Philosophy

Tuulbelt is a curated collection of focused, zero-dependency tools for modern software development.

Core Philosophy

Each Tuulbelt tool:

• Solves one problem — Narrow, well-defined scope
• Zero external dependencies — Uses standard library only
• Portable interface — CLI, files, sockets; not proprietary APIs
• Composable — Works via pipes, environment variables, file I/O
• Independently cloneable — Each tool is a standalone repository
• Proven implementation — No moonshots, no "works 80%" solutions

Why Tuulbelt?

The Problem

Modern development tools often:

• Require complex dependency management
• Lock you into specific frameworks
• Have broad, unfocused scope ("do everything" tools)
• Break when dependencies update
• Can't be easily composed with other tools

The Solution

Tuulbelt tools are:

• Self-contained — Zero runtime dependencies means no npm install headaches
• Focused — Each tool does one thing and does it well
• Portable — Standard interfaces (CLI, files, env vars) work everywhere
• Composable — Chain tools together with Unix pipes
• Independent — Clone only what you need
• Reliable — Production-tested, no experimental features

Design Principles

See Principles for detailed design principles that guide every Tuulbelt tool.

Unix Philosophy Applied

Tuulbelt embraces the Unix philosophy:

1. Make each program do one thing well
2. Expect output to become input to another program
3. Don't insist on interactive input when a program can be run automatically

Applied to modern development:

• Single-purpose tools, not frameworks
• JSON output for programmatic parsing
• CLI-first design for automation

What Doesn't Belong

Frameworks (anything that tries to be your whole app) Heavy abstractions (frameworks disguised as utilities) Language-specific hacks (unless the problem is language-specific) Vaporware (things that work 80% of the time) Opinionated workflows (unless they're optional)

Quality Standards

Every Tuulbelt tool must meet:

• 80%+ test coverage (aim for 90%+)
• Comprehensive edge case testing
• Dogfooding validation (tested with other Tuulbelt tools)
• Production-ready documentation
• Zero runtime dependencies verified

Tool Selection

Before building a new tool, we ask:

1. What single problem does it solve?
2. How would we test it end-to-end?
3. Can it run without installing dependencies?
4. Can it be used from any programming language?
5. Have we hit this problem in real code?
6. Is there a proven implementation path?

If the answers aren't clear, we wait.

Long-Term Vision

Phase 1: Build foundational tools (testing, CLI utilities, file operations) Phase 2: Expand to data processing and protocol tools Phase 3: Network and observability tools Phase 4: Interoperability and advanced tooling

Goal: 33 production-ready tools that work together seamlessly.

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Current Progress: 10 of 33 tools (30%) | Phase 1: 5/5 (100% ✅) | Phase 2: 5/28 (18%)

See ROADMAP for detailed planning.