Stop Rewriting the Same Dev Helpers: Build a Browser Toolbelt Instead

Source: Dev.to

The Situation

For a long time my dev life looked like this:

1. Open editor.
2. Open docs.
3. Google “online JSON formatter” for the fifth time that week.
4. Write another tiny helper script I knew I had somewhere, but couldn’t find.

None of these tasks were hard:

• Format or validate JSON
• Convert CSV ↔ JSON ↔ XML
• Generate test data
• Convert time zones
• Decode some weird token or Base64 blob

But they were constant – death by a thousand tiny helpers.

The Insight

At some point I realised my problem wasn’t skill.
It was that I treated every small task as a one‑off, instead of part of a repeatable workflow.

So I stopped trying to be a hero and built myself a browser toolbelt.

“If a task is repetitive, mechanical, and easy to get wrong, I try not to solve it with a brand‑new script.”

The Rule I Follow Now

When I need a helper I ask three questions:

1. Have I solved this before?
2. Is there a stable tool that already does this?
3. Does this really need to live in the repo?

If the answer is “no, I just need a reliable helper,” I reach for the browser toolbelt.

From Search History to a Real Belt

Before

format json online
csv to json
utc to est converter
url decode online

Every session: same searches, slightly different sites, new pop‑ups and layouts.

Problems

• Behaviour wasn’t consistent.
• I never built muscle memory.

After

1. Pick one tool per repeated chore.
2. Bookmark it in a “Dev Toolbelt” folder.
3. Use that same tool every time.

Once the folder existed, adding and pruning tools became natural.

Core Categories & Recommended Tools

JSON (the usual friction point)

• Formatter / validator – so I can actually read payloads.
• Diff tool – compare two JSON blobs.
• Converters – JSON ↔ CSV ↔ XML.

How to cover it

• IDE formatter (e.g., VS Code, IntelliJ)
• CLI tools like jq
• One trusted online formatter/converter

The key is to stop hunting and use the same few tools each time.

Realistic Test Data

I used to “test” with test@test.com and John Doe and be surprised when real data broke everything.

Now I treat realistic test data as a first‑class tool:

• Faker‑style libraries for code
• Simple generators for CSV/JSON lists
• A shared sample dataset I can reuse

Workflow: generate → export → import → reuse.
The more realistic your test data, the fewer weird production bugs you get.

Time‑Zone Conversions

Time zones can eat entire afternoons. I mix:

• Language features & libraries (e.g., moment, date-fns, pytz)
• MDN or official docs
• One friendly online converter for sanity checks

I never try to do timezone math in my head anymore; I push it through the same tiny set of tools every time.

Encoding / Hashing

I keep one place for:

• Base64 encode/decode
• URL encode/decode
• HTML entities
• Quick hash checks (MD5, SHA‑1, SHA‑256)

You can do most of this with your standard library or openssl.
I still like having a familiar browser tool for quick checks, especially when I’m away from my main machine.

Guardrails for Browser Tools

• Never paste production secrets or live customer data into random sites.
• Prefer tools that clearly say they process data in the browser (no server round‑trip).
• For sensitive workflows, consider self‑hosted or in‑house tools.

If it would be awkward to explain in a post‑mortem, it doesn’t belong in a public tool.

AI Helpers – Complement, Not Replacement

Great for

• Sketching one‑off scripts
• Exploring unfamiliar APIs
• Explaining confusing stack traces

Not a full replacement because

• AI can be confident but wrong.
• It may use outdated or insecure patterns.
• Results can change from run to run.

A small, deterministic toolbelt still wins for:

• Quick format / convert / validate jobs
• Reproducible workflows you can share with the team
• Situations where you cannot paste data into an AI system

My approach: use AI around the toolbelt, not instead of it.

When a Browser Toolbelt Isn’t Enough

Signs you need a different approach:

• The task must run in CI or on every deploy.
• The logic is specific to your business rules.
• You need state, history, or heavy performance work.

Those problems deserve proper code, tests, and review.
For me, the toolbelt is for stateless, repetitive, mechanical tasks.

Getting Started – A Quick Plan

1. List your top five recurring annoyances.
2. For each one, pick a single helper you like (online or CLI).
3. Create a “Dev Toolbelt” bookmark folder in your browser.
4. Add those links and pin the folder for easy access.
5. For one week, reach for the toolbelt before writing a new helper.

Optional Extras

• Add custom search keywords in your browser.
• Pin a “toolbelt” tab you always keep open.
• Share the list with your team and invite suggestions.

Start with three solid tools, not thirty. Add more only after you feel the same pain a few times.

Common Mistakes I Ran Into

• Trying to build a “perfect” toolbelt in one sitting.
• Re‑implementing tools that already exist and work well.
• Making everything depend on personal quirks no one else understands.
• Never pruning old or broken tools from the folder.

Keep the bar simple: does this tool save me time, reliably, in real work? If not, it goes.

Maintenance – Quarterly Clean‑Up

Once a quarter, I spend ten minutes in the bookmark folder:

• Remove tools I no longer use (or that have become unreliable).
• Update links if a service changes its URL or UI.
• Add new helpers for any fresh recurring pain points.

(The original note was cut off: “Remove tools I no lo…”. The intention was to remove tools I no longer need.)

Further Reading

If you’re curious about the concrete, link‑heavy version of my own browser toolbelt, check out the canonical post:

Computer Programming Made Easier – CodersTool Blog

Happy tooling!

Streamlining My Browser Toolbelt

Replace anything that feels slow or sketchy.
Add one or two helpers that have proved useful in the last few months.
That little cleanup keeps the toolbelt feeling light instead of bloated.

That’s how I went from random tabs and throwaway helpers to a small browser toolbelt that quietly saves me hours each month.

Your Turn

What is one tool you can’t live without in your daily dev work?

Do you keep a toolbelt like this, or is everything still hiding in search history and old repos?

Share your essentials in the comments—I’d love to steal a few good ideas for my own setup.