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krisakma
krisakma

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I Built 3 Free Developer Tools as a Solo Dev — Here's What I Learned

I'm a solo developer from Seoul, and over the past few months I built ClickVolt — a URL safety scanner. But the tools I ended up using the most are the 3 free developer tools I added along the way.

All of them are 100% free, no signup required, no usage limits.

1. Repo vs Repo — GitHub Repository Comparison

clickvolt.app/tools/compare

Ever struggled to choose between two similar libraries? This tool lets you compare any two GitHub repos side by side.

What it shows:

  • Stars, forks, open issues, watchers
  • Primary language, license
  • Latest release version and date
  • Average weekly commits (4-week and 12-week)
  • 52-week commit activity chart

I pre-loaded popular matchups like React vs Vue, Next.js vs Remix, Express vs Fastify, Prisma vs Drizzle ORM, and more.

Why I built it: I kept opening two GitHub tabs and manually comparing numbers. Figured I'd automate it.

2. Repo Radar — Open Source Tool Explorer

clickvolt.app/tools/radar

Browse popular open source tools across 20 categories: Frontend, Backend, Fullstack, CSS, Auth, ORM, API, Testing, UI Components, State Management, Deployment, AI/ML, and more.

Each category shows 5-15 popular repos ranked by stars, with one-click comparison.

3. Deploy Checker — Production Readiness Audit

clickvolt.app/tools/deploy-check

Enter any URL and get a readiness check across 4 categories:

  • Security: SSL/HTTPS, security headers (CSP, HSTS, etc.)
  • SEO: Title, meta description, heading structure
  • Social: Open Graph tags, Twitter Card
  • Performance: Response time, page size, compression, caching

I use this before every deployment to catch missing headers or broken OG tags.

Tech Stack

  • Framework: Next.js 16 (App Router)
  • Language: TypeScript
  • Styling: Tailwind CSS v4 + shadcn/ui
  • Database: Supabase (PostgreSQL)
  • AI: Claude API (for URL scanner's page summaries)
  • Hosting: Vercel

The Main Product

The core product is a URL safety scanner — paste any link, get a safety score (0-100), AI summary of what the page does, and a wrapped safe link you can share. Free: 5 scans/day.

Lesson learned: Free tools that solve small, everyday problems are the best marketing for your main product.


I'd love feedback — which tool do you find most useful? Any features you'd want added?

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