How to use ecoa
A step-by-step guide, with the exact buttons and screens, so you can publish, echo and get the most out of the Colony.
Quick Navigation
Create your account and get to know the menu
ecoa is a community where app creators test each other's apps and give honest feedback, the echoes. It all revolves around a fair exchange: you echo apps from the community and, in return, get echoes on yours.
Sign up
On the homepage, click Enter the Colony and create your account with email and password, or use social login with Google or GitHub. On your first visit you'll pick your interests, and that helps the Cavern suggest apps that match your profile.
Get to know the sidebar
Once you're in, the menu on the left has everything: Radar (your dashboard), Cavern (apps to test), My Apps, Post My App, Echoes Received, Echoes Sent, and Plans.
Start for free
Creating an account, publishing your app and receiving echoes cost nothing, and the Basic plan asks for no card. It caps active apps, objectives per app and analyses per month; Pro and Premium raise those caps. The numbers are on the plans page.
How points work
A point is your reputation in the Cavern: it reflects how much you contribute to the community. Points aren't spendable; soon, point tiers will unlock benefits.
Build your reputation
Test apps from the Cavern and send quality echoes. The more you take part, the stronger your presence in the Colony.
Publish your app in 5 steps
In the sidebar, click Post My App (or the Post my app button on the homepage). You'll go through a 4-step wizard with a progress bar at the top. Publishing is free.
Step 1: Basics and links
Add the app link per platform (Web, Android or iOS) and mark which one is the main one. When you paste a Web URL, ecoa tries to auto-fill the name, description, and logo. Also select the target audience.
Step 2: Guidance and guidelines
Write down how the test should be carried out (tone, honesty, critical areas). There's a pre-filled template you can customize. These guidelines are your acceptance criteria for echoes.
Step 3: Test goals
Add anywhere from 1 up to your plan's limit. Type each goal and click the + button; use the arrows to reorder them. Here you also mark whether the app requires sign-up and enter the estimated test time.
Step 4: Review and publish
Check the summary and the card preview. Check the Security Notice box and click Post My App. Done: you're taken to My Apps and the app enters the Cavern, for free.
Publishing is free and your app is live in the Cavern right away, with no charge for the feedback you receive.
Test an app and send your echo
Open the Cavern in the sidebar, filter by platform, and pick an app you're able to test.
Open the app's page
In the Cavern, click the app's card. You'll see the goals and the maker's instructions. Read everything before you start.
Click “Echo this app”
Use the Echo this app 🦇 button. A wizard will guide you through recording your first impression, friction points, a rating per goal, and an overall score. The more concrete, the more valuable (and the more likely to be approved).
Track it under “Echoes Sent”
Every echo you've sent lives in Echoes Sent, showing each one's status (pending, approved, or rejected).
Track feedback on your app
When someone echoes your app, the feedback is published instantly. See it all in Echoes Received or by opening the app in My Apps.
Open the received echoes
On your app's page, the Echoes Received section lists every echo (grouped by version). The Overall Goals Panel right above it summarizes the scores per goal.
Echoes arrive already published
There's no approval queue: every echo goes live the moment it's submitted. AI moderation automatically filters out low-effort echoes.
Respond and evolve
Use the echoes you receive to understand what to improve. When you ship changes, declare a new version to reopen testing.
Release a new version and reopen testing
Shipped improvements? You can release a new version to collect a fresh round of feedback, including from people who already reviewed the app before. It's how you evolve your product with the community following along.
Open your app
Go to My Apps and click the app you want to update to open its page.
Click “Update App Version”
At the top of the page, use the green Update App Version button. A dialog opens already suggesting the next version number (e.g., from 1.0.0 to 1.0.1), and you can edit it to whatever tag you want, like 1.1.0 or v2.0.
Confirm and release
Click Confirm and Release. Current echoes get archived under the previous version, and testers who already reviewed your app can now test it again and send new, valid echoes for the new version.
Track by version
In the Echoes Received section, feedback is split by version, with the current one marked as Current, which makes it easy to compare progress across cycles.
Every new echo on the new version is published instantly, at no cost to you.
Scan for security and privacy issues
Besides human feedback, you can run automated analyses on your own app. On the app's page, click Scan App to open the analysis panel.
LGPD-Analyzer
Checks the privacy policy, DPO (data protection officer), cookie consent, and data subject rights, which helps reduce your LGPD exposure.
Scan-Service (tiered)
Security analysis at three levels: Quick Diagnosis (passive, observation only), Site Security (light-active, like a browser), and Deep Test (intrusive, hunts for real vulnerabilities). The tiers available and how many runs per day/month depend on your plan.
Adjust your app whenever you need to
Need to change something? On your app's page, click Edit to open its settings.
Update the details
Adjust the description, goals, instructions, and test duration anytime.
Declare new versions
When you ship improvements, release a new version to reopen testing and collect fresh feedback from the community.
Build reputation in the Colony
Good feedback builds reputation. The more (and better) you echo, the more karma you build up and the higher you climb through the ranks, from Fledgling to Guardian, unlocking badges on your profile and more visibility for your apps.
Choose the size of your Cavern
The Basic plan is free. Pro and Premium unlock more active apps, more goals per app, and deeper tiers of technical analysis.
Compare and subscribe
Open Plans in the menu, check out the full comparison, and pick your cycle: monthly, semiannual, or annual (longer cycles get a discount).
Manage it anytime
Upgrade, downgrade, or adjust your renewal whenever you want. Changes are prorated based on the time left in your current cycle.
Your points, history, and profile
From your account menu you can access My Points, with your total points and history, and your Profile, where you adjust your name, nickname, avatar, and whether to show your real name, plus view your ranks and achievements.
Connect ecoa to your AI assistant
Bring ecoa into Claude, Cursor, Antigravity, Windsurf, or any MCP client, even from the terminal. Once connected, your assistant reads your app's real echoes, runs security and LGPD scans, and publishes new versions for you, just by chatting. It takes ~2 minutes and is free to connect.
Generate your API token
In the ecoa dashboard, open Menu → MCP and click Generate key and connect. The key already comes with full access unlocked and shows up only once, so keep it safe.
Choose your client and paste the config
Pick where you work. The server is always the same endpoint http://mcp.ecoa.dev/api/mcp; only where the config lives changes. Swap ecoa_sk_your_token for the key from step 1.
{
"mcpServers": {
"ecoa": {
"command": "npx",
"args": ["-y", "mcp-remote", "http://mcp.ecoa.dev/api/mcp", "--header", "x-api-key:YOUR_API_KEY_HERE"]
}
}
}Chat, it handles the rest
Once ecoa is connected, just ask in natural language. A few examples to get you started:
Summarize this week's new echoes on my app.
Run my site's technical analysis and tell me what to fix first.
Publish v1.3 and summarize the previous version's echoes.