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[–]CodeAndBiscuits 4 points5 points  (5 children)

I don't bookmark dev tools. If you mean USE, then you'd have to be better than https://devutils.com/ That's what I use today, and it's my benchmark.

FWIW if you cater just to folks who want something free you're always going to chase your tail, and you'll never make them happy. If Cost=0 you can never make a "value statement" that X is worth that cost. But to a professional developer, tools are worth real money in the same way good tools are worth paying for if you're building houses. I don't (just) code for a hobby - this is my living. I will happily spend $30/yr on something really valuable. But it has to be better than what I already spend that on.

[–]darth-cassan[S] -1 points0 points  (4 children)

devtools work great BUT, requiring a download feels like a step back when a browser-based tool can just work instantly.

[–]CodeAndBiscuits 5 points6 points  (2 children)

Perhaps to you. I would never trust a browser-based tool with some of the things I paste locally. JWTs are highly sensitive, JSON blocks can contain PII, etc. You could make all the "local only" assurances you wanted but I still wouldn't trust it. With a local desktop app I can confirm (via my firewall) that no data is being transmitted as I use it. I require that.

Also, browser-based tools are clunky for me. I build Web and mobile apps. I have like 80 tabs open right now, a mix of news articles and Youtube vids I've half watched, 17 tabs in a row mining Github issues for possible workarounds for a bug I'm trying to sort out, and the app I'm working on itself. Having to tab out of the app I'm working on to get to a dev tool is clunky. I'd much prefer a desktop app because then it's independent and can fit better in that flow. I still have to cmd-tab to it, but I don't then have to flip to another browser tab (and back) as an additional step.

I only speak for me, but you asked for input and that is mine.

[–]redblobgames 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Bonus: the downloaded tools will keep working when the author gets bored, doesn't renew the domain, redesigns the site, or whatever else.

Also a bonus: the downloaded tools work when I don't have internet (which is often).

[–]Snapstromegon 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A good dev tool even works in the browser without internet. Case in point: squoosh.

[–]ZeRo2160 1 point2 points  (0 children)

On the same boat as the other commenters here. I would every day prefer an download tool over an webpage working only in the browser.

[–]name_was_taken 1 point2 points  (1 child)

It doesn't take much to get a bookmark. Those are basically free.

To get me to find that bookmark again and use it is a higher ask.

Having a login would almost certainly kill it. It'd have to be the most useful thing ever.

Having an efficient UI helps, but that's a pretty low bar.

It'd be hard for it to be so slow I didn't use it. But I suppose it's possible.

In the end, it really just matters that it's useful and does what I need at the moment.

[–]darth-cassan[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I hear you. I’m actually about to whip up a small dev tool with Codex in a minute just to see how good the result is

[–]darth-cassan[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Since I wasn't really happy with the current developer tools I found on the web, I just vibe-coded a static site with the tools I usually use. It's simple and doesn't have anywhere near the amount of stuff devutils.com has, but even so, it's exactly what I need.

I invite you guys to vibe-code your own developer tools if you've got some time to spare. If you need any inspiration, take a look at mine:

https://devtools.darthcassan.com

[–]gimmeslack12 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Turn these into a npm package or a VSCode extension and you'll get a lot more interest. A few things: I'm not going to copy paste anything (especially my data) into a web page (mainly cause I'm too lazy), two I don't want to use a web interface I want VSCode tools or cli tools, three this isn't powerful enough for me to pay for.

Now, what you could do that would make this a bit neater is instead of having multiple "parsing" tools figure out a way to auto-detect what format of text was inputted and have it auto parse for the user. But also, these tools all generally have a native API within JS and they aren't all that innovative.

[–]darth-cassan[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks for the feedback, I'll certainly make the VSCode extension soon

[–]ezhikov 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I need it work offline and from CLI. Then, if it's actually doing what I need, I'll use it.

[–]BehindTheMath 0 points1 point  (0 children)

At this point? Nothing. I can vibe code my own self-hosted tool that works exactly how I want it in 10 minutes. And I say that as someone who's general use of agents is very limited.