Show HN Results: 10x Traffic Spike in 24 Hours (and what broke)

February 11, 2026•7 min read•build-in-public

TL;DR

Posted to Hacker News last night (Feb 10, 9:48 PM EST)
Result: 10x traffic spike - 260 visitors vs 21/day baseline
171 visitors from HN (66% of all traffic)
Bounce rate improved from 67% → 58%
Found and fixed UX bug: code examples were unreadable
Google indexing crisis continues (27/177 pages indexed)

The Post

Last night at 9:48 PM, I hit "submit" on my first Show HN post:

"Show HN: I vibecoded 177+ tools for my own use (CalcBin)"

The pitch was simple: I got tired of sketchy converter sites with 10 ads, so I built my own. Over a few months, I "vibecoded" 177 tools whenever I needed them.

I highlighted 7 developer tools I thought HN would care about:

UUID Generator (v1/v4/v7)
JWT Generator & Decoder
JSON Formatter
Cron Expression Generator
Base64 Encoder/Decoder
Regex Tester
SVG Optimizer

Plus 2 fun ones: Random Name Picker (spin wheel) and QR Code Generator.

The Numbers (24 Hours Later)

Before HN (7-day baseline):

21 visitors/day
79 page views/day
67% bounce rate
Sources: mostly direct traffic, 2 from Google

After HN (Last 7 days including post):

260 visitors (+584% 🚀)
851 page views (+540%)
58% bounce rate (improved!)
171 visitors from news.ycombinator.com (66% of traffic)

Current status (11 AM Feb 11):

6 live visitors right now
4 of them are from Hacker News
Post is still getting trickle traffic

What HN Visitors Actually Clicked

I expected developer tools to dominate. Here's what people actually visited:

Top pages:

Homepage - 247 visitors (everyone lands here first)
kg-to-lbs converter - 25 visitors (unexpected!)
/tools page - 19 visitors (browsing the catalog)
Random Name Picker - 10 visitors (the "fun" tool)
Base64 encoder - 9 visitors
lbs-to-kg converter - 8 visitors
JSON formatter - 7 visitors

Realtime snapshot (what's being used right now):

BAC calculator, barcode generator, bytes converter, cron expression generator, invoice generator, JWT generator, random name picker, robots.txt generator

Surprise insight: People came for the dev tools, but also used practical converters (weight, bytes). The "I built this for myself" angle resonated — they're exploring the same tools I use daily.

Geographic & Device Breakdown

Countries:

USA: 39% (expected for HN)
Germany: 6%
India: 6%
Australia: 6%
Canada: 5%

Devices:

Desktop: 55%
Mobile: 45%

Almost half mobile is higher than I expected for a developer-tool post. Good reminder to keep mobile UX tight.

The Bug I Found (Thanks, HN Traffic)

At 11 AM, I got a report: "UUID generator code examples are hard to read."

Screenshot showed light gray text on light gray background — basically invisible.

The fix:

Changed bg-muted → bg-muted/50 (lighter background)
Added border for visual separation
Added text-foreground to ensure proper contrast

Lesson: I'd been testing in dark mode. Light mode users were getting low-contrast code blocks. HN traffic = instant user testing.

The Indexing Crisis (Ongoing)

Here's the painful part: only 27 out of 177 tool pages are indexed by Google.

Timeline:

Feb 7: Discovered canonical URLs were using relative paths (/tools/uuid-generator) instead of absolute URLs (https://calcbin.com/tools/uuid-generator)
Feb 7: Fixed all canonical URLs across 177 pages
Feb 11: Google hasn't re-crawled yet. Indexed pages actually decreased from 28 → 27

Why this matters:

2 clicks from Google in the last 7 days (basically zero organic traffic)
154 pages sitting in "not indexed" purgatory
HN traffic proves the tools are useful — but Google can't find them

What I'm doing:

Waiting 1-2 weeks for Google re-crawl (typical timeline)
Monitoring Search Console for indexing improvements
If no change by Feb 21, will escalate (manual indexing requests, sitemap resubmission)

Silver lining: One tool (cm-to-inches) got +183% impressions this week. When Google does index these pages, they should rank.

Bounce Rate: 67% → 58% (Why This Matters)

Bounce rate dropped 9 percentage points. In analytics terms, that's huge.

What it means:

HN visitors aren't just landing and leaving
They're clicking around, exploring multiple tools
The "177 tools" catalog is working — people browse

Why I care:

Validates the "utility library" concept
Higher engagement = better chance of bookmarking
Google (eventually) will see this as a quality signal

What I'm Learning: Build-in-Public Insights

1. "Vibecoded for my own use" resonates

The HN post wasn't polished marketing. It was honest: I built this because I was annoyed. That authenticity worked.

2. Show, don't tell

I didn't say "check out my cool tools." I listed 7-8 specific tools with clear value props. People could immediately see if it was useful to them.

3. Traffic spikes reveal bugs

That code readability issue? I'd never have caught it without HN traffic. Real users = real feedback.

4. SEO is a long game

HN gave me 171 visitors in 24 hours. Google gave me 2 clicks in 7 days. Organic growth takes time (and proper indexing).

5. Developer tools ≠ only use case

I expected devs to use UUID/JWT/JSON tools. They also used weight converters, invoice generators, BAC calculators. Lesson: build broadly, let users decide.

What's Next

Immediate (this week):

Build 1-2 new tools (it's Thursday — new tool day per my routine)
Monitor HN traffic decay curve (how long does the spike last?)
Continue UX polish (mobile layout, accessibility)

Medium-term (2-4 weeks):

Wait for Google re-crawl and indexing fix
Add more SEO content (direct answers, FAQs) to remaining 20 tools
Consider ProductHunt launch if HN validates demand

Long-term (months):

Build to 200+ tools (currently at 177)
Double down on tools that get organic traction
Explore monetization (premium features? API access?)

The Data Dashboard (Raw Numbers)

For transparency, here's the full analytics breakdown:

Vercel Analytics (Last 7 Days: Feb 4-11)

Visitors:     260 (+584%)
Page Views:   851 (+540%)
Bounce Rate:  58% (-5%)

Top Referrers:
- news.ycombinator.com:  171 visitors (66%)
- serializer.io:         4 visitors
- google.com:            2 visitors
- hckr.news:             2 visitors

Google Search Console (Last 7 Days)

Total Clicks:       2
Indexed Pages:      27 / 177 (15.3%)
Not Indexed Pages:  154 / 177 (87.0%)

Top Queries:
- cm to inches:     +183% impressions

Plausible Analytics (Realtime - Feb 11 AM)

Current Visitors:        6
From Hacker News:        4
Unique Visitors (30m):   44
Page Views (30m):        178

Closing Thoughts

Was the HN post worth it? Absolutely.

10x traffic spike validates product-market fit
Found and fixed a real UX bug
Learned what tools resonate (not just dev tools)
Got bookmarks, feedback, and real usage data

What I'd do differently:

Test light mode UX before launching (oops)
Fix the indexing crisis before driving traffic (lost opportunity for Google to see engagement)
Add analytics event tracking to see which tools people actually use vs just click

The honest truth: Building 177 tools in a few months felt like shouting into the void. HN traffic proved people actually want this. That's worth more than the visitor count.

Now back to building. Tomorrow's Thursday — new tool day.

Stats snapshot:

Tools built: 177
Tools with direct answers: 157/177 (88.7%)
Tools with FAQs: 177/177 (100%)
Google indexed: 27/177 (15.3% — working on it)
HN visitors: 171 (and counting)

Building in public. Follow the journey at calcbin.com

Comments? Questions?

I'm sharing this journey openly. If you're building tools, launching on HN, or struggling with Google indexing, I'd love to hear your experience.

What worked for your Show HN launch?
How long did Google take to index your pages after a canonical URL fix?
Should I prioritize more dev tools or keep building broadly?

Drop a comment or reach out. Building in public means learning in public.

Next post: I'll share the 7-day traffic decay curve and what tools retained users after the HN spike.