It's Open Source tool time!
There is more to open source tools than the top 3 that everyone knows about.
Heck, you might actually know all the 12 in this list already(in which case: "slow clap"), but most of us don't.
And when it comes to tools to help devs do their jobs, open source makes for a convincing argument!
That's why we launched our own Open Source tool for developer productivity as well.😉
So, here’s a curated list of 12 open source tools that can become indispensable in your toolkit.
Let’s go!
Note: We found some inconsistencies in the projects, rephrased and added new projects based on suggestions from the community.
1. Theia
Think of Theia when you're looking for a truly Open Source alternative to VSCode.
It's a flexible IDE that works on both the cloud and desktop. It’s built in TypeScript and comes with lots of add-ons you can use.
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Key Features:
- Cloud & desktop IDE capabilities
- Extensible plugin system: Accepts VSCode plugins/extensions
- Multi-language support
2. Postman
A lot of us would already know about Postman.
No no, not the guy who delivers your Amazon packages.
This Postman makes it easier to work with APIs by letting you chain requests together, automate tasks, and collaborate with others.
So, if you're not a fan of cURL, Postman comes to rescue.
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Key Features:
- API testing and automation
- Request chaining for complex workflows
- Collaboration tools for teams
3. Hoppscotch
Hoppscotch is a free, lightweight, fast, and a pretty API request builder tool to create and test your APIs relatively quickly.
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Key Features:
- HTTP request methods (GET, POST, PUT, DELETE, PATCH, etc.)
- Built-in support for GraphQL
- Collection management and environment variables
Website: Hoppscotch
GitHub: Hoppscotch GitHub
4. Pocketbase
Pocketbase is an open source realtime backend in one file that can be used in your Flutter, Vue, React & Angular applications.
Think of a no fuss & a simple SQL database for developers written in Go.
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Key Features:
- Embedded database (SQLite) with realtime subscriptions
- Built-in files and users management
- And simple REST-ish API
5. cURL
I guess there is no developer who wouldn't know cURL.
cURL is a simple command-line tool that is used for calling APIs. In fact, cURL is included by default in most operating system distributions like Linux & MacOS.
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Key Features:
- Support for multiple protocols (HTTP, FTP, etc.)
- Scriptable command-line tool
6. Waveterm
Waveterm is an open-source AI-native terminal.
Waveterm ties command line with open web to help developers be more productive.
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Key Features:
- Persistent sessions across network disconnections and reboots
- Searchable contextual command history
- CodeEdit, to edit local and remote files with a VSCode-like inline editor
- AI Integration with ChatGPT (or ChatGPT compatible APIs) to help write commands and get answers inline
7. Ollama
AI is all the rage and a developer who doesn't play around with local LLMs isn't a developer at all in 2024, right?😜
Ollama is all about experimenting with Large Language Models locally.
It's like Docker Desktop for LLMs.
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Key Features:
- Local experimentation with LLMs
- Development environment for large language models
- OpenAI compatible API
8. LM-Studio
LM-Studio is also like Docker Desktop & a competitor to Ollama.
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Key Features:
- Local experimentation with LLMs
- OpenAI compatible API
- Support for Windows PCs
9. VS Code
Tell me you knew VS Code is Open Source. Tell me please.
VS Code is a more or less the first code editor that most developers start with these days. Unless you use Vim on Linux. I use Arch btw.
Extensions for VSCode are available in unimaginable quantities.
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Key Features:
- Extensible code editor
- Debugging support
- Rich ecosystem of extensions
10. Docker Compose
Everyone uses Docker these days, right?
Docker Compose makes it easier to set up multiple connected Docker applications by using a simple compose.yaml file.
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Key Features:
- Orchestration of Docker containers
- Service definition with YAML
- Multi-container application management
11. ESLint
ESLint is a great tool for JavaScript and TypeScript that enforces coding standards and enhances code quality through customizable linting rules and plugins.
ESLint in combination with Prettier and other such tools help JavaScript developers at large.
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Key Features:
- Code quality analysis
- Configurable linting rules
- JavaScript and TypeScript support
12. Oh My Zsh
Oh My Zsh is like a supercharged upgrade for your Zsh shell setup, it's got cool themes and plugins that put your terminal experience on steroids.
Of course, getting a proper Zsh resource file tends to be a bit difficult for some.
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Key Features:
- Zsh configuration management
- Customizable themes and plugins
- Community-driven development
Did I miss some important ones?
What do you think?
middlewarehq
/
middleware
✨ Open-source dev productivity platform for engineering teams ✨
Open-source engineering management that unlocks developer potential
Introduction
Middleware is an open-source tool designed to help engineering leaders measure and analyze the effectiveness of their teams using the DORA metrics. The DORA metrics are a set of four key values that provide insights into software delivery performance and operational efficiency.
They are:
- Deployment Frequency: The frequency of code deployments to production or an operational environment.
- Lead Time for Changes: The time it takes for a commit to make it into production.
- Mean Time to Restore: The time it takes to restore service after an incident or failure.
- Change Failure Rate: The percentage of deployments that result in failures or require remediation.
Table of Contents
Top comments (31)
I'd recommend Bruno over Postman any day. Postman was a handy tool when it first came out a decade ago, but as it has moved to a paid platform the free version has been crippled. Aside from being an innovative and easy-to-use tool, Bruno is truly free and doesn't limit you.
usebruno.com/manifesto
usebruno.com/compare/bruno-vs-postman
Don't know this one, will have a look for sure
Thanks for sharing the FOSS tools!
One more FOSS tool to improve dev productivity: Freeter. It allows to organize web apps, files & folders, urls, etc by projects and workflows and stay focused on what matters at any given moment.
Here is a post on how I boosted my productivity with it: dev.to/alexk/how-i-boosted-my-prod...
Thanks for the suggestion, will definitely look at it.
I would love if in your next post on FOSS you can show Litlyx we are an Open Source alternative to Google Analytics, but with steroids.
I've found your list highly informative. thanks for sharing.
Sharing love from italy!
Noted Antonio - will have a look for sure :)
Ollama is great for experimenting with local LLMs. Doesn't seem to match the description in your article though.
Might you have meant to highlight prometheus? Jaeger? Or another free monitoring/observability framework/platform?
Am interested/curious which one
Also note that your Sol links are dead.
appreciate this - will see what happened here
Bodhi and lm studio kinks are also dead
Hey, I have updated and made corrections in the article.
Eh 12 tools? 13 tools? First thing I noticed about this article (nobody else is mentioning it) :D
Oops, point taken, thanks for pointing this out
AI made article, the author didn't even bother to check if the content is correct.
I didn't bother to continue reading the other tools.
Articles like this only mislead and lower the level for us, and sure it not add credibility neither to the author nor to the dev.to site.
Yes, I used Grammarly, but it is not AI-generated.
I'm learning the differences between Source-available and FOSS. I got to know a few tools from my colleagues and dropped the links.
My bad; I did not double-check. I'm continuously learning and improving.
However, I used Postman, Ollama, cURL, and VSCode.
I updated the article with your suggestions and highlighted the comments.
Our co-founders have written genuine opinions on dev.to. Please consider taking a look. Happy to get on a call if you have more questions!
Are the Warp links correct? Those appear to be an AI assisted terminal, not a deployment tool.
I realized after your comment that Warp wasn't technically OpenSource, which I was under the impression of from their GH repo.
I've now updated Warp to Waveterm which they themselves seem to recommend as well.
There's also oh-my-bash for bash, but I much prefer oh-my-posh because it works on bash, zsh, fish, and even powershell. So your native windows cli can get in the fancy terminal experience
appreciate the input - will check these out too!
Yea this one lost me when recommending Postman. I would highly recommend Bruno for a true open source alternative to Postman.
Another reader, Tony also mentioned Bruno in the comments earlier, will check it out for sure :)
I think Jenkins is open source and best for creating CI CD pipeline
VS Code FTW
🫡
Hello everyone, I hope you're all doing well. I recently launched an open-source project called GraphQLPlaceholder, and I'd love your support. Please check it out and give it a star on GitHub github.com/enochval/graphql-placeh.... Your support would mean a lot to me and help immensely in the project's growth.
Thank you.
Another list in the long list of waste of time lists.
Thank you for your comment, just want to blog about what me and our team find useful in our own dev productivity journeys.
I would remove Postman from this list,
It is no longer free (or open source), it's unusable without an account, which is a PITA.
I have switched over to Insomnia
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