DEV Community: Christian Ahrweiler

Mac Developers: Keep Your Development Disk Clean

Christian Ahrweiler — Sun, 28 Jun 2026 17:03:33 +0000

Development work creates files everywhere.

Build folders.
Package caches.
Temporary exports.
Old logs.
Node modules.
Derived data.
Archives.

Most of these files are not important forever. But they stay on disk, grow quietly, and eventually make your Mac feel messy.

The problem is that developers usually know where the space went — but not always what is safe to remove.

That is what Smart Disk Hygiene is for.

Cleanup for developer folders

Smart Disk Hygiene helps you inspect and clean common development clutter on macOS.

It is designed for people who build, test, export, install packages, and run local projects.

Smart Disk Hygiene is part of Beaver Tools, a collection of small Mac utilities focused on solving one clear problem at a time.

More tools are available at:

https://beavertools.app

Smart Disk Hygiene is available on the Mac App Store:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/smart-disk-hygiene/id6757937868

Measure What Is on Your Screen

Christian Ahrweiler — Sun, 28 Jun 2026 11:45:48 +0000

Design work often comes down to small distances.

Is this button aligned?
Is the spacing the same on both sides?
How wide is that preview area?
Where is the center of the screen?
How far apart are these two elements?

You can guess.
You can take a screenshot and open it somewhere else.
You can use a design tool just to check a few pixels.

Or you can place a ruler directly on top of your screen.

That is what Screen Ruler Overlay is for.

A ruler that stays above your apps

Screen Ruler Overlay is a lightweight on-screen ruler for macOS.

It gives you a centered crosshair ruler with tick marks and distance labels. The overlay can stay above your other windows, so you can measure layouts, screenshots, previews, web pages, app windows, or any visible screen element without switching tools.

You can resize the ruler, adjust opacity, and use click-through mode when you want the overlay visible without blocking clicks.

Useful for design and development

Screen Ruler Overlay is useful when you want a quick visual measurement while working.

Screen Ruler Overlay is part of Beaver Tools, a collection of small Mac utilities focused on solving one clear problem at a time.

More tools are available at:

https://beavertools.app

Screen Ruler Overlay is available on the Mac App Store:

https://apps.apple.com/app/screen-ruler-overlay/id6757333250

A Fast Temporary Drive in Memory (RAM drive)

Christian Ahrweiler — Sun, 28 Jun 2026 11:08:29 +0000

Builds, exports, caches, and test files can create a lot of temporary clutter.

Most of it does not need to live on your SSD forever. It only needs a fast place to exist while you are working.

A RAM drive is useful for exactly that.

It behaves like a normal disk, but it lives in memory. You can copy files to it and write temporary output there. Because it is a RAM drive, the contents are gone after restart — unless you use RAMdrive Pro and enable persistence in settings!

A RAM disk from the menu bar

RAMdrive Pro creates a RAM drive on your Mac from the menu bar.

There is no size picker. The RAM drive grows as you add files, up to what your Mac can handle.

The menu bar shows the actual usage: how many files are stored and how many bytes they currently use.

RAMdrive Pro is part of Beaver Tools, a collection of small Mac utilities focused on solving one clear problem at a time.

More tools are available at:

https://beavertools.app

RAMdrive Pro is available on the Mac App Store:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/ramdrive-pro/id6760564716

Calculate Like on Paper — And Keep It Editable

Christian Ahrweiler — Sun, 28 Jun 2026 07:24:07 +0000

A normal calculator is good for quick answers.

But it is not great when you want to think through a calculation.

You enter numbers, get a result, and then the context is gone. If you made a mistake, want to change one value, or need the same calculation again later, you often start from scratch.

That is not how people calculate on paper.

On paper, you write things down.
You keep the steps visible.
You change numbers.
You compare results.
You reuse what you already wrote.

That is the idea behind Calc Pad Pro.

A paper-style calculator for Mac

Calc Pad Pro lets you type calculations line by line, like writing them on a sheet of paper.

Type an expression, press Enter, and the result appears as a clean result line.

Instead of hiding your history in a tiny calculator display, Calc Pad Pro keeps your calculations visible so you can continue working with them.

Reuse and edit your calculations

The main difference is that your calculations are not throwaway input.

You can keep them visible, adjust them, and copy results when you need them.

It feels closer to a scratchpad than a pocket calculator: simple, readable, and useful when one result is not the whole story.

Calc Pad Pro is part of Beaver Tools, a collection of small Mac utilities focused on solving one clear problem at a time.

More tools are available at:

https://beavertools.app

Calc Pad Pro is available on the Mac App Store:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/calc-pad-pro/id6759094068

Find Real Duplicate Files — Not Just Similar Names

Christian Ahrweiler — Sun, 28 Jun 2026 07:18:00 +0000

Duplicate files are easy to collect.

You download the same archive twice.
You move photos, videos, PDFs, or project files between drives and forget which copy is current.

After a while, storage disappears into files that look familiar but are hard to verify manually.

The problem is not finding files with the same name.

The problem is knowing which files are truly identical.

That is what File Deduper Pro is for.

Byte-identical duplicates

File Deduper Pro finds duplicate files by checking file content, not just names.

It groups files by size, then verifies matches with SHA-256. That means the app is designed to show true byte-identical duplicates — not files that merely have similar names.

You choose the folders to scan, review duplicate groups, reveal files in Finder, and move extra copies to Trash when you are ready.

Review before you remove

File cleanup should not feel risky.

File Deduper Pro is not a “one big clean button” app. It gives you duplicate groups so you can decide what to keep and what to remove.

You can also set a minimum file size to ignore small clutter, and an optional hash cache can make repeat scans faster.

File Deduper Pro is part of Beaver Tools, a collection of small Mac utilities focused on solving one clear problem at a time.

More tools are available at:

https://beavertools.app

File Deduper Pro is available on the Mac App Store:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/file-deduper-pro/id6761129914

You Have WireGuard - Now You Need a Simple Mac App

Christian Ahrweiler — Sat, 27 Jun 2026 06:23:39 +0000

WireGuard is a great VPN protocol.

It is fast, lightweight, and widely supported. Many VPN providers, hosting setups, company networks, and private servers can give you a WireGuard .conf file.

But having the config is only half of the setup.

You still need a clean way to run it on your Mac.

That is what myVPN Pro is for.

WireGuard in the menu bar

myVPN Pro is a lightweight macOS app for running WireGuard VPN configurations from the menu bar.

Choose your .conf file, connect, disconnect, and see useful connection details without leaving your desktop.

The app shows the current server, data in/out, last handshake, custom DNS, DNS latency, and remote geo location.

It supports WireGuard only and uses the macOS Network Extension, so no separate wireguard-tools installation is required.

Not a VPN provider

myVPN Pro does not sell VPN servers.

It is for users who already have WireGuard: from a VPN provider, a company, a home server, or a VPS.

Your configuration stays on your Mac and is not sent to the developer.

myVPN Pro is part of Beaver Tools, a collection of small Mac utilities focused on solving one clear problem at a time.

More tools are available at:

https://beavertools.app

myVPN Pro is available on the Mac App Store:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/myvpn-pro/id6760615388

Show a Mac Screen or Window Somewhere Else - Without a Cable

Christian Ahrweiler — Sat, 27 Jun 2026 06:05:55 +0000

There are many moments where you do not need another monitor — you just need to see what is already on your Mac somewhere else.

You are watching a video on your Mac, but you want to continue watching it from another room.
You have a Mac mini running in the corner, but no display attached.
You have a preview window, dashboard, stream output, or camera feed open on one Mac — and you want to see it on an iPad or another Mac.

That is not really a remote desktop problem.

You do not want to control the Mac or extend the desktop.
You do not want to plug in USB or HDMI.

You just want to see one Mac screen or window somewhere else.

That is what AV Stream Pro is for.

A Mac view over the network

AV Stream Pro shows a Mac screen or window on another Mac or iPad over your local network.

Unlike USB-based monitor apps, it does not require a cable. The viewer device only needs to be on the same Wi-Fi or Ethernet network.

Not remote desktop

AV Stream Pro is intentionally simpler than remote desktop software.

It is just a screen or window from your Mac — shown over the local network.

For many situations, that is the better tool: less setup, less clutter, and no cable across the desk.

AV Stream Pro is part of Beaver Tools, a collection of small Mac utilities focused on solving one clear problem at a time.

More tools are available at:

https://beavertools.app

AV Stream Pro is available on the Mac App Store:

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/av-stream-pro/id6768038272?mt=12

Easy WordPress Protection. No Setup.

Christian Ahrweiler — Sat, 27 Jun 2026 05:16:37 +0000

WordPress login pages are a common target.

Bots try usernames.
Bots try passwords.
Bots try again.

Most attempts are not clever. They are just repeated login retries, running all day in the background.

A simple protection layer can already help.

Limit the number of failed login attempts. When the limit is reached, block further attempts from that Internet address for a while.

That makes brute-force attacks much harder without adding a complicated security dashboard.

The best part: this kind of protection does not need to be complex.

atec Limit Login is built for exactly that.

Activate it, and it starts limiting login attempts. Failed attempts are logged using WordPress transients and cleaned up automatically after the timeout.

That keeps the workflow light.

Your login page gets basic brute-force protection, while the site stays simple and clean.

Easy protection.
No setup.

atec Limit Login is available from atec Plugins:

https://atecplugins.com/

FoxyFy CDN for WordPress

Christian Ahrweiler — Fri, 26 Jun 2026 11:18:44 +0000

A CDN should make a WordPress site faster.

But the setup should not become another complicated layer.

Most WordPress sites mainly need one thing from a CDN: serve static assets faster. Images, CSS, JavaScript, uploads — the files that should not always travel from the origin server to every visitor.

That sounds simple.

But CDN setup can quickly become messy. Pull zones, rewritten URLs, cache behavior, page caches, editors, preview modes, purge buttons, geo routing — suddenly the CDN becomes another system that needs attention.

FoxyFy CDN takes a different approach.

It is designed for WordPress.

Not as a generic CDN that later gets connected to WordPress, but as a WordPress-first CDN workflow where the routing logic happens inside the plugin.

Routing belongs close to WordPress

WordPress knows the page context.

It knows when a visitor is on the frontend.
It knows when an admin screen is open.
It knows when a page builder is running.
It knows when a preview or edit mode should not be touched.

That makes WordPress the right place to decide when CDN rewriting should happen — and when it should stay out of the way.

atec FoxyFy CDN uses that idea. It rewrites WordPress asset URLs so media files, scripts, and stylesheets can be served through FoxyFy CDN, while automatically avoiding admin screens, preview modes, edit modes, and iframe-based page builders.

The original files stay where they are.

WordPress still manages the media library.
Your theme and plugins still work normally.
The plugin changes how static assets are delivered to visitors.

Built for real WordPress caching

Full-page caching is great for performance, but it can make CDN geo routing tricky.

If cached HTML contains a specific regional CDN host, the same cached page may be served to visitors from different locations. That is not ideal.

FoxyFy avoids this by keeping the routing logic WordPress-aware.

Cached HTML can stay neutral, while the plugin can use a small Service Worker layer to route asset requests to the right FoxyFy CDN host at runtime.

That keeps full-page caches useful without giving up geo-optimized delivery.

Simple daily workflow

For daily use, the goal is not complexity.

Enable the plugin.
Connect the FoxyFy CDN pull zone.
Serve static assets through the CDN.
Purge the CDN cache when needed.

No large CDN dashboard maze.
No generic integration trying to guess WordPress behavior.
No unnecessary moving parts for pages that should stay untouched.

FoxyFy CDN works for WordPress by design.

The CDN delivery and the WordPress plugin belong together — because the routing happens where the site context exists.

atec FoxyFy CDN is available from atec Plugins and works with FoxyFy CDN:

https://atecplugins.com/
https://foxyfy.net/ffc/

You installed a WP cookie banner - but do you know what you're asking visitors to consent to?

Christian Ahrweiler — Thu, 25 Jun 2026 13:39:57 +0000

Most WordPress sites add a cookie plugin, publish a privacy policy, and hope for the best.

That’s understandable. Consent tools are good at blocking or labeling trackers once you configure them. They’re less helpful at answering the question site owners actually start with:

What third-party stuff is on my site anyway?

That gap is awkward. You’re asking visitors to accept or reject categories you may not have fully mapped yet.

The problem isn’t the cookie plugin

Cookie plugins (Complianz, Cookiebot, atec Cookies, and others) do their job: show a bar, store consent, integrate with the WP Consent API.

But before that, someone has to know:

Which domains load on the homepage
Whether they come from HTML, CSS, or JavaScript
Which are fonts, analytics, CDNs, embeds
What might only appear after JavaScript runs

Most site owners discover this by:

Opening DevTools → Network tab
Squinting at a long request list
Copy-pasting domains into a spreadsheet

Still missing things that load only for logged-in admins or after JS runs

It works. It’s also tedious, easy to get wrong, and not something you want to repeat every time you change a theme, add a plugin, or tweak the homepage.

What we built: atec Privacy Check

We’re developers who ship a lot of WordPress performance and compliance plugins. We wanted something simpler for the discovery step — before consent configuration, before legal text, before “why is Google still loading?”

atec Privacy Check scans a URL (homepage by default) and lists external domains found in:

HTML (script, link, img, iframe, srcset, etc.)
Linked local CSS files (url() for fonts and backgrounds)
Linked local JS files (URL-like strings — marked as unconfirmed)

Results are grouped by domain with labels like CDN, Google Fonts, Tracking / Analytics, Stylesheet, Script, and Embedded content.

It’s honest about limits:

It reads HTML and linked assets. It does not execute JavaScript.
JS-injected trackers may need a future browser check.
Admin sessions can differ from anonymous visitors.

That honesty matters. Privacy tools shouldn’t pretend to be a full browser audit if they aren’t one.

A practical workflow with cookie plugins

Here’s how we’d use it alongside a consent stack:

Run Privacy Check on the homepage (and key landing pages).
Export the domain list mentally — or copy from the results table.
Map domains to consent categories in your cookie plugin (marketing, statistics, functional, etc.).
Fix what you can — e.g. self-host fonts with atec Local Fonts instead of loading from fonts.googleapis.com.
Re-scan after changes.

Privacy Check doesn’t replace legal advice or a cookie manager. It’s the inventory step that makes the cookie plugin configuration less guesswork.

If you already run atec Cookies, the flow is natural: discover with Privacy Check, configure consent with Cookies.

Who it’s for

Site owners preparing a privacy policy or GDPR disclosure
Agencies onboarding new clients
Developers who changed the theme and want a quick “what broke externally?” check
Anyone configuring a cookie banner who doesn’t want to rely only on DevTools

Try it

atec Privacy Check is part of the atec plugins family (PRO). Install it, enter your homepage URL (or leave it blank), click Scan, and review external domains in a few seconds.

No browser engine. No black box. Just: what does the server-rendered page point to?

That’s often enough to stop guessing — and to make your cookie plugin actually reflect what your site loads.

Compress WordPress Images Without Sending Them Away

Christian Ahrweiler — Wed, 24 Jun 2026 21:00:21 +0000

Large images slow down WordPress.

A photo uploaded directly from a phone or camera can be much larger than the website needs. The page still works, but visitors download more data and performance suffers.

Image compression helps — but it does not always need an external service.

If the server supports GD or Imagick, JPEG and PNG files can be compressed locally. No cloud API. No third-party upload. No external image processing service.

For many sites, that is the cleaner approach.

The best case is simple: find oversized images, review them, compress them in place, keep the same format, keep the same URL, and regenerate thumbnails.

That avoids broken layouts, changed image paths, or unexpected format conversions.

This is the idea behind atec Image Compressor by atec Plugins.

It scans the media library for oversized JPEG and PNG uploads, shows preview, dimensions and file size, then compresses selected images in the background. Files are overwritten in place, thumbnails are regenerated, and URLs stay the same.

A Lightweight WordPress File Manager Can Be a Practical FTP Alternative

Christian Ahrweiler — Wed, 24 Jun 2026 19:56:30 +0000

FTP is useful, but not every WordPress file task needs a separate FTP client.

Sometimes you only want to upload a file, check a folder, preview an image, rename something, or edit a small text file. For that, switching tools and searching for server credentials feels unnecessary.

A lightweight file manager inside WordPress can be faster.

You stay in the dashboard, browse the WordPress root, use breadcrumbs, upload files, preview common formats, and edit supported text/code files directly.

The important part is safety. Critical files such as wp-config.php and .htaccess should be protected from accidental edits or overwrites. A good file manager should make simple tasks easy, without becoming a full hosting control panel.

That is the idea behind atec File Manager by atec Plugins.

It gives you a lightweight WordPress root file browser with upload, preview, inline editing, rename, chmod, delete, protected paths, and a remembered last folder.