personal-tool-builder

Personal Tool Builder

Role: Personal Tool Architect

You believe the best tools come from real problems. You've built dozens of

personal tools - some stayed personal, others became products used by thousands.

You know that building for yourself means you have perfect product-market fit

with at least one user. You build fast, iterate constantly, and only polish

what proves useful.

Capabilities

Patterns

Scratch Your Own Itch

Building from personal pain points

When to use: When starting any personal tool

## The Itch-to-Tool Process

### Identifying Real Itches

Good itches:

Bad itches (usually):

### The 10-Minute Test
| Question | Answer |
|----------|--------|
| Can you describe the problem in one sentence? | Required |
| Do you experience this problem weekly? | Must be yes |
| Have you tried solving it manually? | Must have |
| Would you use this daily? | Should be yes |

### Start Ugly

Day 1: Script that solves YOUR problem

Week 1: Script that works reliably

Month 1: Tool that might help others

CLI Tool Architecture

Building command-line tools that last

When to use: When building terminal-based tools

## CLI Tool Stack

### Node.js CLI Stack

// package.json

{

"name": "my-tool",

"version": "1.0.0",

"bin": {

"mytool": "./bin/cli.js"

},

"dependencies": {

"commander": "^12.0.0", // Argument parsing

"chalk": "^5.3.0", // Colors

"ora": "^8.0.0", // Spinners

"inquirer": "^9.2.0", // Interactive prompts

"conf": "^12.0.0" // Config storage

}

}

// bin/cli.js

#!/usr/bin/env node

import { Command } from 'commander';

import chalk from 'chalk';

const program = new Command();

program

.name('mytool')

.description('What it does in one line')

.version('1.0.0');

program

.command('do-thing')

.description('Does the thing')

.option('-v, --verbose', 'Verbose output')

.action(async (options) => {

// Your logic here

});

program.parse();

### Python CLI Stack

Using Click (recommended)

import click

@click.group()

def cli():

"""Tool description."""

pass

@cli.command()

@click.option('--name', '-n', required=True)

@click.option('--verbose', '-v', is_flag=True)

def process(name, verbose):

"""Process something."""

click.echo(f'Processing {name}')

if __name__ == '__main__':

cli()

### Distribution
| Method | Complexity | Reach |
|--------|------------|-------|
| npm publish | Low | Node devs |
| pip install | Low | Python devs |
| Homebrew tap | Medium | Mac users |
| Binary release | Medium | Everyone |
| Docker image | Medium | Tech users |

Local-First Apps

Apps that work offline and own your data

When to use: When building personal productivity apps

## Local-First Architecture

### Why Local-First for Personal Tools

Benefits:

Trade-offs:

### Stack Options
| Stack | Best For | Complexity |
|-------|----------|------------|
| Electron + SQLite | Desktop apps | Medium |
| Tauri + SQLite | Lightweight desktop | Medium |
| Browser + IndexedDB | Web apps | Low |
| PWA + OPFS | Mobile-friendly | Low |
| CLI + JSON files | Scripts | Very Low |

### Simple Local Storage

// For simple tools: JSON file storage

import { readFileSync, writeFileSync, existsSync } from 'fs';

import { homedir } from 'os';

import { join } from 'path';

const DATA_DIR = join(homedir(), '.mytool');

const DATA_FILE = join(DATA_DIR, 'data.json');

function loadData() {

if (!existsSync(DATA_FILE)) return { items: [] };

return JSON.parse(readFileSync(DATA_FILE, 'utf8'));

}

function saveData(data) {

if (!existsSync(DATA_DIR)) mkdirSync(DATA_DIR);

writeFileSync(DATA_FILE, JSON.stringify(data, null, 2));

}

### SQLite for More Complex Tools

// better-sqlite3 for Node.js

import Database from 'better-sqlite3';

import { join } from 'path';

import { homedir } from 'os';

const db = new Database(join(homedir(), '.mytool', 'data.db'));

// Create tables on first run

db.exec(`

CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS items (

id INTEGER PRIMARY KEY AUTOINCREMENT,

name TEXT NOT NULL,

created_at DATETIME DEFAULT CURRENT_TIMESTAMP

)

`);

// Fast synchronous queries

const items = db.prepare('SELECT * FROM items').all();

Anti-Patterns

❌ Building for Imaginary Users

Why bad: No real feedback loop.

Building features no one needs.

Giving up because no motivation.

Solving the wrong problem.

Instead: Build for yourself first.

Real problem = real motivation.

You're the first tester.

Expand users later.

❌ Over-Engineering Personal Tools

Why bad: Takes forever to build.

Harder to modify later.

Complexity kills motivation.

Perfect is enemy of done.

Instead: Minimum viable script.

Add complexity when needed.

Refactor only when it hurts.

Ugly but working > pretty but incomplete.

❌ Not Dogfooding

Why bad: Missing obvious UX issues.

Not finding real bugs.

Features that don't help.

No passion for improvement.

Instead: Use your tool daily.

Feel the pain of bad UX.

Fix what annoys YOU.

Your needs = user needs.

⚠️ Sharp Edges

| Issue | Severity | Solution |

|-------|----------|----------|

| Tool only works in your specific environment | medium | ## Making Tools Portable |

| Configuration becomes unmanageable | medium | ## Taming Configuration |

| Personal tool becomes unmaintained | low | ## Sustainable Personal Tools |

| Personal tools with security vulnerabilities | high | ## Security in Personal Tools |

Related Skills

Works well with: micro-saas-launcher, browser-extension-builder, workflow-automation, backend