If you’re an indie hacker, you probably love putting your email address on GitHub READMEs, Twitter bios, static blogs, or any place where people can contact you directly.
Unfortunately, that also makes it easy for web‑scrapers and spam bots to harvest your address and flood you with junk.
Luckily, you don’t have to give away your raw email any more. With formcrab.com you can keep your inbox private, stop spam bots in their tracks, and still let anyone message you with a single, clean link. No HTML, no hosting fees, no code required – just a tiny form endpoint that does the heavy lifting for you.
Why a Private Link Beats a Plain mailto:
- Web scrapers love
mailto:links. They crawl the whole internet, collect every email address they see, and add them to massive spam lists. - Formcrab hides the address. The endpoint you share (
https://formcrab.com/f/{your‑token}) never exposes the actual email in the page source. Bots see only a harmless URL, not the address itself. - One link, full control. Use the same link on GitHub READMEs, Twitter bios, static blog footers, or anywhere you want people to reach you.
How to Use the Formcrab Link
Replace {custom-link} with the token you receive after signing up at formcrab.com.
[Email me]("https://formcrab.com/f/{custom-link}")
That single link renders a tiny form overlay that pops up when a visitor clicks it. All submissions go directly to your inbox, protected by Formcrab’s anti‑spam filters.
Customising the Experience with GET Parameters
Formcrab lets you pre‑fill or influence the form by adding simple query parameters to the link. No extra code, just tweak the URL.
| Goal | Parameter | Example URL | What it does |
|---|---|---|---|
| Auto‑fill Name | name |
https://formcrab.com/f/{custom-link}?name=Hugh |
Pre‑populates the Name field for the visitor. |
| Pre‑set Visitor Email | email |
https://formcrab.com/f/{custom-link}[email protected] |
Sets the Your Email field, useful for personalized outreach. |
| Custom Subject | subject |
https://formcrab.com/f/{custom-link}?subject=Urgent+Support+Request |
The subject appears in the email you receive and in notifications. |
| Predefined Message | message |
https://formcrab.com/f/{custom-link}?message=I+would+like+to+request+a+demo |
Provides a starter text in the message box. |
| Redirect After Submit | next |
https://formcrab.com/f/{custom-link}?next=https://yoursite.com/success |
Sends the user to a custom “Thank you” page instead of the default one. |
Example Markdown Links
[Email us]("https://formcrab.com/f/{custom-link}?name=Hugh")
[Contact Support]("https://formcrab.com/f/{custom-link}[email protected]")
[Report an Issue]("https://formcrab.com/f/{custom-link}?subject=Urgent+Support+Request")
[Inquiry]("https://formcrab.com/f/{custom-link}?message=I+would+like+to+request+a+demo")
[Send and Return]("https://formcrab.com/f/{custom-link}?next=https://yoursite.com/success")
You can chain any number of parameters together, separated by &, to tailor the form exactly how you want it.
What You Get Behind the Scenes
When a visitor submits the form, Formcrab posts a JSON payload to the webhook you set up. The structure looks like this:
{
"name": "Hugh",
"email": "[email protected]",
"subject": "hello! there",
"message": "hello! there",
"submittedAt": "2026-03-12 10:20:08",
"extra": {
"key1": "value1",
"key2": "value2"
}
}
All fields are optional – you’ll only get the data the user actually filled in. The extra object is perfect for attaching any additional metadata you need (e.g., a tracking ID, a referral code, etc.).
Where to Put the Link
- GitHub READMEs – Add the markdown link anywhere you’d normally put a
mailto:. - Twitter/Bio – The link works as a regular URL; click it to open the form overlay.
- Static Blog Footer – One link at the bottom of your site gives visitors a safe way to contact you.
Because the form is served from Formcrab’s servers, you don’t need to host any HTML yourself. The service provides the landing page, the form UI, and the backend processing.
Bottom Line
Stop exposing your raw email address on the open web.
Use Formcrab’s private link to receive messages directly in your inbox, protected from spam bots, with zero HTML, zero hosting costs, and zero code to write.
Give yourself the peace of mind every indie hacker deserves and keep the inbox you love, spam‑free.