IndieStack

A curated directory of 880+ indie tools with a built-in MCP server that lets AI coding assistants search the catalog before generating boilerplate.

Your AI is writing code you don't need. Instead of generating 47,000 tokens of analytics boilerplate, IndieStack finds an existing indie tool in 700 tokens.

Website

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MCP Server Quick Start

IndieStack is published on PyPI as a Model Context Protocol (MCP) server. Install it and connect it to your AI coding assistant in under a minute.

Claude Code

pip install indiestack
claude mcp add indiestack -- python -m indiestack.mcp_server

Cursor

Add to your .cursor/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "indiestack": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["-m", "indiestack.mcp_server"]
    }
  }
}

Windsurf

Add to your ~/.windsurf/mcp.json:

{
  "mcpServers": {
    "indiestack": {
      "command": "python",
      "args": ["-m", "indiestack.mcp_server"]
    }
  }
}

Available Tools

The MCP server exposes two tools via stdio transport:

Tool	Description
search_indie_tools(query)	Search the directory by keyword, category, or use case
get_tool_details(slug)	Get full details for a specific tool

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What It Does

IndieStack is a web directory and discovery platform for independent software products.

• Browse and search 130+ curated indie SaaS tools across categories like analytics, auth, payments, email, and more
• MCP integration lets AI assistants recommend existing tools instead of generating boilerplate code
• Maker profiles for indie developers to showcase their products
• Alternatives pages for programmatic SEO (e.g., "IndieStack alternatives to Segment")
• Stack analyzer to evaluate tool combinations
• Stripe Connect payments for premium placements and Pro maker accounts
• Reviews, wishlists, and changelogs for community engagement

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Project Structure

src/indiestack/
├── main.py            # FastAPI app + route registration
├── db.py              # SQLite database layer
├── auth.py            # Authentication
├── payments.py        # Stripe Connect integration
├── email.py           # Transactional email (SMTP)
├── mcp_server.py      # MCP server (PyPI package entry point)
├── routes/
│   ├── components.py  # Shared UI components (page shell, nav, footer)
│   ├── landing.py     # Homepage
│   ├── browse.py      # Category browsing
│   ├── tool.py        # Tool detail pages
│   ├── search.py      # Search
│   ├── submit.py      # Tool submission
│   ├── admin.py       # Admin panel
│   ├── dashboard.py   # User dashboard
│   ├── maker.py       # Maker profiles
│   ├── alternatives.py# Programmatic SEO pages
│   ├── stacks.py      # Stack analyzer
│   └── ...            # Other routes

The frontend uses pure Python string templates with a shared component system -- no Jinja2 or JS framework required.

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Self-Hosting

Requirements

• Python 3.11+
• SQLite

Setup

git clone https://github.com/Pattyboi101/indiestack.git
cd indiestack
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -e ".[server]"

Environment Variables

Create a .env file:

SECRET_KEY=your-secret-key
STRIPE_SECRET_KEY=sk_test_...
STRIPE_PUBLISHABLE_KEY=pk_test_...
SMTP_HOST=smtp.gmail.com
[email protected]
SMTP_PASSWORD=your-app-password
[email protected]

Run

uvicorn src.indiestack.main:app --reload

The app will be available at http://localhost:8000.

Seed Data

python3 seed_tools.py

Populates the database with sample indie tools for development.

Deploy to Fly.io

fly deploy --remote-only

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Contributing

1. Fork the repository
2. Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/your-feature)
3. Commit your changes
4. Open a pull request

Please keep PRs focused and include a clear description of what changed and why.

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License

MIT