DEV Community: Karan Goyal

I Built 44 Free Developer Tools — Here's What I Learned

Karan Goyal — Wed, 25 Mar 2026 02:19:42 +0000

I'm a Shopify developer (Top Rated Plus on Upwork, $300K+ earned), and over the past year I've been building free tools on my personal site. Not as a business — just to scratch my own itches and help other developers.

Here are the ones getting the most love:

🛍️ Shopify-Specific Tools

Liquid Formatter

Format and beautify Shopify Liquid code. Handles nested loops, complex conditionals, and mixed HTML/Liquid. I built this because VS Code extensions kept breaking on complex templates.

Liquid Analyzer

AI-powered code analysis for Shopify Liquid. Finds performance issues (nested loops, N+1 queries), security problems (missing escape filters), and scores your code 0-100.

Shopify Theme Detector

Enter any Shopify store URL — instantly see which theme they're using, their tech stack, and store details.

Shopify App Icon Generator

Generate properly-sized app icons for Shopify App Store submission. Saves 20 minutes of resizing.

Shopify Featured Image Generator

Create optimized featured images for Shopify blog posts and collections.

Metafield Migration Checker

Check if your Shopify metafields exceed the new 16KB API limit (April 2026 deadline) + get migration code.

Ask Shopify AI

AI chatbot that answers Shopify development questions with code examples. Powered by Shopify's official docs.

🔧 General Developer Tools

JSON Formatter

Pretty-print, minify, and validate JSON. Handles large files without lag.

Regex Tester

Test regex patterns with real-time highlighting. Shows matches, groups, and provides common pattern presets.

Diff Checker

Compare two texts with LCS-based diffing and character-level highlighting.

JWT Decoder

Decode JWT tokens — see header, payload, and verify expiration.

Cron Generator

Visual cron expression builder with 11 presets. Shows next 5 execution times.

UUID Generator

Generate v4 UUIDs in bulk. Copy one or many.

Base64 Encoder/Decoder

Encode/decode Base64. Supports text and files.

URL Encoder/Decoder

Encode/decode URL components. Handles special characters properly.

Timestamp Converter

Convert between Unix timestamps and human-readable dates. Supports multiple formats.

CSS Minifier

Minify CSS with instant size comparison.

HTML Entities

Encode/decode HTML entities. Reference table included.

Hash Generator

Generate MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256, SHA-512 hashes.

Password Generator

Customizable secure password generation.

Color Picker

Visual color picker with HEX, RGB, HSL conversions.

📝 Text & Content Tools

Markdown Preview

Live markdown preview with syntax highlighting.

Markdown to PDF

Convert markdown to downloadable PDF.

Word Counter

Real-time word/character count, keyword density, reading time.

Text Case Converter

13 case conversions: camelCase, snake_case, kebab-case, Title Case, and more.

CSV ↔ JSON Converter

Bidirectional conversion with custom delimiters.

🖼️ Image Tools

Image Optimizer

Compress images without quality loss. Client-side processing — your images never leave your browser.

Remove Background

AI-powered background removal.

Image to SVG

Trace raster images to SVG vectors.

Crop & Resize

Crop and resize images with preset ratios.

Image to PDF

Combine multiple images into a single PDF.

QR Code Generator

Generate QR codes with custom colors and sizes.

📤 Utility

Share Files

Upload & share files with password protection, expiry dates, and QR codes.

What I Learned Building These

Tools beat blog posts for traffic. My Liquid Formatter gets steady daily organic visits. Blog posts spike and die.
Client-side processing wins. "Your data never leaves your browser" is a massive trust signal. Every image/text tool runs locally.
Scratch your own itch. Every tool started because I needed it. The Liquid Formatter exists because I was tired of manually indenting complex templates.
Keep it simple. No sign-ups, no paywalls, no tracking. Just open the tool and use it.
Shopify niche tools have almost zero competition. There's no web-based Liquid formatter. No theme detector that works this well. The niche is wide open.

All tools are free, no sign-up required. Built with Next.js + Tailwind CSS.

Site: karangoyal.cc/tools

I'm a Shopify developer by trade — if you work with Shopify or ecommerce, the Shopify-specific tools might save you real time.

What free tools have you built that you wish existed? Always looking for ideas.

I Built 44 Free Developer Tools — Here's What I Learned

Karan Goyal — Mon, 23 Mar 2026 09:09:58 +0000

TL;DR: I built 44 free developer tools at karangoyal.cc/tools — Shopify Liquid formatter, theme detector, JSON formatter, regex tester, image optimizer, and more. All free, no sign-up, client-side processing. Here's the full list and what I learned.

I'm a Shopify developer (Top Rated Plus on Upwork, $300K+ earned), and over the past year I've been building free developer tools on my personal site. Not as a business — just to scratch my own itches and help other developers.

Here are the ones getting the most love:

🛍️ Shopify-Specific Developer Tools

Liquid Formatter

Format and beautify Shopify Liquid code online. Handles nested loops, complex conditionals, and mixed HTML/Liquid. I built this because VS Code extensions kept breaking on complex templates.

Liquid Analyzer

AI-powered Liquid code analysis for Shopify. Finds performance issues (nested loops, N+1 queries), security problems (missing escape filters), and scores your code 0-100 with actionable fixes.

Shopify Theme Detector

Enter any Shopify store URL — instantly see which theme they're using, their tech stack, and store details. Great for competitive research.

Shopify App Icon Generator

Generate properly-sized app icons for Shopify App Store submission. Saves 20 minutes of resizing every time you submit an app.

Metafield Migration Checker

Check if your Shopify metafields exceed the new 16KB API limit (April 2026 deadline) + get migration code automatically.

Ask Shopify AI

AI chatbot that answers Shopify development questions with code examples. Powered by Shopify's official documentation.

🔧 General Developer Tools

JSON Formatter & Validator

Pretty-print, minify, and validate JSON online. Handles large files without lag.

Regex Tester

Test regex patterns with real-time highlighting. Shows matches, capture groups, and provides common pattern presets.

Diff Checker

Compare two texts with LCS-based diffing and character-level highlighting. Find exactly what changed.

JWT Decoder

Decode JWT tokens online — see header, payload, and verify expiration instantly.

Cron Expression Generator

Visual cron expression builder with 11 presets. Shows next 5 execution times so you know exactly when your job runs.

UUID Generator

Generate v4 UUIDs in bulk. Copy one or many with a single click.

Base64 Encoder/Decoder

Encode/decode Base64 online. Supports text and file inputs.

CSS Minifier

Minify CSS with instant before/after size comparison.

Hash Generator

Generate MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256, SHA-512 hashes from any text.

Password Generator

Customizable secure password generation with length, symbols, and entropy display.

Color Picker & Converter

Visual color picker with HEX, RGB, HSL conversions.

📝 Text & Content Tools

Markdown Preview

Live markdown preview with syntax highlighting for code blocks.

Markdown to PDF

Convert markdown to downloadable PDF with proper formatting.

Word Counter

Real-time word/character count, keyword density analysis, reading and speaking time estimates.

Text Case Converter

13 case conversions: camelCase, snake_case, kebab-case, PascalCase, Title Case, CONSTANT_CASE, and more.

CSV to JSON Converter

Bidirectional CSV/JSON conversion with custom delimiters and formatting options.

🖼️ Image Tools

Image Optimizer

Compress images without visible quality loss. 100% client-side — your images never leave your browser.

Remove Background

AI-powered background removal from any image.

Image to SVG

Trace raster images to scalable SVG vectors.

Crop & Resize

Crop and resize images with preset aspect ratios for social media and web.

Image to PDF

Combine multiple images into a single PDF document.

QR Code Generator

Generate QR codes with custom colors, sizes, and download options.

📤 Utility

Share Files

Upload & share files with password protection, expiry dates, and QR code sharing.

What I Learned Building 44 Free Developer Tools

Tools beat blog posts for traffic. My Liquid Formatter gets steady daily organic visits from Google. Blog posts spike when published and die within a week. Tools compound.
Client-side processing wins trust. "Your data never leaves your browser" is a massive trust signal. Every image and text tool runs entirely in the browser — no server uploads.
Scratch your own itch. Every single tool started because I personally needed it. The Liquid Formatter exists because I was tired of manually indenting 500-line Shopify templates.
Keep it simple. No sign-ups, no paywalls, no tracking. Just open the tool and use it. This is what makes people bookmark and come back.
Niche tools have almost zero competition. There's no web-based Shopify Liquid formatter anywhere. No theme detector that works this well. If you're in a niche, the tool space is wide open.

FAQ

Q: Are all these tools really free?
Yes, 100% free with no sign-up required. No freemium, no hidden limits.

Q: Is my data safe?
Most tools (text, image, code formatters) run entirely client-side in your browser. Your data never hits a server.

Q: What tech stack did you use?
Next.js 14 + Tailwind CSS + TypeScript. Each tool is a standalone page component. The site runs on a single VPS.

Q: Can I request a new tool?
Absolutely — drop a comment below or reach out. The best tools come from real developer pain points.

Q: Why not charge for these?
Traffic and backlinks are more valuable to me right now than $5/month subscriptions. Free tools build trust and bring clients to my Shopify consulting business.

All tools are free, no sign-up required. Built with Next.js + Tailwind CSS.

👉 karangoyal.cc/tools — Browse all 44 tools

I'm a Shopify developer by trade — if you work with Shopify or ecommerce, the Shopify-specific tools might save you real time.

What free tools have you built that you wish existed? Always looking for ideas — drop them in the comments.