DEV Community: Mu Micro

git stash list gives you cryptic IDs — so I built stashpick

Mu Micro — Thu, 28 May 2026 10:39:55 +0000

The problem

Running git stash list gives you cryptic stash@{N} IDs and terse messages; recovering the right stash means running git stash show -p stash@{N} for each candidate until you find what you need.

If you've hit this, you know the drill — git stash list, squint at the messages, run git stash show -p stash@{2}, repeat.

As a solution, I created `stashpick`

Interactive arrow-key git stash browser — preview diffs and apply, pop, or drop stashes without memorizing stash IDs

Zero dependencies. Run immediately:

npx stashpick

Output:

$ npx stashpick

 stashpick  3 stashes                          a=apply  p=pop  d=drop  q=quit
 ref           date        message              │ diff preview
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
▶ stash@{0}   2026-05-27  WIP on main: login   │ diff --git a/src/auth.js b/src/auth.js
  stash@{1}   2026-05-24  feat: refactor api   │ @@ -12,6 +18 @@
  stash@{2}   2026-05-20  quick css tweak      │ +  async login(email, password) {
                                                │ +    const res = await fetch("/api/auth"
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 1/3  stash@{0}  WIP on main: login form

How it works

Pure Node.js: shells out to git stash list and git stash show -p via child_process, caches diff output per stash, and renders a two-pane terminal UI using raw ANSI escape codes and readline raw mode — zero npm dependencies.

Why I built it

Found repeated complaints on r/git and HN about losing stash contents — developers stash work, forget what is in each one, and end up cherry-picking blindly or abandoning stashes entirely. Existing solutions like lazygit are full git UIs requiring separate installation; no zero-dependency npx tool fills the gap of a focused, single-purpose stash browser.

Try it

npx stashpick --help

Part of µ micro — one new developer tool, shipped every day. All tools are zero-dependency Node.js.

TypeScript 5 Utility Types Cheatsheet — One Page, 28 Items

Mu Micro — Thu, 28 May 2026 01:37:23 +0000

The Problem

Every time I use TypeScript, I forget the same utility type patterns mid-project.

Preview

type UserPreview = Pick<User, "id" | "name">
type MaybeUser   = Partial<User>
type Events      = `on${Capitalize<string>}`
type Unwrapped   = Awaited<Promise<User>>  // → User

Get the PDF

Free download

New cheatsheet every day.

I was drowning in stale git branches, so I built an interactive TUI to bulk-delete them

Mu Micro — Thu, 28 May 2026 00:41:48 +0000

The problem

Developers accumulate dozens of stale local git branches and cleaning them up requires manually running git log --merged, inspecting each branch, and issuing git branch -d repeatedly — there is no fast interactive way to review and bulk-delete branches in one pass.

If you've hit this before, you know how it goes — you run git branch, see 40+ branches, and start manually checking which ones are merged before issuing git branch -d one at a time.

As a solution, I created `branch-cleaner`

Interactively browse and delete stale git branches with arrow keys — see merge status, age, and last commit at a glance

It's zero-dependency Node.js, so you can run it immediately without installing anything:

npx branch-cleaner

What you see:

  branch-cleaner  UP/DOWN navigate  d mark  Enter delete  r refresh  q quit
  feat/auth-refactor    42d  merged   add JWT refresh logic
  fix/login-redirect    38d  merged   redirect after oauth callback
  feat/payment-v2       15d  unmerged WIP: stripe webhook handler
  main (current)         0d  merged   release v2.4.1

  2 branches marked for deletion. Press Enter to confirm.
  Deleted 2 branches.

How it works

Pure Node.js using child_process.execSync to call git branch -v --sort=-committerdate and git branch --merged, then renders a live arrow-key-navigable list with ANSI escape codes and raw terminal mode — zero dependencies.

Why I built it

Found this recurring complaint on r/git and r/webdev — developers with long-running projects end up with 30-60 local branches after a few months and the git branch -d workflow is tedious. Tools like git-branch-pruner exist on npm but they batch-delete without showing you what you are removing. An interactive TUI where you can see merge status and age side-by-side before confirming fills this gap cleanly.

Try it

npx branch-cleaner --help

Part of µ micro — one new developer tool, shipped every day. All tools are zero-dependency Node.js and run instantly with npx.

git stash list tells you nothing — so I built `stash-pick`

Mu Micro — Wed, 27 May 2026 12:06:56 +0000

The problem

git stash list only shows a cryptic index and branch name — you have to run a separate git stash show -p stash@{N} just to see what is inside, and applying or dropping any stash means typing out the full reference by hand every time.

If you have hit this before, you know the friction: you accumulate stashes, forget what is in them, and end up either applying the wrong one or never cleaning them up.

As a solution, I created `stash-pick`

Browse, apply, pop, and drop git stashes interactively with arrow-key navigation and inline diff preview.

Zero-dependency Node.js — run it instantly:

npx stash-pick

Output:

  stash-pick   ↑/↓ navigate   Enter apply   p pop   d drop   q quit
  ─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
 ▶  stash@{0}  WIP on feature/auth: user token refresh logic
    stash@{1}  WIP on main: quick experiment with rate limiting
    stash@{2}  On fix/typo: README wording update

  Stat:
  src/auth/tokens.js  | 14 +++++++++-----
  src/middleware.js   |  6 +++---
  2 files changed, 11 insertions(+), 8 deletions(-)

  @@ -34,7 +34,10 @@ async function refreshToken(user) {
  -  const token = await fetchToken(user.id);
  +  const token = await fetchToken(user.id, { force: true });

How it works

Pure Node.js: process.stdin raw mode + ANSI escape codes for the full-screen TUI. child_process.execSync shells out to git for all stash operations. Zero runtime dependencies.

Why I built it

Found repeated complaints on r/git and r/commandline about the friction of inspecting stashes before applying. Every developer has had the experience of stash@{3}: WIP on main: something telling them nothing useful. Existing solutions like lazygit are full-blown TUI clients — there is no focused, zero-dep Node tool that does just this one thing.

Try it

npx stash-pick --help

Part of µ micro — one new developer tool, shipped every day. All tools are zero-dependency Node.js.

JSON logs from pino/winston/bunyan are unreadable as raw text — so I built `json-log-dash`

Mu Micro — Mon, 25 May 2026 13:03:04 +0000

The problem

JSON-structured logs from node servers (pino, winston, bunyan) are unreadable as raw text — you end up piping through jq one query at a time or squinting at minified lines, with no way to filter by level or expand nested fields without a paid cloud service.

If you've hit this before, you know how it goes — you write a throwaway jq alias, copy the same pipeline from Stack Overflow, or just accept the pain.

As a solution, I created `json-log-dash`

Spin up a local web dashboard to browse, filter, and inspect JSON log files.

Zero-dependency Node.js, run it immediately:

npx json-log-dash server.log

Or pipe from a running process:

node app.js | npx json-log-dash

Output:

json-log-dash — 1,243 entries loaded

  Server: http://localhost:7777

  Press Enter to stop.

This opens a browser dashboard with:

Level filter buttons (trace / debug / info / warn / error / fatal)
Full-text search across all fields in every record
Click any row to expand and see the full JSON with syntax highlighting
Handles pino numeric levels, winston string levels, bunyan — normalised automatically

How it works

Pure Node.js with no dependencies. Reads newline-delimited JSON with readline, serves a self-contained HTML page via http.createServer (port 7777), inlines all CSS and JS as a template literal, and opens the browser with child_process.exec. The server shuts down after 60 seconds of inactivity or when you press Enter.

Why I built it

Found repeated complaints on r/node and Stack Overflow about pino/winston JSON logs being unreadable in the terminal. Tools like pino-pretty only colorize the terminal — none provide a local browser UI with filtering and expandable records. No popular zero-dependency npm package fills this gap.

Part of µ micro — one new developer tool, shipped every day.

Developers lose track of which ports are in use — so I built portmap

Mu Micro — Mon, 25 May 2026 00:34:47 +0000

The problem

Developers running multiple local services — API servers, databases, webpack dev servers — frequently need to know what is listening on which port, but running lsof -iTCP -sTCP:LISTEN or netstat -an produces walls of unformatted text that are slow to read and impossible to scan at a glance.

If you've hit this before, you know how it goes — you cycle through terminal tabs running lsof -iTCP -sTCP:LISTEN -n -P, squinting at the output, trying to find the process on port 3000.

As a solution, I created `portmap`

Scan all listening ports on localhost and visualise them in a browser dashboard with process names and PIDs

Zero-dependency Node.js, so you can run it immediately:

npx portmap

Output in terminal:

portmap dashboard → http://127.0.0.1:7777
Press Enter to stop.

The browser opens a live dashboard:

Port	Process	PID	Address
3000	node	14321	*:3000
5432	postgres	1892	127.0.0.1:5432
6379	redis-ser	2104	127.0.0.1:6379
8080	python3	19834	*:8080

Hit Refresh to rescan. Press Enter in the terminal to stop. Auto-closes after 60s.

How it works

Uses Node.js child_process.execSync to run lsof -iTCP -sTCP:LISTEN -n -P (macOS/Linux) or netstat -ano (Windows), parses port/PID/process-name triples with regex, then serves a self-contained HTML dashboard via the built-in http module and opens the browser automatically.

Why I built it

Found the complaint repeatedly on r/webdev and r/node — developers juggling Postgres, Redis, a webpack server, and a Node API all at once constantly type lsof or netstat and squint at the output. No popular zero-dep Node.js tool presents this data visually. A local web dashboard is a natural fit: the output is tabular, colour and typography help enormously, and auto-closing keeps it lightweight.

Try it

npx portmap --help

Part of µ micro — one new developer tool, shipped every day. All tools are zero-dependency Node.js and run instantly with npx.

Bundle size creep goes unnoticed until PR review — so I built `buildwatch`

Mu Micro — Fri, 22 May 2026 12:45:45 +0000

The problem

During development, bundle size creep goes unnoticed — there is no fast way to see that a code change just added 50 KB to your dist folder until it surfaces in a PR review or a production performance regression.

If you've hit this before, you know how it goes — you end up finding out during a PR review, or worse, after a production deploy.

As a solution, I created `buildwatch`

Watch your build output directory and report file size changes on every rebuild

It's zero-dependency Node.js, so you can run it immediately without installing anything:

npx buildwatch ./dist

Output:

buildwatch v1.0.0
Watching /projects/myapp/dist
Initial state: 3 files, 1.0 MB total

[10:23:41] 2 files changed

  main.js          136.4 KB  +12.1 KB (+9.7%)
  main.css           8.3 KB  +0.1 KB (+1.2%)
  vendor.js        892.1 KB  no change

  Total: 1,036.8 KB  +12.2 KB (+1.2%)

How it works

Pure Node.js using fs.watch() for directory monitoring and fs.stat() for file sizes, with 300ms debouncing to handle rapid build events, printing ANSI-colored per-file and total size deltas.

Why I built it

Found repeated complaints in r/webdev and r/node about not noticing bundle size regressions until PR review or production. Existing tools like bundlesize and size-limit require CI config changes or build plugin integration. No popular zero-dep tool gives you instant terminal feedback during local development — a file watcher that just runs alongside your dev server fills this gap cleanly.

Try it

npx buildwatch --help

Part of µ micro — one new developer tool, shipped every day. All tools are zero-dependency Node.js and run instantly with npx.

When a port is already in use, there is no interactive way to find it — so I built `port-peek`

Mu Micro — Thu, 21 May 2026 12:35:32 +0000

The problem

When a port is already in use, developers have to chain together lsof, grep, and kill commands to find and stop the offending process — there is no interactive way to scan all listening ports and act on them in one place.

If you've hit EADDRINUSE :::3000 before, you know the ritual: lsof -i :3000, then grep, then kill. Every time.

As a solution, I created `port-peek`

Interactive TUI for browsing all listening ports and killing the process behind any port with a keypress

Zero dependencies. Run it immediately:

npx port-peek

Output:

port-peek v1.0.0 — Listening ports

  PORT    PID       PROCESS
  3000    91234     node
▶ 5432    823       postgres
  8080    45612     python3
  8888    45990     node

  ↑↓ navigate  Enter kill  r refresh  q quit

Arrow keys to navigate, Enter to kill, r to refresh.

How it works

Pure Node.js using child_process.execSync to run lsof -iTCP -sTCP:LISTEN on macOS (with ss/netstat fallback on Linux), then renders a full-screen ANSI TUI with raw mode stdin for arrow-key navigation and Enter-to-kill. No dependencies.

Why I built it

Found recurring complaints on r/node and r/webdev about the EADDRINUSE error forcing multi-step shell rituals to find and kill the blocking process. The top Stack Overflow answer for 'kill process on port' has millions of views, confirming this is an extremely common pain point. No popular zero-dep npm package provides an interactive alternative — they are all one-shot kill commands that require you to know the port number upfront. An interactive TUI felt like the right format because developers often want to survey all listening ports before deciding which to kill.

Try it

npx port-peek --help

Part of µ micro — one new developer tool, shipped every day.

Cron expressions are hard to verify — so I built `croncheck`

Mu Micro — Wed, 20 May 2026 12:06:49 +0000

The problem

Cron syntax is notoriously hard to verify — developers copy expressions from Stack Overflow or write their own, then paste them into random online parsers to check them, often without offline access or confidence in edge-case handling.

If you've hit this before, you know how it goes — you fire up a browser tab, paste the expression into crontab.guru, and hope it interprets edge cases the same way your cron daemon does.

As a solution, I created `croncheck`

Parse and preview cron expressions interactively — see the next 10 run times before you deploy

It's zero-dependency Node.js, so you can run it immediately without installing anything:

npx croncheck

Output:

croncheck "30 9 * * 1-5"

  Expression: 30 9 * * 1-5
  Meaning:    minute 30, hour 9, every day, every month, weekdays 1-5

  Next 10 run times:
   1. Mon May 25 2026  09:30  in 4d 23h
   2. Tue May 26 2026  09:30  in 5d 23h
   3. Wed May 27 2026  09:30  in 6d 23h
   4. Thu May 28 2026  09:30  in 7d 23h
   5. Fri May 29 2026  09:30  in 8d 23h
   6. Mon Jun  1 2026  09:30  in 11d 23h
   7. Tue Jun  2 2026  09:30  in 12d 23h
   8. Wed Jun  3 2026  09:30  in 13d 23h
   9. Thu Jun  4 2026  09:30  in 14d 23h
  10. Fri Jun  5 2026  09:30  in 15d 23h

How it works

Pure Node.js cron parser that expands each field (minute, hour, day, month, weekday) into a sorted array of valid values using set arithmetic, then advances a Date object forward one minute at a time to collect the next N matching timestamps, rendered in a raw-mode terminal UI.

Why I built it

Found repeated complaints on r/devops and HN from developers who deployed broken cron schedules after writing expressions from memory. Online tools like crontab.guru exist but require a browser and fail offline. No popular zero-dep npx tool fills the gap for quick in-terminal verification before committing a schedule to production.

Try it

npx croncheck --help

Part of µ micro — one new developer tool, shipped every day. All tools are zero-dependency Node.js and run instantly with npx.

Developers keep pasting JSON into online formatters and leaking secrets — so I built json-explorer

Mu Micro — Tue, 19 May 2026 23:21:13 +0000

The problem

Debugging large or deeply nested JSON responses means pasting into online formatters (a privacy risk), squinting at jq output, or writing throwaway scripts — there is no instant zero-setup local tool that gives you a rich interactive view.

If you've hit this before, you know the friction — online formatters work but they upload your JSON to a third-party server. That's fine for public data; it's not fine for API responses containing auth tokens, PII, or internal service data.

As a solution, I created json-explorer

Visualize any JSON file as an interactive collapsible tree in your browser — with search, path tracking, and copy-to-clipboard

Zero dependencies. Run instantly:

npx json-explorer response.json

Output:

$ json-explorer response.json

json-explorer
  file:   /home/user/projects/api/response.json
  server: http://localhost:7777

Opening browser... press Enter to stop the server.

Your browser opens to a polished local dashboard. The server only listens on localhost — nothing leaves your machine.

Features

Collapsible tree — top-level nodes open by default, deep nodes collapsed
Live search — highlights matching keys and values, auto-expands parents
Path display — hover any row to see its full dot/bracket path
Copy to clipboard — copy any value or subtree as formatted JSON
Expand all / collapse all buttons
Auto-closes after 60 seconds (or press Enter)

How it works

Pure Node.js: reads the file, spins up an http.createServer on port 7777, serves a single self-contained HTML page with all CSS and JS inlined, then opens the default browser; server auto-closes after 60 seconds or on Enter.

Why I built it

Developers routinely paste JSON into online formatters like jsonformatter.org or jsoneditoronline.org, leaking API responses and auth tokens to third-party servers. jq is powerful but requires learning a mini-language for ad-hoc inspection. No popular zero-dep npx tool fills the gap — a local-web-dashboard format is the right choice here because the entire value is in the visual presentation, not the data transformation.

Try it

npx json-explorer --help

Part of µ micro — one new developer tool, shipped every day.

Developers keep pasting JSON into online formatters and leaking secrets — so I built json-explorer

Mu Micro — Tue, 19 May 2026 23:14:53 +0000

The problem

As a solution, I created json-explorer

Visualize any JSON file as an interactive collapsible tree in your browser — with search, path tracking, and copy-to-clipboard

Zero dependencies. Run instantly:

npx json-explorer response.json

Output:

$ json-explorer response.json

json-explorer
  file:   /home/user/projects/api/response.json
  server: http://localhost:7777

Opening browser... press Enter to stop the server.

Your browser opens to a polished local dashboard. The server only listens on localhost — nothing leaves your machine.

Features

Collapsible tree — top-level nodes open by default, deep nodes collapsed
Live search — highlights matching keys and values, auto-expands parents
Path display — hover any row to see its full dot/bracket path
Copy to clipboard — copy any value or subtree as formatted JSON
Expand all / collapse all buttons
Auto-closes after 60 seconds (or press Enter)

How it works

Why I built it

Try it

npx json-explorer --help

Part of µ micro — one new developer tool, shipped every day.

JSON logs in your terminal are unreadable — so I built `jlog-watch`

Mu Micro — Tue, 19 May 2026 17:51:36 +0000

The problem

Structured JSON logs from frameworks like pino and bunyan are unreadable with tail -f — every line is a compact JSON blob with no color, no level emphasis, and no field alignment.

If you've hit this before, you know how it goes — you end up installing pino-pretty globally, or just squinting at raw JSON blobs in the terminal.

As a solution, I created `jlog-watch`

Watch a JSON log file and pretty-print each new line with ANSI colors and aligned fields

Zero dependencies. Run it immediately without installing anything:

npx jlog-watch app.log

Output:

$ jlog-watch app.log
● jlog-watch watching /project/app.log
Press Ctrl+C to stop

2026-05-19 04:00:01.412  INFO   server listening  port=3000
2026-05-19 04:00:02.118  DEBUG  incoming request  method=GET path=/health
2026-05-19 04:00:07.551  ERROR  unhandled exception  err={"code":"ECONNREFUSED"}
^C
──────────────────────────────────────────
Stopped.  errors seen: 1

How it works

Pure Node.js using fs.watchFile() for change detection, manual byte-position tracking to read only new bytes since the last event, JSON.parse per line, and ANSI escape codes for coloring — zero npm dependencies.

Why I built it

Found repeated complaints on r/node and r/devops about having to install pino-pretty or the bunyan CLI just to read your own app logs in development. Existing zero-dep alternatives either don't watch live files or require piping stdout rather than watching a persisted log file. A zero-dep file watcher that works on any JSON-per-line log file and shows clear ANSI output fills the gap cleanly without touching application code.

Try it

npx jlog-watch app.log

Part of µ micro — one new developer tool, shipped every day. All tools are zero-dependency Node.js and run instantly with npx.

DEV Community: Mu Micro

git stash list gives you cryptic IDs — so I built stashpick

The problem

As a solution, I created stashpick

How it works

Why I built it

Try it

TypeScript 5 Utility Types Cheatsheet — One Page, 28 Items

The Problem

Preview

Get the PDF

I was drowning in stale git branches, so I built an interactive TUI to bulk-delete them

The problem

As a solution, I created branch-cleaner

How it works

Why I built it

Try it

git stash list tells you nothing — so I built `stash-pick`

The problem

As a solution, I created stash-pick

How it works

Why I built it

Try it

JSON logs from pino/winston/bunyan are unreadable as raw text — so I built `json-log-dash`

The problem

As a solution, I created json-log-dash

How it works

Why I built it

Developers lose track of which ports are in use — so I built portmap

The problem

As a solution, I created portmap

How it works

Why I built it

Try it

Bundle size creep goes unnoticed until PR review — so I built `buildwatch`

The problem

As a solution, I created buildwatch

How it works

Why I built it

Try it

When a port is already in use, there is no interactive way to find it — so I built `port-peek`

The problem

As a solution, I created port-peek

How it works

Why I built it

Try it

Cron expressions are hard to verify — so I built `croncheck`

The problem

As a solution, I created croncheck

How it works

Why I built it

Try it

Developers keep pasting JSON into online formatters and leaking secrets — so I built json-explorer

The problem

As a solution, I created json-explorer

Features

How it works

Why I built it

Try it

Developers keep pasting JSON into online formatters and leaking secrets — so I built json-explorer

The problem

As a solution, I created json-explorer

Features

How it works

Why I built it

Try it

JSON logs in your terminal are unreadable — so I built `jlog-watch`

The problem

As a solution, I created jlog-watch

How it works

Why I built it

Try it

As a solution, I created `stashpick`

As a solution, I created `branch-cleaner`

As a solution, I created `stash-pick`

As a solution, I created `json-log-dash`

As a solution, I created `portmap`

As a solution, I created `buildwatch`

As a solution, I created `port-peek`

As a solution, I created `croncheck`

As a solution, I created `jlog-watch`