The Problem No One Talks About
We spend a lot of time improving big things:
- Learning frameworks
- Optimizing performance
- Designing scalable systems
But there’s a smaller problem that quietly wastes time every day…
Tiny dev tasks.
- Formatting JSON
- Fixing SQL queries
- Minifying CSS/JS
- Converting data formats
Each one takes seconds.
But together? They add up.
What I Noticed
A few days ago, I caught myself with 7–8 tabs open just for these small tasks.
One site for JSON formatting.
Another for SQL.
Another for minifying code.
Another for conversions.
And honestly:
- Some were slow
- Some were cluttered with ads
- Some even broke formatting
It felt… unnecessary.
Why This Is a Bigger Problem Than It Looks
This isn’t just about time.
It’s about context switching.
Every time you:
- Open a new tab
- Paste code
- Wait for results
You lose focus.
And that mental overhead adds up more than we think.
What I Tried Instead
So I decided to simplify things.
I built a small internal tool for myself:
👉 A single place for all the dev utilities I use daily
The goal was simple:
- Fast
- Clean
- No login
- No distractions
One Unexpected Use Case (AI Workflows)
While building it, I added a feature I didn’t think much about at first:
JSON → TOON conversion
But it turned out to be useful for AI workflows:
- Cleaner structure
- Slightly lighter token usage
- Easier to read in prompts
Not a huge breakthrough—but a nice improvement.
The Result
This didn’t magically 10x productivity.
But it removed a lot of small friction:
- Fewer tabs
- Faster tasks
- Less mental switching
And that alone made a noticeable difference.
What About You?
What’s one small dev task you do almost daily
that still feels unnecessarily painful?
If You’re Curious
I built this mainly for my own workflow,
but sharing in case it helps someone else:
Top comments (1)
Built this mainly to fix my own workflow — would love to know how others handle these small dev tasks.
Open to feedback and suggestions 🙌