1 min read
Why this site builds its own tools
A short note on the idea behind karf.dev — a portfolio that earns its keep by shipping genuinely useful developer tools.
Most portfolios are brochures. This one tries to be a workshop.
The bet behind karf.dev is simple: the most honest way to demonstrate craft is to ship things people actually use. So alongside the case studies, the site hosts a small, growing set of client-side developer tools — a JSON formatter, a JWT decoder, a regex tester, and more — that run entirely in your browser. Your data never leaves the tab.
The stack, briefly
The whole site is built on Astro with React islands, Tailwind v4, and GSAP. Static pages ship zero JavaScript; interactivity is hydrated only where it earns its place. The result is a portfolio that proves its point through its own implementation — fast, accessible, and quiet about it.
What the blog is for
This space is for the thinking behind the work: the trade-offs, the dead ends, and the occasional satisfying solution. Expect short, specific posts — closer to engineering notes than think-pieces.
If something here saves you five minutes, it did its job.