DEV Community: Dev WorkDir

Finder Was My Project Manager. Here's Why I Built Something Better.

Dev WorkDir — Mon, 24 Aug 2026 12:55:00 +0000

Six months ago, if you asked me how I managed my side projects, I'd have said "Finder folders."

Notion? Too heavy. GitHub? Great for code, bad for remembering what's what. VS Code recent files? Only shows what I touched this week.

So I used Finder. I had a ~/code folder, with subfolders for different types of projects. It worked fine when I had 5 projects.

Then AI coding tools happened. And suddenly I had 40.

The First Problem: Finding Anything Took Forever

Here's what my workflow looked like:

I'd remember — "wait, I built that thing that does X, where did I put it?"

Then:

Open Finder
Click into ~/code
Guess which folder it's in — experiments? apps? playground?
Open the folder, see 15 sub-folders with names I barely remember
Click into one, see it's a monorepo with 3 projects inside
Open the wrong one — it's the mobile app, not the web app
Go back, try another
Finally find it. What was I doing again?

This wasn't a "once a week" annoyance. It was multiple times a day. And the worst part? Sometimes I'd give up looking and just start building it again. I've rebuilt the same small utility tool three times now because I couldn't find the previous versions.

The real problem wasn't just finding the folder. It was remembering what was inside each folder. Is this the React version or the Next.js version? Is this project Python or Go? Did I set up a backend for this one yet?

I needed a way to see, at a glance, what every project was — without opening it.

What I built for this: Automatic tech stack detection. Drop a folder in, and it tells you — Next.js? FastAPI? Rust? iOS project? — with an icon so you can scan 40 projects in 2 seconds. Currently detects 29 frameworks across mobile, web, backend, and desktop.

It sounds simple. But when you're staring at a list of 40 projects and trying to remember which one had that thing you built... being able to see "oh right, that was the FastAPI one" saves minutes every single time.

The Second Problem: "How Do I Run This Again?"

Here's a thing nobody warns you about with AI coding: you start building tools in languages you don't really know.

I'm primarily a mobile and web developer. But with Cursor and Claude Code? I've built Python scripts, Rust CLIs, Go APIs — things I'd never have attempted before because the setup friction was too high.

AI handles all the boilerplate. It writes the code. It works. Great!

But then a week later, I want to run it again. And I have no idea how.

I'd find the project folder, stare at it, and think... is it python main.py? python app.py? Do I need to activate a venv first? What was the command again?

Half the time I'd just ask Claude again: "how do I run this project?" And it would tell me the same one-line command it told me last week. And the week before that.

This is such a stupid problem. The answer is always one line. But I can never remember which line.

What I built for this: Double-click to run.

Double-click any project, and it automatically detects the right start command and runs it in Terminal. npm run dev for Next.js, python main.py for Python projects, cargo run for Rust, docker compose up for Docker projects. You can also set a custom command per project.

It's not a flashy feature. It's not going to impress anyone on Hacker News. But it saves me from asking AI "how do I run this?" at least once a day.

The Third Problem: "What Was I Going to Do With This One?"

You know that feeling? You open a project you haven't touched in three weeks, and you think... why did I even build this? And what was I going to add next?

Before AI, I had 3-5 projects and I knew everything about each one. I knew the bugs, I knew the roadmap, I knew what I was doing when I stopped.

At 40+ projects? Forget it. I can barely remember what half of them do, let alone what I was planning to change.

I tried putting todos in Notion. Too much friction — by the time I navigate to the right page, I've forgotten the idea.

I tried putting README notes in each project. Nobody reads READMEs, not even the person who wrote them.

I tried Apple Notes. 20 notes later, I can't find which note goes with which project.

What I built for this: Project-level todos.

Every project in Dev WorkDir has its own tiny todo list. Not a full project management system — just a quick list for the stuff you need to remember.

"Fix the loading state bug"
"Try the new animation library"
"Add dark mode toggle"
"Refactor auth — it's messy"

When I get an idea for a project while I'm working on something else? Two clicks to switch to that project, type the todo, two clicks back. Total time: 5 seconds.

It's not for big planning. It's for the "I'll get to this later" stuff that would otherwise get lost forever.

Why a Menu Bar App?

I tried building this as a regular app first. Didn't work.

The problem with a regular app is that it's another thing to switch to. You're in your editor, you need to find a project, you cmd-tab over... and by the time you get there, you've lost your train of thought.

A menu bar app is different. It's always there. One click, you see your projects, find what you need, one click to open in your editor, and you're back to coding. No app switch, no dock clutter, no context loss.

When you're in the flow — in that vibe coding state — the last thing you want is to break your concentration just to find a folder.

Some Things I Learned

Building this tool for myself, then sharing it, taught me a few things:

1. The bottleneck has shifted. It used to be "how fast can I build this?" Now it's "how fast can I find what I built and remember what I was doing?" Creation is cheap. Context is expensive.

2. Small tools beat big systems. The best productivity tools for the AI era aren't complex project management suites. They're tiny, focused things that remove one specific friction point. Double-click to run is my favorite feature and it's probably the simplest one.

3. Developers care about privacy. I built Dev WorkDir as a 100% local app — no cloud, no account, no tracking. I thought this was a "nice to have." Turns out it's the thing people comment on most.

Where I'm At

Dev WorkDir lives in my menu bar, every single day. I use it more than I thought I would. It's become the first thing I open when I sit down to code — a quick scan of what's there, pick something, double-click, start coding.

If you're also someone whose project list exploded after AI coding tools, you might find it useful too. It's a macOS menu bar app, free on the App Store.

Dev WorkDir — macOS menu bar project manager

What about you? How do you manage a growing pile of side projects? Any weird little productivity hacks I should know about?

AI Made Me Start More Projects in 6 Months Than My Entire Career Combined

Dev WorkDir — Fri, 21 Aug 2026 11:27:43 +0000

TL;DR: I'm a full-stack developer with 15 years of experience, mostly building mobile apps, then web, backend, and desktop. After I started using Cursor and Claude Code, my productivity exploded — one idea quickly becomes a full-stack project with frontend, backend, and infrastructure. My project count grew 10x, but my memory didn't. So I built Dev WorkDir, a macOS menu bar app that organizes all your projects, auto-detects 29 frameworks, supports 26 editors, and lets you open or run any project in one click. Free on the App Store. 100% local, no cloud, no tracking.

A Bit About Me

I've been coding for 15 years.

Started out building iOS apps back when the App Store was new. Then expanded to Android, then React Native for cross-platform. Then web with React and Next.js. Then backend with AWS Serverless. Then desktop with macOS native and Electron.

You get the picture — I'm a full-stack dev who likes to build end-to-end. When I have an idea, I don't just prototype the UI. I build the whole thing: client app, web frontend, backend API, serverless functions, the whole stack.

It's how I've always worked. One person, full product. Slow, but thorough.

Then AI Changed Everything

Six months ago, I started using Cursor as my daily driver. Then Claude Code for terminal work.

And everything... sped up.

Not by 20%. Not by 2x. By like... 10x.

Here's what used to happen when I had an idea:

Spend a weekend setting up the project structure
Another weekend for the backend
Another for the frontend
Maybe start on the mobile app a month later
By then I've lost some of the initial excitement

Here's what happens now:

I have an idea in the morning
By lunch, I have a running full-stack project — frontend, backend, database, auth
By dinner, I'm adding features I hadn't even thought of that morning
By the end of the weekend, I've got three different projects going

It's incredible. It's also a problem.

The Project Explosion

I used to have 3-5 active side projects at any given time. That was manageable. I knew each one inside and out.

Six months into AI-assisted coding, I counted:

More than 40 projects in various states of completion.

Some are full-stack apps with frontend + backend + mobile.
Some are just experiments I wanted to try.
Some are half-built tools that worked but I moved on to the next idea.
Some I genuinely can't remember building.

And it's not just the count. It's the complexity per project.

When every idea becomes a full-stack project with multiple repos — one for the web app, one for the mobile app, one for the backend API, maybe a shared package — you don't just have more projects. You have more projects, each with more parts.

Finding a project isn't just "which folder is it in?" anymore. It's:

"Which repo was the frontend again?"
"Did I deploy the backend for this one?"
"What was the start command for this API?"
"Wait, is this the React version or the Next.js version?"

The "Find the Project" Ritual

Does this sound familiar?

You remember you built something cool... a few weeks ago?
You open Finder and start guessing folder names
You find the right folder but there are 5 sub-projects inside
You open the wrong repo first, realize it's the mobile app not the web app
You find the right one, then spend 5 minutes figuring out how to run it
By then you've lost your train of thought

This was happening to me multiple times a week.

The bottleneck shifted from "building" to "finding." And the worst part is ideas get lost. A project you can't find might as well not exist. I've had multiple moments where I started building something, only to realize I built essentially the same thing two months ago and forgot.

Why Existing Tools Didn't Work

I tried everything. None of it stuck:

Tool	The Problem
GitHub/GitLab	Great for code, terrible for project management. Half my experiments never get pushed — they're just ideas I'm playing with. And even the ones that are pushed, finding the right repo is its own adventure.
Notion / Linear / Project management apps	Too heavy. I'm not creating a whole workspace for a weekend experiment. By the time I set it up, the vibe is gone.
VS Code recent files	Only shows what I opened recently. And if I use Cursor for one project, VS Code for another, and Xcode for a third? Nothing is in the same place.
Finder folders	Fine for 5 projects. Chaos for 40+ — especially when each project has multiple sub-folders for different parts of the stack.

Here's the core issue: all these tools were designed for a world where you have a small number of long-term, serious projects. But in the AI era, we're producing a large number of short-term, experimental, full-stack projects.

It's like trying to organize 3000 digital photos with a film-era photo album. The tool doesn't match the workflow.

So I Built Dev WorkDir

I built Dev WorkDir — a macOS menu bar app that lives in your menu bar and does one thing really well: it shows you all your projects and lets you jump to them instantly.

I built it for Mac because that's where I code. It lives in the menu bar because that's where I need it — always available, never in the way.

Here's what it does:

🎯 Auto-detects every tech stack

Drop a folder in, and it figures out what's inside. Next.js? FastAPI? Rust? SvelteKit? iOS project? Android? It knows.

Currently detects 29 frameworks and languages across the full stack — iOS, Android, React Native, JavaScript/TypeScript, Python, Go, Rust, Ruby, and more. The icon tells you at a glance what you're looking at — no need to open package.json or Podfile just to remember.

🏗️ Monorepo & multi-repo support

Since I build full-stack, one "project" often has multiple repos inside — web app, mobile app, backend, shared libs.

Dev WorkDir handles this naturally. Drop in a folder with 5 sub-projects, and you see all 5, each with its own tech stack detected, each independently openable and runnable.

⚡ One click to open, double-click to run

Open in your editor of choice? One click.

Run the project without opening a terminal? Double click.

It auto-detects your start script and runs it. No more cd-ing around through nested folders, no more forgetting whether it's npm run dev or pnpm start or cargo run or pod install && xed ..

Supports 26 editors and IDEs — Cursor, Windsurf, Trae, VS Code, all the JetBrains IDEs, Xcode, Android Studio, and more. Plus CLI tools like Claude Code.

📝 Built-in todos per project

The thing I kept forgetting most was "what was I doing on this one?"

Now every project has its own todo list right in the menu bar. Next time I open it, I don't have to reconstruct context from git history and scattered notes.

🔍 Git info at a glance

Branch name, dirty state, ahead/behind count — all visible without typing git status.

🚀 21 project templates

Since I'm starting projects all the time now, I built in templates for the stacks I use most. Next.js, Astro, SvelteKit, Hono, Tauri, VitePress, and more.

Vibe coding starter pack: idea → choose template → 5 seconds later you're coding.

🔒 100% local

This was non-negotiable for me as a 15-year dev. No cloud, no account, no tracking, no telemetry.

Your code stays on your Mac. Always. Dev WorkDir runs entirely on your machine. It uses App Sandbox and Security-scoped Bookmarks for maximum security.

How I Built It

Native macOS app built with Swift and SwiftUI
No backend — everything runs locally
Framework detection — parses package.json, Cargo.toml, go.mod, Podfile, build.gradle, etc. to detect frameworks and start commands
Security-first — App Sandboxed, uses Security-scoped bookmarks for folder access
Distributed through the App Store — free during launch

The whole thing took about a month of side-project time to build the core. Most of that was spent on the auto-detection logic — getting 29 framework recognitions right across mobile, web, backend, and desktop is trickier than it sounds.

What Worked

✅ The menu bar format — This is the right home for a project manager. You need it constantly but briefly. No app switching, no dock clutter.

✅ Double-click to run — Everyone who tries it says this is their favorite feature. It seems small until you use it for a week, then you can't go back.

✅ Full-stack monorepo support — I almost cut this feature to ship faster. Glad I didn't — it's the thing that makes it actually useful for people like me who build end-to-end.

✅ 100% local pitch — Developers care about privacy. This resonates way more than I expected.

✅ AI-era positioning — Most project management tools are from the pre-AI era. "Built for the vibe coding era" immediately tells people what's different and why they need it.

What Didn't Work

❌ I overbuilt the onboarding — Turns out developers don't need a tutorial. They figure it out in 10 seconds. I simplified it.

❌ Too many features at launch — I almost shipped with environment variable management, config file browsing, and a whole dashboard view all in v1.0. Cut it down to the core 4 features and shipped faster. Good call.

❌ Name was hard — Went through like 20 names. "Project Dock" was a contender. "Code Hub" was another. Ended up with Dev WorkDir because it describes what it is without being cute.

❌ I almost built for iOS too — That would have been a massive distraction. Mac only, done right. The right call.

The Numbers

Metric	Count
Years of coding experience	15
Projects I had before AI (typical)	3-5
Projects after 6 months of AI coding	40+
Project growth rate	~10x
Frameworks detected	29
Editors / IDEs supported	26
Built-in templates	21
Time to build v1.0	~1 month (side project pace)
Tech stack	Swift / SwiftUI / App Sandbox
Price	Free (for now)
Cloud dependencies	Zero
Times I've forgotten my own projects	🫠 too many

What I'd Do Differently

If I started over, I'd:

Ship even earlier — I waited too long to show it to people. The first version people tried was already v0.8. Should have gotten feedback at v0.3.
Record more build-in-public — I should have been posting the whole journey. Better late than never, I guess.
Start with the pain point, not the features — When I first described this to people, I'd list features. Now I just say "I had 40 projects and couldn't find any of them." People get it immediately.

Try It Out

If you're also a developer whose project list exploded after AI coding tools, Dev WorkDir might help.

It's free on the App Store right now. No subscriptions, no accounts, no nonsense.

👉 Download Dev WorkDir on the App Store

Or check out the website: 9souls.com/DevWorkDir

What do you think?

I'm genuinely curious:

How many half-finished AI projects do YOU have? Be honest.
How do you keep track of them all?
If you're a full-stack dev, how do you manage multi-repo projects?
What's your project management workflow in the vibe coding era?

Drop a comment below — I read every single one. And if you try Dev WorkDir, I'd love to hear what you think.

15 years of coding. Still building things. Now with AI, and with a menu bar app to keep track of it all.