Why I'm Removing 'Magic' From My Apps (Building a Private Reddit Client)
Source: Dev.to
Background
I saw the RemoveWindowsAI repository trending on Hacker News today, and it hit me: we are reaching peak AI fatigue.
Problems with Modern Software
- Telemetry everywhere – Want to search your files? Your OS sends telemetry to the cloud.
- Ad‑driven tracking – Want to browse a forum? The app tracks your scroll depth to serve ads.
- AI assistants that spy – Want to write a note? The built‑in “AI Assistant” scans your private thoughts.
These patterns make software increasingly user‑hostile by default.
My Solution: Reddit Toolbox
Instead of taking the easy route of a web‑app wrapper, I built Reddit Toolbox as a local‑first desktop client for Reddit research and scraping.
Key Features
- Direct API Calls – The app talks straight to Reddit; there is no middle‑man server intercepting your data.
- Guest Mode – No mandatory login; you can use the entire app without an account, avoiding fingerprinting.
- Local Storage – Search history, downloaded videos, and scraped datasets are stored in an SQLite database on your machine (e.g.,
C:\Users\You\local_cache.sqlite) rather than on a remote server.
Philosophy
If the internet cuts out, the app should still show your saved data.
// The philosophy:
const db = new Database('local_cache.sqlite');
const user_data = db.prepare('SELECT * FROM scrapes').all();
// No fetch('https://my-tracking-server.com') here.The RemoveWindowsAI project demonstrates that users are willing to go to great lengths for a clean computing experience. There is a massive, underserved market for tools that simply do the job without invasive tracking.
What Reddit Toolbox Doesn’t Do
- It doesn’t try to predict what you want to see.
- It doesn’t curate your feed.
- It only provides raw data and lets you download it.
Conclusion
If you are tired of software that fights you, try going local—it’s surprisingly peaceful. I’m building Reddit Toolbox in public; it’s a privacy‑focused, local‑first Reddit client for Windows.