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🧰 10 Scripts That’ll Instantly Boost Your Dev Flow

🧰 10 Scripts That’ll Instantly Boost Your Dev Flow

Reddit devs are ditching Postman, meet the open-source alternatives.

Journals GG
October 27, 2025

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Programming

🤔 What Actually Happens When You Press ‘Send’ to ChatGPT
ChatGPT, built by OpenAI, has completely changed how people talk to AI. Instead of typing rigid commands, users can now chat naturally, asking questions, learning, or brainstorming in plain language. Behind that simple chat box sits a massive transformer-based model trained to predict words and follow instructions. Over time, these systems have evolved to reason, use tools, and personalize conversations. When you hit “Send,” a complex chain of processes begins, from tokenization to inference, all optimized to deliver smart, safe responses in real time.

🖋️ Scripts I wrote that I use all the time
After 10+ years of tweaking dotfiles, this developer’s built up a treasure chest of shell scripts, from quick clipboard tricks like copy and pasta, to productivity hacks like mkcd, tempe, and trash. There are helpers for file management, Wi-Fi toggles, media control, and even custom REPL launchers. Tools like serveit, getsong, and boop keep workflows smooth and fun.

👍️ RSS is still pretty great
RSS might feel old-school, but it’s still one of the best ways to cut through the Internet’s noise and focus on high-quality writing. Unlike algorithm-driven feeds, you control exactly what you read, no ads, no flame wars, no engagement traps. RSS favors thoughtful, long-form posts from creators who care about their work. Sure, it’s not flashy or social, but that’s the point, RSS is calm, deliberate, and timeless in a world obsessed with instant updates.

🛠️ What is good software architecture?
Matthew Hawthorne, a 25-year software veteran who’s worked at Netflix, Twitter, and Comcast, argues that great architecture isn’t about titles, it’s about trading today’s problems for better ones tomorrow. At Netflix, engineers made architectural calls themselves, shipping features to millions without any “Architects.” He believes good architecture unifies people as much as systems, balancing the practical with the aspirational. In his words: “If you’re not upgrading your problems, you’re just rearranging furniture.”

📣 Is there any API testing tool better than postman?
A Reddit thread on API testing tools blew up after users learned Postman logs every request to its servers, even with telemetry off. Many devs recommended Bruno, a privacy-focused, open-source alternative. Others mentioned HTTPie as another solid pick. Bruno earned praise for being fully free, BSD-licensed, and usable for both desktop and CLI, even in commercial environments.

Front-End

➕ Introducing Vite+
Vite+ is being pitched as the “Unified Toolchain for the Web”, a single dependency that combines dev, build, test, lint, format, and monorepo caching into one lightning-fast package. Built by the same team behind Vite, Vitest, and Oxc, it promises Rust-powered speed (up to 40× faster builds than Webpack, 100× faster linting than ESLint). It’s runtime-agnostic, works with Node, Bun, and Deno, and offers a generous free tier for open-source and small teams. Essentially, it’s Vite on steroids, built for scale, speed, and sanity.

🏃 React Server Components: Do They Really Improve Performance?
React Server Components (RSCs) have been hyped for years , but also widely misunderstood. The author admits even they didn’t get it at first: after all, Next.js already supported server data fetching through tools like getServerSideProps. The breakthrough came from comparing CSR, SSR, and RSC side by side, seeing how data flows, how much JavaScript ships to the client, and what that means for performance. The result? A hands-on experiment that finally makes RSCs click.

⏭️ Next.js 16
Next.js 16 has officially landed ahead of Next.js Conf 2025, bringing major upgrades across performance, caching, and developer experience. Highlights include Cache Components powered by Partial Pre-Rendering (PPR), new MCP Devtools for debugging, and a proxy.ts system replacing middleware. With Turbopack now stable, delivering up to 10× faster refreshes and 5× faster builds, plus React Compiler and React 19.2 support, this release cements Next.js as the fastest, most flexible React framework yet.

⚖️ Importing vs fetching JSON
Native JSON imports are finally supported across all major browsers, letting you write import data from './data.json' with { type: 'json' }. While convenient, developers warn it’s not a full replacement for fetch(). Static imports crash entire module graphs on failure and cache data for the page’s lifetime, leading to memory leaks if used dynamically. They shine for local, static JSON or build-time bundling, but for dynamic data or third-party APIs, fetch() remains the safer, more flexible option.