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Mack
Mack

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I Built 16 Free Dev Tools in a Week — Here's What I Learned

#webdev #javascript #productivity #opensource

Last week I set myself a challenge: build as many useful, free developer tools as I could. No frameworks. No backends. No signups. Just single-page apps hosted on GitHub Pages.

I ended up with 16 tools. Here's every one of them, what I learned, and why I think the "zero-backend micro-tool" model is underrated.

The Full Collection

🎨 Design & Content

  1. SigCraft — Professional email signature generator. The flagship. Custom templates, live preview, one-click copy to Gmail/Outlook.

  2. FontPair — Google Font pairing tool. See how fonts look together before committing.

  3. PixConvert — Image format converter (PNG, WebP, JPG, GIF, BMP, ICO). Batch support, quality slider, resize. Never uploads your files.

  4. SVGJar — Curated SVG icon search. Find, preview, and copy icons instantly.

🛠️ Developer Utilities

  1. JSONPrettify — JSON formatter on steroids. 6 tabs: formatter, tree view, diff, CSV/YAML converter, JWT decoder, Base64 encoder.

  2. RegexLab — Regex tester with real-time highlighting, plain-English explanations, and code generation for Python, JS, Go, and Rust.

  3. CronWords — English ↔ cron expression converter with calendar preview and timezone support.

  4. MetaCheck — Meta tag analyzer. Paste a URL, see how it'll look on Google, Twitter, and Facebook.

💼 Business & Finance

  1. InvoiceFast — One-click invoice generator. EU VAT reverse charge support. PDF export.

  2. TradeLog — Trading journal with Chart.js dashboard. P&L curves, win rates, strategy tracking.

  3. PrivacyPolicyGen — GDPR/CCPA privacy policy generator. Fill in a form, get a compliant policy.

🔍 Search & Discovery

  1. GrailSearch — Fashion grail finder. Searches Vinted, eBay, Depop, Grailed, and Vestiaire simultaneously.

🏠 Personal

13-16. Plus a few more utilities for home dashboards, recipe extraction, and webhook testing that round out the collection.

What I Learned

1. Single HTML Files Are Criminally Underrated

Every tool is essentially one HTML file with inline CSS and JS (plus a CDN link or two for Chart.js or similar). No node_modules. No build step. No deploy pipeline.

git add index.html
git commit -m "ship it"
git push
Enter fullscreen mode Exit fullscreen mode

That's the deploy. GitHub Pages picks it up in seconds.

2. localStorage Is a Legitimate Database

For personal tools where data doesn't need to sync across devices, localStorage is perfect. TradeLog stores your entire trade history in it. No server, no database, no auth. Users own their data completely.

The tradeoff is obvious: clear your browser, lose your data. But add CSV export and that's solved.

3. Vanilla JS Is Fast Enough

I didn't use React, Vue, or Svelte for any of these. Vanilla JS with some DOM manipulation handles everything. The tools load instantly because there's nothing to download.

For apps with complex state, I'd reach for a framework. But for focused utilities? Vanilla is king.

4. Privacy-First Is a Feature, Not a Limitation

"Your data never leaves your browser" is a genuine selling point. People are tired of creating accounts for every little tool. Every tool in this collection works without signup, without tracking, without sending data anywhere.

5. Cross-Linking Creates an Ecosystem

Each tool links to the others in its footer. Someone finds CronWords through a Google search, sees the link to JSONPrettify, bookmarks that too. The tools market each other.

6. Ship Speed > Code Quality (for v1)

None of these tools have tests. Some have rough edges. But they're live, they're useful, and they're free. I can iterate based on real feedback instead of polishing in private.

7. GitHub Pages Is the Best Free Hosting

Zero config. Free SSL. Custom domain support. Global CDN. For static tools with no backend, it's perfect. My total hosting cost for 16 tools: $0.

The Numbers So Far

  • 16 tools shipped
  • $0 hosting cost
  • 0 frameworks used
  • ~30 dev.to articles driving traffic
  • All open source on GitHub

What's Next

I'm going to keep building. The pattern works: find a pain point, build the simplest possible solution, ship it as a static page, write about it.

If there's a tool you wish existed — something simple that doesn't need a backend — drop a comment. I might build it next.

The flagship tool is SigCraft — a free email signature generator. If you send professional emails, check it out. And if you want to follow along as I build more tools, find me on GitHub.

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