🛠️ Web Development Tools
As a web application engineer, I continually seek tools that enhance my skills and productivity. Below is an updated list of essential tools, incorporating recent advancements from 2024 and 2025.
Existing Tools
🛠️ Wappalyzer
PurposeIdentify technologies used on websites.
Why Use It: Helps identify the web server, CMS, frameworks, and more. It’s great for learning from other websites and discovering technologies that may suit your own projects.
🎨 Stylus
PurposeCustomize website appearance.
Why Use It: Customize CSS styles on any website. Useful for experimenting with designs and fixing layout issues like font size or color schemes.
🧑💻 JSON View
PurposeFormat and validate JSON data.
Why Use It: Helps read and understand JSON data from APIs. Formats data neatly and helps debug syntax or logical errors.
📜 HTML Validator
PurposeCheck HTML code for errors.
Why Use It: Ensures HTML code is valid and follows standards. Helps improve code quality and website performance.
📏 Measure-it
PurposeMeasure elements on a webpage.
Why Use It: Allows precise measurement of images, text, buttons, and other elements on a website. Useful for optimizing layout and design.
🌐 REST Client
PurposeTest and debug APIs.
Why Use It: Allows you to send HTTP requests to any API, view the response, and analyze status codes and data, helping with API testing and debugging.
🎨 ColorZilla
PurposePick and analyze colors.
Why Use It: Helps choose colors for your website and analyze the color schemes of other websites. Great for creating a consistent, appealing design.
🧪 Selenium IDE
PurposeAutomate web testing.
Why Use It: Record and play back automated tests in the browser. Helps ensure that your website functions correctly and saves time on manual testing.
🛠️ Web Developer
PurposeManipulate and inspect websites.
Why Use It: Provides features for disabling JavaScript, inspecting cookies, viewing source code, validating links, and more, all crucial for debugging and enhancing websites.
🔤 WhatFont
PurposeIdentify fonts on a webpage.
Why Use It: Quickly identifies fonts used on websites and displays font properties. Useful for choosing and applying the right fonts for your own projects.
🌍 WhatRuns
PurposeDiscover technologies used by websites.
Why Use It: Identify plugins, widgets, analytics, and frameworks used on any site. Helps keep track of trends and discover tools to improve your own projects.
Additional Tools for Front-End, Back-End, and Full-Stack Developers
📱 React Developer Tools
PurposeDebug React applications.
Why Use It: Essential for debugging React apps, allowing you to inspect component hierarchies, state, and props, helping optimize the user interface.
🖥️ Redux DevTools
PurposeDebug Redux state changes.
Why Use It: Track actions and state changes in Redux-powered applications. Great for full-stack developers working with React and Redux.
🧑💻 Vue.js Devtools
PurposeDebug Vue.js applications.
Why Use It: Provides tools for inspecting Vue components, Vuex state, and more, making it indispensable for front-end developers using Vue.js.
🐍 Postman
PurposeAPI development and testing.
Why Use It: Makes it easy to send requests to APIs, view responses, and test API endpoints. Essential for back-end developers or anyone working with REST APIs.
🖧 Live Server
PurposeLaunch a local development server.
Why Use It: Instantly launches a local server with live reloading, great for full-stack developers needing rapid feedback during front-end development.
🌐 GitHub
PurposeEnhance GitHub workflow.
Why Use It: Provides features like notifications, pull requests, and issues right from the browser, making it easier to collaborate and manage repositories.
⚙️ Gitpod
PurposeLaunch a development environment in the cloud.
Why Use It: Provides a cloud-based IDE for full-stack developers, allowing you to code from any device with ease and sync with GitHub repositories.
📑 JSON Formatter
PurposeFormat and beautify JSON data.
Why Use It: Automatically formats JSON data, making it more readable and easier to debug. Especially useful for back-end developers working with APIs.
🖥️ Insomnia
PurposeAPI design and testing.
Why Use It: A powerful tool for testing RESTful APIs and GraphQL. It supports debugging, requests, and responses, and allows creating complex API workflows. It is a must-have for developers working with API-driven applications.
🌍 GitLab
PurposeCollaborate on code repositories.
Why Use It: A popular platform for Git-based version control, allowing developers to manage projects, track issues, and collaborate with teams. GitLab is great for both open-source and private projects.
🔧 Codeberg
PurposeGit repository hosting.
Why Use It: A community-driven alternative to GitHub, Codeberg offers a more open-source focused platform for hosting Git repositories. It’s a great choice for developers who want an alternative to mainstream services.
New Tools Introduced in 2024-2025
🤖 OpenAI Responses API
PurposeDevelop advanced AI agents.
Why Use It: Enables developers to build AI agents capable of performing complex tasks without direct human intervention, enhancing automation and efficiency in applications.
🛠️ Project IDX
PurposeAI-enabled browser-based development environment.
Why Use It: An online IDE developed by Google, based on Visual Studio Code, featuring a built-in generative AI assistant powered by Gemini, and iOS and Android emulators, streamlining the development process.
🌐 OpenSilver Framework
PurposeDevelop rich internet applications using C# and XAML.
Why Use It: An open-source framework that serves as a successor to Microsoft Silverlight, allowing developers to migrate existing Silverlight applications to the web without rewriting codebases, utilizing modern web standards like HTML5, CSS3, and WebAssembly.
🦀 Tauri
PurposeCreate cross-platform desktop and mobile applications.
Why Use It: An open-source framework that enables the development of lightweight, secure