Why I Built "DevPulse": A Privacy-First, AI-Powered Reader (That Actually Runs Locally)

How to reclaim your developer news feed from algorithms using React, PWA, and Ollama.

The Problem: algorithmic Exhaustion

As developers, we are constantly bombarded with information. We visit sites like Dev.to, Hacker News, or Twitter to find specific knowledge, but we end up doom-scrolling through "Top 10 VS Code Extensions" lists curated by a black-box algorithm.

I wanted a reading experience that was:

• Intentional: I subscribe only to topics I care about (e.g., #rust, #system-design, #ai).
• Private: No tracking pixels, no "For You" retention hacks.
• Smart: The ability to summarize long articles before I commit to reading them. But most importantly, I didn't want my reading habits sent to an external AI server.

The Solution: DevPulse

I built DevPulse, a bespoke Progressive Web App (PWA) that acts as a clean, privacy-first client for the Dev.to public API.

The "Killer" Feature? Local AI. Instead of paying for OpenAI credits or sending article data to the cloud, DevPulse integrates with Ollama running locally on your machine.

When you see an interesting title, you click the ✨ Summarize button.

1. The app fetches the article text.
2. It sends it to localhost:11434 (where your gemma3:4b model is running).
3. You get a 2-sentence summary instantly. All data stays on your machine. The model runs on your GPU. It’s free, private, and insanely fast.

Tech Stack

• Frontend: React + Vite (Fast, minimal bundle).
• Styling: Custom CSS Variables (Monochrome, high-contrast, no heavy frameworks).
• AI: Ollama (gemma3:4b model).
• Storage: IndexedDB (For offline bookmarks and preferences).

Why this matters

We are entering an era of "Local AI." We don't need massive cloud data centers for simple tasks like summarization. By bringing the model to the data (the browser), we unlock privacy and zero-latency experiences that weren't possible before.

Check out the code on GitHub: https://github.com/harishkotra/DevPulse