The latest articles on DEV Community by Richard Whitney (@ruusvuu). https://dev.to/ruusvuu https://media2.dev.to/dynamic/image/width=90,height=90,fit=cover,gravity=auto,format=auto/https:%2F%2Fdev-to-uploads.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com%2Fuploads%2Fuser%2Fprofile_image%2F4047166%2Fc1792b80-c300-4f9c-b5ce-849650c18fb6.png https://dev.to/ruusvuu en Richard Whitney Sat, 25 Jul 2026 19:27:20 +0000 https://dev.to/ruusvuu/indie-dev-building-local-first-browser-tools-1b34 https://dev.to/ruusvuu/indie-dev-building-local-first-browser-tools-1b34 <p>Hi, I'm Richard</p> <p>I'm an indie developer, and most of what I build starts the same way: I get annoyed at something, and fixing it myself sounds more fun than living with it. The latest was ~80 open browser tabs -- which turned into a Chrome/Brave extension for persistent, themeable browser workspaces.</p> <p>A few things I keep coming back to:</p> <ul> <li>Browser extensions. A split-screen/workspaces tool, a local-only password vault, markdown and favicon utilities -- free and open source, collected at <a href="https://dev.tourl">https://kit.whitneys.co</a>. Manifest V3 is a maze, and I have opinions.</li> <li>Boring, durable stacks. Node and vanilla JS, ES modules, no build step, minimal dependencies. I'd rather understand my whole app than chase a toolchain.</li> <li>Local-first, privacy by default. No third-party trackers, no account walls, data that stays on your device. I'll price a spammer's CPU with proof-of-work before I hand my visitors to a CAPTCHA vendor.</li> </ul> <p>I also spend a lot of time with AI coding agents and thinking about how software should decide things -- probably a future post or ten.</p> <p>What you'll find here: browser-extension internals, local-first patterns, notes from shipping small products solo, and the occasional "here's the one-character bug that ate my evening."</p> <p>If you build things for yourself and give them away, we'll get along.</p> javascript opensource showdev webdev