Two weeks ago, I had zero developer tools. Today I have 23. Here's the honest story of what happened, what worked, and what completely flopped.
Why 23 Tools? (The "Spray and Pray" Strategy)
I'll be real — I didn't plan to build 23 tools. I planned to build one, maybe two.
But after launching my first tool (a JSON formatter) and seeing it get indexed by Google within 48 hours, something clicked. What if I just... kept going? What if instead of spending 3 months perfecting one tool, I spent 2 weeks shipping as many as possible and let the data tell me what worked?
So that's exactly what I did. Every morning, I'd pick a tool idea. By evening, it was live. Some took 2 hours, some took 8. But the constraint was always the same: ship it today or kill it.
This approach taught me more about what developers actually need than any amount of market research ever could.
The Tech Stack: Deliberately Boring
Here's what I used for all 23 tools:
- Vanilla JavaScript — no React, no Vue, no frameworks
- Plain HTML + CSS — no build step, no bundler
- Browser-only — no backend, no database, no server
- GitHub Pages — free hosting, zero config
Why? Because I wanted each tool to load instantly, work offline, and cost me literally nothing to maintain. No servers to monitor, no databases to back up, no dependencies to update.
Here's what a typical tool structure looks like:
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en">
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>JSON Formatter — Free Online Tool</title>
<meta name="description" content="Format, validate, and beautify JSON instantly. Free, private, runs in your browser.">
<script type="application/ld+json">
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "WebApplication",
"name": "JSON Formatter",
"applicationCategory": "DeveloperApplication",
"offers": { "@type": "Offer", "price": "0" }
}
</script>
</head>
<body>
<!-- Tool UI here -->
</body>
</html>
Every single tool follows this same pattern. No webpack config files, no package.json, no node_modules. Just files in a folder.
What I Built: The Full Lineup
I organized the tools into four categories:
🔒 Security Tools
- Password Generator — customizable length, character sets, entropy calculation
- Hash Generator — MD5, SHA-1, SHA-256, SHA-512 with copy-to-clipboard
- Base64 Encoder/Decoder — handles text and file encoding
- UUID Generator — v4 UUIDs with bulk generation
💻 Code Tools
- JSON Formatter — format, validate, minify, tree view
- Regex Tester — real-time matching with capture groups highlighted
- HTML Entity Encoder — encode/decode with named entity support
- URL Encoder/Decoder — with breakdown of components
- Diff Checker — side-by-side text comparison
- CSS Minifier — compress stylesheets instantly
🎨 Design Tools
- Color Palette Generator — random harmonious palettes with export
- Gradient Generator — CSS gradient builder with live preview
- Box Shadow Generator — visual CSS box-shadow editor
- SVG to PNG Converter — client-side conversion with size control
⚡ Productivity Tools
- Pomodoro Timer — clean, distraction-free focus timer
- Markdown Editor — live preview with export options
- Word Counter — characters, words, sentences, reading time
- Lorem Ipsum Generator — paragraphs, sentences, or words
- QR Code Generator — instant QR codes for any text/URL
Plus a few more utility tools that round out the collection.
My Top 3 (What I Actually Use Daily)
Out of everything I built, these three ended up in my own workflow:
1. JSON Formatter — I use this multiple times a day. API responses, config files, debugging payloads. It's faster than opening VS Code, finding an extension, and formatting there. Just paste and go.
2. Regex Tester — Writing regex without instant visual feedback is like coding blindfolded. The real-time highlighting of capture groups saves me probably 20 minutes a day.
3. Color Palette Generator — Every side project needs colors. Instead of spending 30 minutes browsing Dribbble for inspiration, I generate 5 palettes in 10 seconds and pick one.
Here's the core logic of the palette generator — it's simpler than you'd think:
function generatePalette() {
const baseHue = Math.random() * 360;
const colors = [];
// Analogous harmony with slight variations
for (let i = 0; i < 5; i++) {
const hue = (baseHue + (i * 30) + Math.random() * 10) % 360;
const sat = 65 + Math.random() * 25;
const light = 45 + Math.random() * 25;
colors.push(`hsl(${hue}, ${sat}%, ${light}%)`);
}
return colors;
}
What Flopped (Honest Failures)
Not everything worked. Here's what I learned the hard way:
The "Already Solved" Problem
Some tools I built were already done better by established players. My Lorem Ipsum generator? There are literally hundreds of them. My word counter? Google Docs does this built-in. These tools still work fine, but they'll never rank in search or attract organic traffic because the competition is insurmountable.
Lesson: Before building, Google the exact tool name. If the first page is all established sites with high domain authority, pick a different tool or find a unique angle.
The "Too Simple" Trap
A few tools were so simple that users had no reason to bookmark them. My Base64 encoder does exactly one thing — and so does the browser's btoa() function. Developers who need this probably already know the one-liner.
Lesson: The best tools solve problems that are slightly annoying — not trivial and not complex. That sweet spot where you think "I could code this myself, but it would take 10 minutes, and I just want it done now."
The "No One Searched For This" Miss
I built a couple tools based on what I thought was cool, not what people were searching for. Turns out, nobody Googles "CSS box shadow generator" as much as I assumed.
Lesson: Check search volume first. Even a quick Google Trends comparison can save you from building something nobody wants.
The SEO Strategy That Actually Moved the Needle
Building tools is one thing. Getting people to find them is another. Here's the SEO strategy I implemented across all 23 tools:
Structured Data (JSON-LD)
Every tool page has:
- FAQPage schema — 3-5 relevant Q&As per tool
- HowTo schema — step-by-step usage instructions
- WebApplication schema — tells Google it's a tool, not just a page
// Example FAQPage schema
{
"@context": "https://schema.org",
"@type": "FAQPage",
"mainEntity": [{
"@type": "Question",
"name": "Is this JSON formatter free?",
"acceptedAnswer": {
"@type": "Answer",
"text": "Yes, completely free. Runs in your browser with no data sent to any server."
}
}]
}
Internal Cross-Linking
This was the biggest win. Every tool page links to 4-5 related tools. The password generator links to the hash generator. The JSON formatter links to the diff checker. The color palette links to the gradient generator.
The result: 100+ internal cross-links across the site, creating a web that Google's crawler loves to explore.
Sitemap Strategy
One comprehensive sitemap with 56 URLs — each tool page, each category page, plus the main hub. Submitted to Google Search Console on day one.
Within a week, 80% of pages were indexed. Within two weeks, I started seeing organic impressions.
The Numbers (Two Weeks In)
Let me share the raw numbers:
- 23 tools built and deployed
- 56 sitemap URLs indexed
- 100+ internal cross-links connecting everything
- 0 dependencies to maintain
- $0 hosting cost (GitHub Pages)
- ~2 hours average build time per tool
What I'd Do Differently
If I started over:
- Research search volume first — I'd use Google Keyword Planner before committing to any tool
- Build 10 tools, not 23 — Focus on the ones with real search demand
- Add analytics from day one — I added tracking too late and missed early data
- Create comparison content — "JSON Formatter vs JSONLint" type pages that capture comparison searches
What's Next
I'm not done. The tool hub keeps growing. But I've also been applying the same "ship fast, learn fast" philosophy to other projects:
- I built 27 browser games using the same vanilla JS approach (yes, really)
- I launched DonFlow, a personal finance management app
- I'm building a digital product store on Gumroad
The common thread? Ship fast, measure what works, double down on winners, and don't be precious about the stuff that fails.
Try Them Out
If you want to check out the tools (or roast my code — both welcome):
🔧 All 23 Developer Tools: tools hub
🎮 27 Browser Games (same build philosophy): games hub
💰 DonFlow — personal finance app: try the demo
📚 Digital Products & Templates: store
What's the most useful developer tool you've built for yourself? I'd love to hear about it in the comments.
📚 More Build-in-Public
- I Built a Finance App With Zero Backend — The browser-only architecture that started it all
- Share Your Web App State via URL — No Backend Required — The URL-as-state pattern behind these tools
- I Built a Budget App With Zero AI, Zero Backend, Zero Tracking — Why I keep everything client-side
- I Built 27 Browser Games in 2 Weeks — Same shipping philosophy, applied to games
If you found this useful, consider following me for more build-in-public updates. I share what I'm shipping, what's working, and what's not — no fluff, just real numbers.
📘 Free Resource
If you are building with a $0 budget, I wrote a playbook about what works, what doesn't, and how to think about the $0 phase.
📥 The $0 Developer Playbook — Free (PWYW)
Want the deep dive? The Extended Edition ($7) includes a 30-day launch calendar, 5 copy templates, platform comparison matrix, and revenue math calculator.
Top comments (2)
This is honestly the best approach. I did something similar while building my tools site — shipping fast taught me more than planning ever did. One thing that made a big difference for me was grouping related tools and interlinking them well. Google started indexing faster, and a few tools began getting steady traffic. Curious to see which of your 23 tools becomes the main traffic driver over time.
Shipping volume really does change everything. After the first 5 tools, I had reusable patterns for FAQPage schema, cross-linking, and GoatCounter integration that made each new tool take half the time. The grouping tip is solid — I ended up doing exactly that with category filters on the hub page. Appreciate the feedback!