How We Built 600+ Tools with Zero Backend
· 6 min read
A behind-the-scenes look at how iwanttools delivers hundreds of utilities without any server-side processing.
When we set out to build iwanttools, we made a deliberate architectural decision: no server-side processing. Every tool must work entirely in the browser. This constraint shaped every technology choice we made.
The core stack
React + TypeScript for the UI, Vite for building, and TailwindCSS for styling.
PDF processing: pdf-lib + pdf.js
pdf-lib handles PDF creation and manipulation entirely in JavaScript. pdf.js handles rendering PDFs to canvas for image conversion and thumbnail generation.
Image processing: Canvas API
The HTML5 Canvas API is surprisingly powerful. Resizing, cropping, converting between formats, applying CSS filters, compositing layers — all handled with a single canvas.getContext("2d") call.
Code splitting: the performance challenge
With 600+ tools, the biggest technical challenge is keeping the homepage fast. We use Vite's dynamic imports so each tool loads its dependencies on demand.
Related tools
- PDF Merger — pdf-lib in action
- Image Compressor — Canvas API in action
- JSON Formatter — Pure JS, no backend
- QR Code Generator — WebAssembly powered