The Browser-Based Developer Toolkit That Replaced My CLI Scripts

I used to keep a folder of one-off scripts for converting JSON, decoding tokens, and formatting code. Browser tools have largely replaced them.

By Marcus Chen · February 25, 2026 · 6 min read

I used to keep a folder of small scripts on my machine. A Python one to format JSON. A Node script to decode JWTs. A Bash function to URL-encode a query string for testing. They worked, but I had to remember they existed, find them, and run them.

Over the last year, I have quietly migrated almost all of them to browser-based tools. The reason is not that the scripts were bad. It is that opening a browser tab is faster than opening a terminal, navigating to the right folder, and remembering the right command name.

JSON formatting is the obvious one. Pasting an API response into a tool tab and seeing it indented and color-coded is a one-second operation. Doing the same in a terminal involves piping into jq with the right flags. Multiply that across twenty times a day and the tool wins.

Base64 encoding and decoding is the same story. Decoding a JWT to inspect claims, encoding a small SVG into a data URI, prepping an Authorization header for a quick curl test — all of it goes faster in a browser tab. Critically, when the input contains a real production token, doing it in a local browser keeps it off any server.

Code-to-image has changed how I write technical content. Plain code blocks in tweets and LinkedIn posts get scrolled past. Beautifully styled snippets get read. A tool that turns a snippet into a polished PNG in one click is the highest-leverage tool I have added to my workflow this year.

QR code generation has become my go-to for sharing dev environment URLs to my phone. I no longer type long preview URLs — I scan them. The same goes for sharing localhost tunnels with teammates standing next to me at a desk.

The pattern is browser tools for the small stuff, scripts for the repetitive automation. The dividing line keeps moving toward the browser as tools get better and faster.

Explore the free browser tools mentioned on Salah Tools Hub or read more guides.