Developer argues for small, local, single-purpose apps in an AI-driven build-more era

A software developer behind tools like Comoji, Burly, and Premail has outlined a deliberate philosophy of building small, local, single-purpose applications rather than chasing feature-rich products. Writing on DEV Community, the developer argues that while AI has made generating large codebases nearly effortless, the real costs emerge afterward in maintenance, security, and long-term support. Each of their tools solves one specific problem, runs entirely on the user's device, and requires no account or server-side data collection. The developer contends that local-by-default design eliminates an entire category of privacy and security risk, since data never collected can never be leaked. In an era where AI encourages building more, they position deliberate restraint — deciding what not to build — as the more valuable discipline.