Over the past two weeks, I built 10 awesome-lists on GitHub covering everything from web scraping to data engineering, cybersecurity to free APIs.
Total: 1,000+ tools curated, categorized, and cross-linked.
Here's what surprised me.
The Lists
| List | Tools | Topic |
|---|---|---|
| Awesome Web Scraping 2026 | 250+ | Scrapers, proxies, browsers, anti-detection |
| Awesome Free APIs 2026 | 150+ | APIs that work without auth keys |
| Awesome Data Engineering 2026 | 150+ | ETL, orchestration, streaming, warehousing |
| Awesome Security Tools 2026 | 150+ | Pentesting, OSINT, forensics, network |
| Awesome MCP Tools 2026 | 130+ | AI Model Context Protocol servers |
| Awesome AI Tools 2026 | 100+ | LLMs, agents, vector DBs |
| Awesome DevOps 2026 | 120+ | CI/CD, IaC, monitoring, containers |
| Awesome Python DevTools 2026 | 80+ | Linters, testing, typing, profiling |
| Awesome CLI Tools 2026 | 50+ | Terminal productivity tools |
| Awesome Developer Tools 2026 | 100+ | General dev tools |
5 Things I Learned Curating 1,000+ Tools
1. Rust Is Eating the Data Stack
This was the biggest surprise. Polars, DuckDB (C++ but same spirit), RisingWave, Qdrant, Redpanda — the performance-critical layer of data engineering is being rewritten in Rust/C++.
Python still owns the interface layer (Airflow, dbt, Great Expectations), but the engine layer is going compiled.
If you're a data engineer, learning Rust basics will be a career multiplier by 2027.
2. MCP Is the Next Big Platform
Anthopic's Model Context Protocol (MCP) went from 0 to 130+ community servers in under 4 months. I curated them all — the growth is insane.
Every major API will have an MCP server within a year. If you build MCP servers now, you're early.
3. The "Awesome List" Format Is Not Dead
People told me awesome lists are played out. The data says otherwise:
- My web scraping list got 392 clones and 9 stars in 10 days
- That's organic traffic from Google — zero promotion
- GitHub's search algorithm LOVES well-structured awesome lists
The secret: tables > bullet lists. Structured data with columns (tool, description, language, stars) ranks better and reads faster.
4. Cross-Linking Creates Compound Growth
Each of my 10 lists links to the others. When someone finds one list via Google, they often visit 2-3 more.
This is the same strategy Wikipedia uses — internal links keep people in your ecosystem.
Pro tip: Add a "Related Awesome Lists" section at the bottom of EVERY repo. It's free traffic.
5. 80% of Tools Are Solving the Same 5 Problems
Across 1,000+ tools, the same themes kept appearing:
- Move data from A to B (ETL/integration)
- Make sure the data is correct (quality/testing)
- Know what data you have (catalogs/observability)
- Transform data (dbt and friends)
- Show data to humans (BI/visualization)
If you're building a dev tool, pick ONE of these problems and solve it 10x better than existing solutions.
How I Curated 1,000+ Tools in 2 Weeks
My workflow:
- Start with GitHub trending — find the 20 most-starred repos in each category
- Check "awesome-X" lists — find established lists, note gaps
- Search Product Hunt — find new tools that haven't hit awesome lists yet
- Verify each tool — is it maintained? Last commit? Real users?
- Structure as tables — tool, description, language, approximate stars
- Cross-link everything — every list references related lists
- Add SEO metadata — clear title, description, topics on GitHub
This took roughly 3-4 hours per list. Total: ~35 hours.
Which List Should You Star First?
Depends on your role:
- Backend developer → Awesome Free APIs
- Data engineer → Awesome Data Engineering
- Security researcher → Awesome Security Tools
- AI developer → Awesome MCP Tools
- Scraping enthusiast → Awesome Web Scraping
What's Next
I'm planning lists for:
- Awesome Databases 2026
- Awesome Testing Tools 2026
- Awesome Serverless 2026
Which topic should I curate next? Drop a comment below — I'll build the most requested one first.
Follow me for weekly tool roundups and curated lists. I maintain 285+ repos at github.com/spinov001-art.
Need a custom data solution? I build scrapers, pipelines, and API integrations → spinov001-art.github.io | Spinov001@gmail.com
More from me: 10 Dev Tools I Use Daily | 77 Scrapers on a Schedule | 150+ Free APIs
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