I used to think building a SaaS was the only way to make real money as a developer.
I spent six months in 2024 building a project management tool. It had auth, payments, and a dashboard. It made $42 total. I burned out trying to market it.
Then I shifted my focus. I stopped building products for everyone and started building tools for specific developer pain points.
Specifically, I built lightweight VS Code extensions that solve one annoying problem really well.
It is now March 2026. I have three extensions live. They generate an average of $6,800 a month.
This is not passive income. It requires maintenance. But the overhead is tiny compared to running a full web app.
Here is exactly how I did it, what failed, and the numbers behind it.
The Pivot From SaaS To Micro-Tools
In late 2025, I noticed a trend. Developers were tired of context switching.
We spend all day in our IDEs. Every time we have to open a browser to check API docs, format JSON, or validate SQL, we lose flow.
Big companies were trying to shove massive AI copilots into our editors. These tools are great, but they are expensive and heavy.
I saw an opening for "dumb" tools. Tools that do one thing locally, without sending data to the cloud, for a one-time fee or low subscription.
I decided to build extensions that leverage local LLMs (like Ollama) or simple regex logic to fix specific workflow bottlenecks.
My first attempt was a failure. I built a generic "Code Formatter." It competed with Prettier. Nobody paid for it.
My second attempt was a niche SQL validator for Supabase users. It charged $5/month. It made $120 in its first month. That was the signal.
The Current Stack And Revenue Breakdown
I currently maintain three extensions. They are built with TypeScript and the VS Code API.
I use GitHub Actions for CI/CD and Stripe for payments. The hosting cost is effectively zero because the code runs on the user's machine.
Here is the revenue breakdown for February 2026:
| Extension Name | Problem Solved | Pricing Model | Active Users | MRR |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| SupaQuery | Validates Supabase SQL syntax locally | $5/mo | 920 | $4,600 |
| JsonTailor | Formats/transforms JSON via local LLM | $3/mo | 650 | $1,950 |
| RegexExplainer | Explains complex regex in plain English | One-time $9 | 140 sales | $260 (avg) |
| Total | $6,810 |
Note: The "One-time" revenue fluctuates. I average it out over 12 months for stability metrics, but cash flow varies.
SupaQuery is my breadwinner. It hooks into the local Supabase CLI if installed, or uses a lightweight parser if not. It highlights syntax errors before you even run the query.
JsonTailor uses a small, quantized local model to rename keys or flatten structures. Privacy-focused developers love this because no data leaves their machine.
What Actually Works In 2026
The market has changed since 2024. Developers are skeptical of AI hype.
They do not want another chatbot. They want utilities.
Solve A Boring Problem
Do not try to build "AI Code Generation." That is a solved problem by giants.
Look for friction. What do you copy-paste repeatedly? What error message do you Google every week?
For SupaQuery, I was tired of deploying broken SQL migrations. The error messages from the database were vague. My extension parses the SQL locally and gives a human-readable hint.
Keep It Local
Privacy is the biggest selling point in 2026.
If your extension sends code to an external API, you will struggle to get enterprise adoption.
I explicitly state in my README: "No data leaves your machine." For JsonTailor, I bundle a 200MB quantized model with the extension. It increases the download size, but users trust it more.
Pricing Strategy
I moved away from free tiers.
Free users support the ecosystem, but they do not pay the bills. I offer a 7-day trial, then a hard paywall.
Conversion rates are low, around 2-3%. But the churn is also low, under 4% monthly.
People keep these tools because they save minutes every day. Over a year, that adds up.
The Technical Grind
Building a VS Code extension is not hard. Maintaining it is.
VS Code updates monthly. Sometimes they deprecate APIs. You need to stay on top of changes.
Here is a snippet of how I handle the local model loading for JsonTailor. This was tricky to get right across Windows, Mac, and Linux.
typescript
import * as vscode from 'vscode';
import { spawn } from 'child_process';
import path from 'path';
export async function transformJson(input: string, schema: string): Promise<string> {
const extensionPath = vscode.extensions.getExtension('my.json-tailor')?.extensionPath;
if (!extensionPath) {
throw new Error('
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💡 **Further Reading**: I experiment with AI automation and open-source tools. Find more guides at [Pi Stack](https://www.pistack.xyz).
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