Up until recently, my background was strictly in native Android development. I spent my days working with Kotlin, Jetpack Compose, Gradle builds, and Android lifecycle quirks.
Whenever I was building and debugging mobile apps, I constantly ran into situations where I needed quick utility tools:
- Decoding an auth JWT from an API response to see why a user session failed
- Formatting large, messy JSON responses from backend endpoints
- Testing regex patterns for form validation
- Converting image assets and inspecting colors
My usual workflow was to just Google whatever tool I needed. But pasting real API responses and auth tokens into random third-party websites always felt risky. Most of those sites are full of ads, run slowly, and send your inputs to a remote server.
I wanted to learn modern web development, so instead of building another generic to-do list, I decided to build something I would actually use: CruxDev.
What I Built
CruxDev is a collection of over 300 developer tools that run entirely in the browser.
Coming from Android, where offline-first architecture is second nature, I applied the same philosophy here:
- Zero Server Processing: Every single tool (JSON formatter, JWT decoder, regex tester, token calculator) processes everything locally using JavaScript Web Workers and WebAssembly. No user input is ever sent over the network.
- Works Offline: I configured it as a Progressive Web App (PWA), so it can be installed on desktop or mobile and used without an internet connection.
- No Ads: Just clean tools that load instantly and do their job without tracking.
The Learning Curve (Android to Web)
Transitioning from Android to building a large web app with React, TypeScript, and Vite was an eye-opening experience:
- Managing state and bundle sizes in a single page app felt very different from Android activities and viewmodels.
- Ensuring the browser UI does not freeze when formatting a massive 10MB JSON file meant learning how to offload heavy calculations into Web Workers.
- Getting the layout responsive across different screen sizes gave me a new respect for CSS.
I Would Appreciate Your Feedback
Since this is my first real web application, I know there is plenty of room for improvement.
The site is live here: https://cruxdev.tech
If you are an experienced web developer, I would love your honest feedback:
- How does the site feel in terms of load speed and responsiveness?
- Are there any UI or navigation patterns that feel awkward?
- What developer tools do you use daily that you would like to see added?
Thanks for reading, and I would love to hear your thoughts in the comments!
Top comments (0)