referrals Skill for Claude: Design Referral and Affiliate Programs

Makes Claude design, launch and measure a referral, affiliate or review-collection program.

Installs: 75.6K; on skills.sh
Stars: 57.9K; on GitHub
Files: 8; besides SKILL.md
Updated: Oct 2026; last repo commit

referrals makes Claude work out whether your product suits a referral or affiliate program, then design the loop: trigger moments, share mechanism and incentive. It also covers launch checklists, email sequences, measurement and review programs.

It triggers on referral, affiliate, ambassador, word of mouth and "get more reviews". It first checks whether virality can be built into the product. The folder bundles seven reference files and an evals file, and no scripts.

Good for

SaaS and consumer product teams starting a refer-a-friend program
Marketers building an affiliate or partner program
Teams collecting more reviews on G2, Capterra or app stores

Install referrals

Claude Code

Copy this prompt.

Install the referrals skill in Claude Code. Run this command:

npx skills add https://github.com/coreyhaines31/marketingskills --skill referrals

Then check that it loaded and tell me how to use it.

2
Paste it into Claude Code. It shows the change and asks before running it.

Requires Node.js.

From its listing on skills.sh. Source.

What's in the skill

When it loads

When the user wants to create, optimize, or analyze a referral program, affiliate program, or word-of-mouth strategy. Also use when the user mentions 'referral,' 'affiliate,' 'ambassador,' 'word of mouth,' 'viral loop,' 'refer a friend,' 'partner program,' 'referral incentive,' 'how to get referrals,' 'customers referring customers,' 'affiliate payout,' 'get more reviews,' 'G2 reviews,' 'review campaign,' or 'respond to a bad review.' Use this whenever someone wants existing users or partners to bring in new customers. For launch-specific virality, see launch.

Sections in SKILL.md

Before Starting
1. Program Type
2. Current State
3. Product Fit
4. Resources
Should You Engineer Virality First?
Referral vs. Affiliate
Customer Referral Programs
Affiliate Programs
Referral Program Design
The Referral Loop
Step 1: Identify Trigger Moments
Step 2: Design Share Mechanism
Step 3: Choose Incentive Structure
Program Optimization
Improving Referral Rate

Key facts

Author: Corey Haines (coreyhaines31)
Repo: coreyhaines31/marketingskills
License: MIT
Installs on skills.sh: 75,570 (Nov 2, 2026)
GitHub stars (whole repo): 57,855 (Nov 2, 2026)
Last commit to the repo: Oct 31, 2026
skills.sh audits: Gen Agent Trust Hub pass, Socket pass, Snyk pass
Skill folder: 9 files: SKILL.md, 7 reference files and evals/evals.json (counted from the GitHub folder)
Reads: A product marketing context file if one exists (.agents/product-marketing.md or .claude/product-marketing.md)

What it includes

Four groups of context questions
Program type, current state, product fit and resources, after reading the product marketing context.
Before starting
Places your product on a viral potential spectrum
Natural fits get product-embedded mechanisms first. Limited fits, such as infrastructure, get referral programs, content and partnerships.
Should you engineer virality first?
Explains the two program types
Customer referral programs and affiliate programs are described side by side.
Referral vs affiliate
Referral loop in three steps
Identify trigger moments, design the share mechanism and choose the incentive structure.
Referral program design
Raise referral rate and fix common problems
Includes A/B tests to run.
Program optimization
Key metrics and typical findings
What to track once a program is live.
Measuring success
Before launch, launch and the first 30 days
A staged checklist.
Launch checklist
Launch sequence and referral nurture sequence
Drafts the emails around the program.
Email sequences
Pointer to a detailed reference
The SKILL.md points to affiliate-programs.md for design, commission structures, recruitment and tools, and to affiliate-operations.md for the operating playbook.
Affiliate programs
Pointer to review-program references
Covers review requests, responding to reviews and platform rules for sites such as G2, Capterra, Trustpilot, Google and app stores.
Review programs
A table of referral and affiliate tools
Lists Rewardful, Tolt, Mention Me, Dub.co, Stripe, Introw and PartnerStack, each linked to the repo's tools notes.
Tool integrations

From the official docs

Questions

How do I install referrals?

Use the install box above. The repo README also documents the full marketing-skills plugin for Claude Code and Codex, and a one-skill ZIP for the Claude web app on the repo's Releases page.

Do I need the product-marketing skill first?

No. The SKILL.md only says to read a product marketing context file if one exists (.agents/product-marketing.md, .claude/product-marketing.md or the older product-marketing-context.md) and to ask you for anything it does not cover. The README calls product-marketing the foundation the other skills check first.

Does it cover affiliate programs and reviews too?

Yes. Besides customer referral programs it points to references on affiliate design and operations and on review programs, including platform rules for review sites.

Does it recommend specific tools?

It lists Rewardful, Tolt, Mention Me, Dub.co, Stripe, Introw and PartnerStack in a tools table, with links to notes in the repo. The SKILL.md does not rank them.

Does it assume my product can go viral?

No. It asks whether your product is naturally shareable. For products where virality is a poor fit, such as backend or infrastructure tools, it says not to force it and to invest in referral programs, content and partnerships instead.

Does referrals work in the Claude app or Codex?

The README documents a Codex plugin and a one-skill ZIP for the Claude web app, uploaded under Customize, then Skills. Claude Code is covered by the skills CLI and the plugin.

Does referrals need an API key or scripts?

The SKILL.md names no API keys, and the skill folder bundles no scripts. It holds the SKILL.md, reference notes and an evals file.

Is referrals safe?

It is plain text instructions with no bundled scripts, so what it can do depends on your client's own permissions.

Information

updated Nov 2, 2026

Repository: coreyhaines31/marketingskills
Folder: skills/referrals

coreyhaines31/marketingskills skills.sh

Sources

Docs, issue trackers and discussions this page is built from.

Show all 4

referrals SKILL.md · github.com
coreyhaines31/marketingskills README · github.com
referrals on skills.sh · skills.sh
coreyhaines31/marketingskills · github.com