Every developer has one of those moments: you just need to format some JSON or convert a timestamp, and somehow you end up buried in sketchy websites full of ads and trackers.
That’s basically how HelppDev started — out of frustration.
Helppdev.com
was never meant to be a startup or a massive product. It was meant to be a clean, fast, and private collection of developer tools — built by a dev, for devs.
Today it’s grown into a place where thousands of small tasks get solved every week: formatting, encoding, generating, converting, optimizing. All those things we do 50 times a day without realizing how much time they steal.
🧩 The Stack: Laravel, PHP, and Pragmatism
I chose PHP with Laravel for one simple reason — reliability.
Laravel gives you speed when building, and the ecosystem is massive. No need to reinvent authentication, routing, or localization from scratch.
HelppDev was never meant to rely on heavy backend processing. In fact, most of the tools work directly in the browser, using JavaScript, to ensure privacy and responsiveness. The backend mostly handles page rendering, routing, and analytics.
☁️ Hosting: Keeping It Local (and Affordable)
The project runs on a HostGator Brazil server — nothing fancy, just enough horsepower to handle the current load.
Keeping it in Brazil was intentional. It keeps latency low for most users and helps with compliance (plus, local hosting support actually answers emails in Portuguese).
For now, uptime has been solid, and the stack runs lean. Laravel + Nginx + MySQL, all optimized for simplicity.
⚙️ Some Tools Worth Highlighting
HelppDev isn’t just a single app — it’s a collection of small, self-contained utilities that each solve a real problem.
Here are a few worth checking out:
JSON Formatter
– Instantly formats or minifies JSON, right in the browser. No data ever leaves your machine.
Color Converter
– Converts HEX, RGB, and HSL values. Great for frontend devs or designers who just need a quick fix.
Password Generator
– Creates secure, customizable passwords without using third-party APIs.
⏱️ Timestamp Converter
– Converts UNIX timestamps to readable dates (and back).
💬 Base64 Encoder/Decoder
– Super lightweight tool for encoding/decoding text, often used when testing API payloads.
Every single one of these tools runs locally. No tracking, no analytics scripts watching your inputs, no uploads.
🧠 Design Philosophy
HelppDev’s goal has always been “make it fast, make it clean, make it private.”
No accounts. No ads. No cookies that follow you around.
Just small, efficient tools that open instantly and do one thing right.
It’s the opposite of bloated SaaS apps that turn a simple conversion into a subscription plan.
🚀 What’s Next
The next steps are about scaling awareness, not complexity.
There are plans to open-source some of the utilities, create an API for selected tools, and improve accessibility.
And of course, the goal is to make HelppDev a familiar bookmark in every developer’s workflow — something you open reflexively when you need a quick helper.
If you want to explore or even suggest a new tool, check it out:
helppdev.com
Final Thoughts
Building HelppDev wasn’t glamorous. It was built in small hours, hosted on a modest server, using tools that just work.
But that’s the point.
You don’t need a Silicon Valley budget to build something useful for real people. You just need a clear goal — and enough stubbornness to polish the little things until they feel effortless.
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