TL;DR
Every day we use different technological tools, already on automatism, although we have not heard about them before.
With the knowledge of the new, we gain that competitiveness in the market that will provide us with what we want, be it an online store or a simple calculator.
In this article, I have collected some tools, knowledge of which will help you become the ultimate developer.
Well, let's get started! 🏎️
1. 🐜 HMPL - Server-oriented customizable templating for JavaScript
Let's start with a small template language that allows you to get components from the server and display them on the client. Due to its syntax, applications are quite small.
The language is syntactically block-based and integrated with JSON5 and DOMPurify. Reduce the size of your javascript files and display the same UI as if it was written in a modern framework!
2. 🐳 Docker Compose - Build, Ship, Run Any App
I would like to point out Docker as such, but it has not been an open source solution for a long time, so I will add one of its necessary modules Docker Compose. In fact, modern development of a more or less large site cannot do without this module, and not only the site in general.
Docker Compose is a tool for running multi-container applications on Docker defined using the Compose file format. A Compose file is used to define how one or more containers that make up your application are configured. Once you have a Compose file, you can create and start your application with a single command: docker compose up.
🌱 Star the Docker Compose repository ☆
3. 🔗 LangChain - Build context-aware reasoning applications
Today, it is impossible to imagine development without artificial intelligence, and one of the first projects in this direction is LangChain. This is probably one of the fastest growing projects on GitHub, as the industry was simply blown away by the release of ChatGPT and this project combined the concepts of framework and AI prompt_template.invoke().
LangChain is a framework for building LLM-powered applications. It helps you chain together interoperable components and third-party integrations to simplify AI application development — all while future-proofing decisions as the underlying technology evolves.
🌱 Star the LangChain repository ☆
4. 🦙 Ollama - Get up and running with large language models
Since we started talking about artificial intelligence, it is also worth remembering a project like Ollama.
ollama run example
This is a large, unique collection of popular AI models for downloading.
🌱 Star the Ollama repository ☆
5. 💨 Vue-Vapor - Vue Vapor is a variant of Vue that offers rendering without the Virtual DOM
Vue is certainly worth knowing, that's a fact, but what's really interesting to your attention is Vue-Vapor. It's a mod for regular Vue that doesn't use Virtual DOM and has one of the fastest speeds among popular frameworks today.
This repository is a fork of vuejs/core and is used for research and development of no virtual dom mode.
🌱 Star the Vue-Vapor repository ☆
6. 🧩 Shadcn UI - A set of beautifully-designed, accessible components and a code distribution platform
The most popular component library today. All software as a service applications and more use it in conjunction with Next.js. If you want a modern design without any fuss, this library is for you.
Accessible and customizable components that you can copy and paste into your apps. Free. Open Source. Use this to build your own component library.
🌱 Star the Shadcn UI repository ☆
7. ✉️ Postiz - The ultimate social media scheduling tool, with a bunch of AI
The all-in-one solution for managing your social media presence. Connect all your favorite networks and handle them seamlessly from a single platform.
Postiz provides everything you need to schedule posts, grow your audience, generate leads, and boost your business all in one place.
🌱 Star the Postiz repository ☆
8. 🐇 Bun - Incredibly fast JavaScript runtime, bundler, test runner, and package manager – all in one
If you think that Node.js is slow today, then yes, you are right. I once said about Deno that it is one of the fastest environments, but probably Bun is the fastest today or was at least a couple of years ago.
Bun is an all-in-one toolkit for JavaScript and TypeScript apps. It ships as a single executable called bun.
9. 🐈⬛ Nest.js - A progressive Node.js framework for building efficient, scalable, and enterprise-grade server-side applications
The most popular JavaScript backend framework in large companies today. We all love Express.js for its simplicity, but Nest.js offers us a prescriptive approach, like Angular or Laravel.
Nest is a framework for building efficient, scalable Node.js server-side applications. It uses modern JavaScript, is built with TypeScript (preserves compatibility with pure JavaScript) and combines elements of OOP (Object Oriented Programming), FP (Functional Programming), and FRP (Functional Reactive Programming).
🌱 Star the Nest.js repository ☆
10. 📚 VuePress - Minimalistic Vue-powered static site generator
Continuing with the Vue theme, it is also worth mentioning the VuePress documentation module. I use it and I absolutely love it for its simplicity and functionality.
VuePress is a markdown-centered static site generator. You can write your content (documentations, blogs, etc.) in Markdown, then VuePress will help you to generate a static site to host them.
🌱 Star the VuePress repository ☆
11. 👀 Mockoon - Easiest and quickest way to run mock APIs locally
A fairly new project for local API mocking during development. Notable for its interface, as well as integration capabilities.
Mockoon is the easiest and quickest way to design and run mock APIs. No remote deployment, no account required, free and open-source.
🌱 Star the Mockoon repository ☆
12. 📗 Storybook - The industry standard workshop for building, documenting, and testing UI components in isolation
And finally, of course, let's talk about a project like StoryBook, which will allow you to create visual documentation on project components. In large companies, you initially make a component there, test it completely, and only then transfer it to prod after all the tests.
Workshop for building UI components and pages in isolation. Thousands of teams use it for UI development, testing, and documentation.
🌱 Star the Storybook repository ☆
✅ Conclusion
Knowing all these tools, you can easily understand the trends in software development and more today. Some of this is obvious, some, on the contrary, are promising, but everything reflects the trends that are present in the market today and understanding them you can create something unique.
Thank you very much for reading this article ❤️!
What other open source tools do you use? It would be interesting to know!
Top comments (29)
With an assumption this is NOT just some AI blabbering, the level of randomness of this list is surprising me.
I see you have some Vue.js backround, which is nice. But why pointing out Vapor, which is experimental feature that will eventually land in Vue core itself? If you are into edge technologies, why not mention Oxc, which will be a thing soon? Or, why not to select real gems that already emerged thanks to Evan You, namely Vite? And VuePress seems to be effectively dead (last relase 2 years ago, although there is some ongoing v2 effort) in favor of VitePress.
On the other hand - quite unrelated Next.js is in the list, but not Nuxt? While at it, why not to know Express.js, why not Astro, Svelte and tons of other options?
Also - you listed Bun as the youngest addition to JS runtimes family. Why not Deno? Are you sure Bun is more worthy?
To me, it looks more like "12 cool OS projects I know". Which is perfecty fine, I also tend to prefer tools I like over others, but it should be declared. I would read the list anyway, because I am constantly seeking for knowing more tech-stuff at least briefly. But it would sound more honest and fair.
Thank you so much for the detailed comment! "Why one thing and not the other?" - I just wanted to. It's hard to put everything into 12. I've already contributed Deno before. As for Vapor, it's a special project for me. I believe in him. I spent 3 years of my life creating a framework without a virtual DOM, one of the fastest on the Internet. I know what Vapor is doing - it's a real sensation, because at least someone from the big three will be able to achieve such a speed.
Yes, in general, hardly anyone understands what is going on with Vapor. This Community topic is too uninteresting, believe me.
People are more interested in more AI crap than in such important projects
Vue ecosystem in general seems awfully overlooked here in Europe. For most people still "JS = React"
I myself am React (Next.js) dev in my main job. There are just not enough vacancies for Vue.
I managed to convince my company to use Nuxt in two (successful) projects already. But you're right. Unless you can drive what technology will be used, it is hard to find an opportunity.
Thanks for sharing. This list is a time-saver for developers! It covers must-know tools like Docker Compose for containers, LangChain for AI apps, and Bun for blazing-fast JavaScript. Vue-Vapor and Shadcn UI make frontend dev smoother, while Postiz and Mockoon simplify social media and API testing. Whether you're building docs with VuePress or scalable backends with Nest.js, these tools save time and boost efficiency.
No problem! I think, this is great list
Very helpful information is shared nowadays most of the India based 2D game development services provider companies development team were also using these tools due to various benefits were provided by them which results in increased high-quality results.
growth like this is always nice to see, makes me think if it’s just the hype or if these projects really stick in my routine long-term. you reckon it’s about habits or does it hinge more on the community?
Habits
Yep, agreed!
I am older. I just stumbled across this site. This is my first post here. Way back when, I started out on Cobol/IBM mainframes and then surfed the wave of the dawn of the internet. It was fun.....
I checked out of development over a decade ago, but with AI making a surge, and the internets UI seemingly being transformed overnight, I am spending a lot of time, figuring all this stuff out. -- Its so good.....
You all rattled off tools and terms, and I have no idea what they are.;
And I wonder, with the speed and scale at which this change is happening, how the heck do you all keep up with it; Happy coding.
Great list!
Thanks!
Great picks! I've been loving LangChain and Bun lately, but I think Supabase deserves a spot here too.
What’s one tool on your list you’d never want to work without?
Thanks! Docker Compose
Helpful compilation!
Thanks!
showw! thank u for this post
No problem
Great list... Almost makes me wish I had to use JavaScript... Thankfully I don't. :).
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