receive free credits from Cosmic for this post and Cosmic gave me credits for this. Because you post before you claim, a contingent phrasing such as “I may receive free credits from Cosmic for this post” is the accurate one at publish time.
Payout table
What your code pays per upgrade, before and after you join the program.
| Plan the referred user buys | Standard | Creator |
|---|---|---|
| Team, Business and Workspace Large | $100 | $250 |
| Builder and Workspace Small | $100 | $100 |
Enterprise is not in the table. Those are handled case by case under the existing referral terms and never run through the self-serve upgrade path.
Cumulative payouts above $600 to one creator in a calendar year need a W-9 on file before we pay further. Below that, there is no paperwork. Credit is applied to your Cosmic billing balance, not paid out in cash.
Questions
Do I have to link to a specific page?
No. Your referral code tracks through from any page on cosmicjs.com, so link to whatever matches your content. The code follows the visitor to signup even if they browse the site first.
How much can I earn?
The Build Bounty is $250 once. The referral rate is $250 per upgrade on Team, Business and Workspace Large and $100 on Builder and Workspace Small, with no cap on how many upgrades you earn on.
How is this paid?
As account credit applied to your Cosmic billing balance. It works the same whether you are on the free plan or already paying, and you redeem it from the Rewards page.
Do you approve my post before I publish?
No. We never touch your opinion or your copy. We do require that the post show the product working, because that is what the bounty pays for, and that is checked after you publish. If you want a read on an idea before you build it, ask in our Discord. That is a second opinion rather than an approval, and the bounty is still decided on what you publish.
What if someone signs up but already had an account?
Referral codes only apply to new accounts at signup, so an existing user who upgrades later does not trigger a payout automatically. Your UTM trail still records it, so send us the details and we will credit it manually.
Is there paperwork?
Only past $600 in cumulative payouts within a calendar year, at which point we need a W-9 before paying further. Below that, there is nothing to sign.
Can I submit more than one post?
Yes. The Build Bounty is once per creator, but the referral rate applies to every upgrade your code drives, and later posts keep feeding it.
Submit your post
Post first, submit after. Submissions live on the Rewards page in your dashboard, next to the referral code they pay against, so we know which account the credit belongs to without you telling us.
Reviewed by a human within five business days
Start building today
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