I keep a small list of "boring but essential" tools I reach for multiple times a week - recoloring an SVG icon, minifying some CSS, turning a JSON response into a TypeScript interface, generating a favicon. None of these tasks are hard, but they add friction: sign up for an account, wait for an upload, hope the site isn't tracking your data.
So I've been building I Like Tool - a growing collection of free utilities that run entirely in your browser. No account, no upload, no server round-trip. Your files and text never leave your machine.
Here are a few I think other developers will actually use.
1. SVG Path Editor
This is the one I'm most proud of. A lot of icon libraries (Bootstrap Icons, Font Awesome, etc.) ship an icon as a single <path> combining multiple visual pieces - so you can't recolor just the eyes, or just one arm, without hand-editing raw path data.
The SVG Path Editor lets you:
Click any shape in the live preview to recolor it (palette, color wheel, or hex)
Split a combined multi-part path into separate, independently-editable pieces — while correctly preserving any cutouts/holes (like eyes) that rely on fill-rule tricks
Delete shapes you don't want
Edit the raw code directly, with the preview staying in sync both ways
The path-splitting logic converts everything to absolute coordinates first (so pieces don't scatter when extracted) and groups subpaths by bounding-box containment so "holes" stay merged with their parent shape instead of turning into solid blobs. It was a genuinely fun problem to solve.
2. Favicon Generator - from an Image, Text, or Emoji
Most favicon generators only accept an image upload. This one has three tabs:
Image → favicon.ico (PNG/JPG/SVG/WebP, auto-cropped and centered)
Text → favicon - type up to 4 characters, pick from 30 Google Fonts, set a solid or gradient background, and drag a slider from sharp square to perfect circle
Emoji → favicon - pick any emoji from a built-in category picker, same background/shape controls
Every method outputs the same favicon.ico (16×16, 32×32, 48×48 embedded) plus individual PNGs, ready to drop into your project root.
3. JSON to TypeScript
Paste an API response, get a clean interface back - including nested objects and array types inferred correctly. Faster than writing types by hand every time an endpoint changes shape.
4. CSS to Tailwind Converter
Paste existing CSS, get the equivalent Tailwind utility classes. Handy when migrating a legacy stylesheet incrementally instead of all at once.
5. Text Formatter for Social Posts
This one's not "developer" per se, but I use it constantly: turns plain text into Unicode 𝗯𝗼𝗹𝗱, 𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘤, and other styled variants for LinkedIn/Twitter posts (since those platforms don't support real markdown formatting), plus an emoji picker and list formatting. Zero-dependency, all client-side Unicode math.
6–9. The rest of the toolbox
Also in there: an SVG optimizer, a JSON formatter/validator, image compression/conversion (PNG/JPG/WebP), PDF tools (merge, watermark, password-protect), a QR code generator, and a few more — all following the same rule: if it can run in the browser, it shouldn't need a server.
Why browser-only matters
Every tool here uses the Canvas API, the File API, or plain JS parsing — nothing gets uploaded anywhere. That's not just a privacy nicety; it also means:
- No "file too large" limits tied to server storage
- No waiting on network round-trips for something your CPU can do in milliseconds
- Nothing to worry about if you're working with client data, unreleased assets, or anything else you'd rather not upload to a random server
If you build tools like this too, I'd love to hear what you'd add. And if any of the above saves you five minutes this week, that's the whole point.
🔗 iliketool.com — free, no signup, runs in your browser.
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