If you’re like me, you probably have a growing list of useful dev tools somewhere:
- a bunch of bookmarked APIs
- random GitHub repos
- utilities you saw on Twitter or Dev.to
- that one tool you swore you’d use again
But here’s the reality: most of these never get used twice.
The real problem isn’t discovery
We’re great at finding tools.
Every week there’s:
- a faster way to test endpoints
- a better UI builder
- a smarter AI dev helper
The problem is retention.
After a while:
- you forget what you saved
- you duplicate the same searches
- you rebuild the same mini-stack over and over
What actually works: a living tool stack
Recently, I’ve been trying to treat my tools more like part of a system instead of a collection.
Instead of saving everything, I:
- keep only tools I’ve actually used
- group them by workflow (debugging, UI, deployment, etc.)
- revisit and refine regularly
Think of it like maintaining a personal dev stack, just outside your codebase.
A simple way I’m doing this
I’ve been experimenting with the idea of a personal web app store, where tools are stored more intentionally rather than dumped into bookmarks.
One example is Unstore, which lets you organize and revisit tools in a way that feels closer to managing apps than links.
Not a game-changer by itself, but paired with the mindset shift, it helps.
The takeaway
You don’t need more tools.
You need a better way to keep the right ones around.
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