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Why I'm Removing "Magic" From My Apps (Building a Private Reddit Client)

#webdev #ai #programming #privacy

I saw the "RemoveWindowsAI" repo trending on Hacker News today, and it hit me.

We are reaching peak "AI Fatigue."

Don't get me wrong. I love LLMs. I use them every day. But as a developer, I've noticed a disturbing trend: Software is becoming user-hostile by default.

  • You want to search your files? Your OS sends telemetry to the cloud.
  • You want to browse a forum? The app tracks your scroll depth to serve ads.
  • You want to write a note? Use our "AI Assistant" (which scans your private thoughts).

This inspired me to go the exact opposite direction with my side project, Reddit Toolbox.

It's a "dumb" tool by design. And that's why people are downloading it.

The "Local-First" Architecture

When I set out to build Reddit Toolbox (a desktop client for Reddit research and scraping), the easy path would have been to build a web app wrapper.

Instead, I chose to build a Local-First application.

What does this mean?

  1. Direct API Calls: The app talks directly to Reddit. There is no "middleman server" of mine intercepting your data.
  2. No "Must-Have" Login: You can use the entire app in "Guest Mode." No account, no fingerprinting.
  3. Local Storage: Your search history, your downloaded videos, your scraped datasets—they live in an SQLite database on C:\Users\You. Not on my AWS bucket. 
// The philosophy:
// If the internet cuts out, the app should still show your saved data.
const db = new Database('local_cache.sqlite');
const user_data = db.prepare('SELECT * FROM scrapes').all();
// No fetch('https://my-tracking-server.com') here.
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Why "Dumb" Tools Are The Future

The "RemoveWindowsAI" project proves that users are willing to go to great lengths just to get a clean computing experience.

There is a massive, underserved market for tools that do the job and shut up.

For example, when I released Reddit Toolbox, I explicitly marketed it as "The Reddit tool that DOESN'T track you."

Reddit Toolbox Interface

  • It doesn't try to "predict what you want to see."
  • It doesn't "curate your feed."
  • It just gives you raw data (and lets you download it).

If you are tired of software that fights you, try going local. It's surprisingly peaceful here.

I'm building **Reddit Toolbox* in public. It's a privacy-focused, local-first Reddit client for Windows. Check it out here.*

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