small tools manifesto

1. A tool should be understandable in one sitting.
2. A tool should be deletable without grief.
3. A tool should have one reason to exist, and it should say it out loud in its README.
4. Configuration should fit on a postcard.
5. If a tool needs a dashboard, it’s not a tool — it’s a product, and products need a different kind of love.

This is not a war on frameworks. Frameworks are cities; tools are campsites. Both are legitimate places to live, but you should know which one you’re in.

The test

Before I release anything, I run it through a test invented by a friend: would this tool survive being read out loud? Not the code — the idea. “It watches a folder and rebuilds the site when a markdown file changes.” That’s a sentence. “It’s a reactive, event-driven, cloud-native content orchestration layer.” That’s a threat.

I want my tools to be sentences.

Current inventory

• A zine compiler for markdown folders (poems optional, encouraged)
• A deploy-watcher that plays a song when builds go green
• A three-word poem generator: ash, vinyl, light

All small. All finished. All free.