IT-Tools — User Guide

IT-Tools is a free, open-source collection of handy online tools for developers and people working in IT. It bundles roughly one hundred small, focused utilities — encoders, converters, generators, validators, formatters, and calculators — behind a single fast, searchable web interface with a polished user experience.

Every tool runs entirely in your browser. There is no account to create, nothing to install (unless you want to self-host), and — for the overwhelming majority of tools — no data ever leaves your machine. You can paste a secret, a token, a private key, or a JWT into IT-Tools and the computation happens locally in JavaScript.

This guide covers everything you can do with IT-Tools: how to access it, how to navigate it, and a complete reference for every tool in the catalog.

Note

IT-Tools is a Vue 3 single-page application. You can use the hosted version at it-tools.tech or run your own copy with Docker. Both behave identically — this guide applies to either.

Table of Contents

1. Quick Start
2. What Is IT-Tools?
3. Accessing IT-Tools
4. Navigating the Interface
5. The Tool Catalog
6. Common Workflows
7. Tips & Best Practices
8. Troubleshooting
9. Frequently Asked Questions
10. Reference

1. Quick Start

Use it online (nothing to install)

1. Open https://it-tools.tech in any modern browser.
2. Find a tool — either browse the categorized sidebar on the left, or press the search box at the top and start typing (for example, uuid, jwt, or base64).
3. Click the tool. It opens instantly. Type or paste your input, and the result updates live as you type.

That's the entire learning curve. Every tool follows the same pattern: input on the left or top, output below or beside it, copy button next to the result.

Tip

Press the search field and type a few letters of what you need. The command palette searches tool names, descriptions, and keywords, so searching password finds the password strength analyser, the token generator, and bcrypt.

Run your own copy with Docker

If you want a private instance — for a homelab, an air-gapped network, or a company intranet — one command is enough:

docker run -d --name it-tools --restart unless-stopped -p 8080:80 corentinth/it-tools:latest

Then open http://localhost:8080 (or your server's address on port 8080).

$ docker run -d --name it-tools --restart unless-stopped -p 8080:80 corentinth/it-tools:latest
Unable to find image 'corentinth/it-tools:latest' locally
latest: Pulling from corentinth/it-tools
...
Status: Downloaded newer image for corentinth/it-tools:latest
a1b2c3d4e5f6a7b8c9d0e1f2a3b4c5d6e7f8a9b0c1d2e3f4a5b6c7d8e9f0a1b2

Tip

The same image is published to GitHub Container Registry. If Docker Hub is rate-limiting you, use ghcr.io/corentinth/it-tools:latest instead.

2. What Is IT-Tools?

IT-Tools is an aggregated toolbox. Instead of bookmarking a dozen different single-purpose websites (one for JSON formatting, one for base64, one for cron expressions, one for QR codes…), you get all of them in one place with a consistent interface, a shared search, and a favorites system.

What makes it different

• Client-side and private. Tools run in your browser. For data-transformation tools (encoders, formatters, hashers, generators), nothing is sent to any server. This is what makes it safe to paste sensitive values.
• No account, no tracking by default. The hosted site uses privacy-friendly, cookieless analytics, and self-hosted instances ship with analytics disabled entirely.
• Fast and keyboard-friendly. A command-palette-style search lets you jump to any tool in a couple of keystrokes.
• Installable & offline-capable. IT-Tools is a Progressive Web App (PWA). You can "install" it like a desktop app, and once loaded it works without a network connection.
• Free and open-source. Licensed under the GNU GPLv3. You can read the source, self-host it, and contribute new tools.

Important

A small number of tools need an external lookup to be useful — for example, MAC address lookup (vendor database) relies on bundled data, and tools that fetch nothing still run locally. No tool transmits your input to IT-Tools' own servers. If a particular tool requires the network, this guide notes it.

Who it's for

Developers, sysadmins, network engineers, DevOps practitioners, security folks, and anyone who occasionally needs to convert, encode, generate, or inspect a piece of data and would rather not trust a random ad-laden website with it.

3. Accessing IT-Tools

You can use IT-Tools four ways. Pick whichever fits.

Hosted website

The simplest option. Open https://it-tools.tech. Always up to date, nothing to maintain.

Docker (Docker Hub)

docker run -d --name it-tools --restart unless-stopped -p 8080:80 corentinth/it-tools:latest

Serves the app on port 8080. The container is a tiny nginx image serving static files — it uses very little memory.

Docker (GitHub Packages)

docker run -d --name it-tools --restart unless-stopped -p 8080:80 ghcr.io/corentinth/it-tools:latest

App store / homelab platforms

IT-Tools is packaged for several self-hosting platforms with one-click installs:

• Cloudron
• Tipi
• Unraid (search the Community Applications store)

Install it as an app (PWA)

Because IT-Tools is a Progressive Web App, your browser will offer to install it:

• Chrome / Edge: click the install icon (a small monitor with a down-arrow) in the address bar, or open the browser menu and choose Install IT-Tools…
• Safari (iOS): tap Share → Add to Home Screen.
• Android: tap the browser menu and choose Add to Home screen / Install app.

Once installed, IT-Tools opens in its own window, gets its own icon, and continues to work even when you're offline.

Tip

The offline cache updates automatically when a new version is deployed. If a page looks stale after an update, a force-refresh (Ctrl/Cmd + Shift + R) clears it — see Troubleshooting.

System requirements

4. Navigating the Interface

The layout is the same on every page, so once you learn it for one tool you know it for all of them.

The sidebar (tool menu)

The left sidebar lists every tool, grouped by category (Crypto, Converter, Web, and so on). Click a category header to collapse or expand it; your collapsed/expanded preferences are remembered between visits.

• Clicking the IT-TOOLS logo at the top of the sidebar returns you to the home page.
• A small colored dot next to a tool's icon marks a New tool (added within the last two weeks).
• On small screens the sidebar is hidden behind the menu button (☰) in the top bar.

Search & the command palette

The fastest way to find anything is the search box in the top bar. It performs a fuzzy search across tool names, descriptions, keywords, and categories, plus a few quick actions. Results are grouped:

Just start typing and press Enter (or click) to jump to a result.

Tip

Don't remember the exact tool name? Search by what you want to do. escape, percent, slug, cidr, cron, and phonetic all land you on the right tool thanks to per-tool keywords.

Favorites

Every tool page has a heart button next to its title. Click it to add the tool to your favorites.

• Favorites appear in a dedicated Your favorite tools section at the top of both the home page and the sidebar.
• On the home page you can drag and drop favorites to reorder them.
• Favorites are stored in your browser (local storage), so they persist across visits on the same browser but are not synced between devices.

The home page

The home page shows three sections, top to bottom:

1. Your favorite tools (only if you have any) — drag to reorder.
2. Newest tools — recently added utilities.
3. All the tools — the complete catalog as a card grid, each card showing the tool's icon, name, and a one-line description.

Top-bar controls

Dark mode & language

• Dark mode is toggled with the moon/sun button in the top bar (or via the Toggle dark mode command in search). Your choice is remembered, and the app also respects your operating-system theme by default.
• Language is chosen with the locale selector. IT-Tools ships interface translations for several languages, including English, French, German, Spanish, Portuguese, Ukrainian, Vietnamese, Chinese, and Norwegian. Your selection is remembered between visits.

Shareable links & remembered input

Many tools keep part of their state in the URL and/or your browser storage. That means:

• You can bookmark or share a link to a tool with certain options pre-filled.
• Returning to a tool often restores your last-used settings.

Note

Where a tool stores state in the URL, copying the address bar shares your current configuration (but not necessarily large inputs). This is handy for sharing, e.g., a specific subnet calculation or a generator's settings.

5. The Tool Catalog

IT-Tools groups its utilities into ten categories. Every tool is listed below with what it does and how to use it. The Path column is the part of the URL after the domain (for example, /uuid-generator), useful for bookmarking and for self-hosted instances.

Note

Unless stated otherwise, every tool runs locally in your browser and transmits nothing. Tools that bundle reference data (status codes, MIME types, MAC vendor prefixes, emoji metadata) ship that data inside the app.

5.1 Crypto

Tools for hashing, encryption, password handling, and key/identifier generation.

Notable usage details:

• Token generator — toggle Uppercase (ABC…), Lowercase (abc…), Numbers (123…), and Symbols (!-;…), then set the Length with a slider. Click Refresh for a new token or Copy to copy it. Great for passwords, API keys, and random secrets.
• Hash text — paste your text once and see all supported digests at once; pick the output encoding you need. Because it's local, it's safe for hashing secrets.
• Bcrypt — two modes: hash a password (choose the salt rounds / cost factor) and compare a plaintext value against an existing $2a$… hash to check a match.
• Encrypt / decrypt text — choose the algorithm, enter a secret/passphrase, and switch between encrypt and decrypt. This uses symmetric ciphers from CryptoJS; the same secret is required to decrypt.
• UUIDs generator — choose the version. v4 is random (the common default); v1 is time-based; v3/v5 are name-based (you supply a namespace and name). Generate one or many at once.
• Password strength analyser — type a candidate password and see an entropy-based strength score and an estimated brute-force crack time. Nothing is transmitted.

Caution

The Encrypt / decrypt tool uses classic symmetric ciphers (AES, TripleDES, Rabbit, RC4) for convenience. RC4 in particular is cryptographically weak and TripleDES is legacy — prefer AES for anything you actually care about, and treat this tool as a convenience utility rather than a vault.

5.2 Converter

Tools that transform data from one format or representation to another.

Notable usage details:

• The format converters (YAML/JSON/TOML/XML) are live — type or paste in one pane and the converted output appears immediately in the other, with syntax highlighting and a copy button. Invalid input shows an inline error rather than crashing.
• Integer base converter — enter a value in any base field and all the others update simultaneously; supports custom bases.
• Color converter — type a color in any supported notation (e.g. #1ea54c, rgb(30,165,76), forestgreen) and read the equivalents in every other format.
• List converter — paste line- or column-based data and chain operations: transpose, add a prefix/suffix to each row, reverse, sort, lowercase, and truncate. Useful for turning a copied column into a comma-separated list or SQL IN (...) clause.
• Base64 file converter — drag in a file or image to get its base64 string (handy for data URIs), or paste base64 to download the decoded file.

5.3 Web

Tools for web development, headers, tokens, and browser data.

Notable usage details:

• JWT parser — paste a token and instantly read the decoded header and payload (issuer, subject, audience, expiry, issued-at, and any custom claims). It decodes only; it does not verify the signature, and nothing is transmitted, so it's safe for real tokens.
• OTP code generator — enter a TOTP secret to see the current 6-digit code and its countdown, mirroring an authenticator app; useful for testing MFA setups.
• Basic auth generator — type a username and password to get the ready-to-paste Basic header value.
• Keycode info — press any key and read its event.key, event.code, keyCode, location, and active modifiers — invaluable when wiring up keyboard handlers.
• JSON diff — paste two JSON documents to get a structured, side-by-side difference view.

5.4 Images & Videos

Notable usage details:

• QR Code generator — type a URL or text, customize the foreground/background colors and error-correction level, then download the result as an image.
• WiFi QR Code generator — enter your SSID, password, and encryption type; the generated QR code lets a phone camera join the network without typing the password.
• Camera recorder — requires your permission to access the camera. The capture stays in your browser.

Important

Camera recorder asks the browser for camera (and microphone, for video) permission. Captured media is handled locally in the page and is not uploaded anywhere.

5.5 Development

Notable usage details:

• Crontab generator — type a cron expression and read a plain-English description ("At 02:30 every day"), or build one field by field. It validates the expression and flags errors.
• SQL prettify — paste a query and choose your dialect (PostgreSQL, MySQL, MariaDB, BigQuery, DB2, Hive, N1QL, PL/SQL, Redshift, Spark, T-SQL, …) for correct formatting.
• Chmod calculator — tick the read/write/execute boxes for owner/group/other and read off both the octal value (e.g. 755) and the ready-to-run chmod command.
• Docker run → Compose — paste a long docker run … command and get an equivalent docker-compose.yml, a big time-saver when migrating ad-hoc containers to Compose.
• JSON to CSV — paste an array of JSON objects; the tool detects the columns from the keys and emits CSV.

5.6 Network

Notable usage details:

• IPv4 subnet calculator — enter something like 192.168.1.0/24 and read the network address, broadcast address, netmask, wildcard mask, first/last usable host, and host count.
• IPv4 range expander — give a start and end address; the tool returns a valid subnet and its CIDR notation that spans the range.
• MAC address lookup — the vendor database (OUI prefixes) is bundled with the app, so lookups work offline.

5.7 Math

Notable usage details:

• Math evaluator — type a full expression (e.g. sqrt(2) * sin(pi/4) + 3^2) and get the result; it supports a wide range of math functions.
• ETA calculator — enter the total amount of work, how much is done, and the elapsed time (or rate) to project the finish time and remaining duration — for example, estimating when a long file transfer will complete.

5.8 Measurement

Notable usage details:

• Benchmark builder — enter the measured durations for two or more approaches and the tool computes means and variance and tells you which is fastest and by how much — a quick, manual A/B timing comparison.

5.9 Text

Notable usage details:

• String obfuscator — paste a secret and the middle is masked (e.g. sk_live_…••••…1234) so you can paste it into a ticket or chat to identify which secret you mean without exposing it.
• Emoji picker — search by name, click to copy the emoji, and also grab its Unicode code points.
• ASCII Art Text Generator — type a word and choose a font to produce a banner of ASCII characters, perfect for CLI splash screens and READMEs.

5.10 Data

Notable usage details:

• Phone parser and formatter — enter a number (optionally with a country) and read whether it's valid, the national and international formats, the detected country, and the line type (mobile/fixed).
• IBAN validator and parser — paste an IBAN to check its validity and break it into its constituent parts.

6. Common Workflows

A few end-to-end recipes that combine tools.

Generate a strong password or API key and check it

1. Open Token generator (/token-generator).
2. Enable uppercase, lowercase, numbers, and symbols; set length to 32.
3. Click Copy.
4. Open Password strength analyser (/password-strength-analyser) and paste it to confirm the entropy and crack time.

Build a docker-compose.yml from a docker run command

1. Open Docker run to Docker Compose converter (/docker-run-to-docker-compose-converter).
2. Paste your full docker run -d --name … -p … -v … image command.
3. Copy the generated docker-compose.yml into your project.

Inspect and sanity-check a JWT

1. Open JWT parser (/jwt-parser).
2. Paste the token. Read the header (alg, typ) and payload (iss, sub, aud, exp, …).
3. If exp looks wrong, open Date-time converter (/date-converter) and paste the timestamp to read it as a human date.

Connect guests to WiFi without sharing the password aloud

1. Open WiFi QR Code generator (/wifi-qrcode-generator).
2. Enter the SSID, password, and encryption type.
3. Download the QR code and print it. Guests scan it to join.

Turn a copied column into a SQL IN (...) list

1. Open List converter (/list-converter).
2. Paste the column of values.
3. Add a prefix and suffix (e.g. ' and '), then transpose/join into one line.
4. Wrap the result in IN ( … ).

7. Tips & Best Practices

Tip

Favorite the tools you use weekly. They jump to the top of both the sidebar and the home page, and you can drag them into the order you like.

Tip

Learn the search. It's almost always faster to press the search box and type three letters than to hunt through the sidebar.

Tip

Install the PWA for offline use. Once installed, IT-Tools works on a plane, in an air-gapped lab, or whenever your connection drops.

Note

Your settings live in the browser. Favorites, theme, language, and collapsed categories are stored locally. They won't follow you to another browser or device, and clearing site data resets them.

Important

Safe for secrets — within reason. Data-transformation tools (hashing, encoding, JWT decoding, key generation) run locally and transmit nothing. Still, treat the Encrypt/decrypt tool's legacy ciphers as a convenience, not a security guarantee (see the caution in Crypto).

Tip

Self-host for a team. A single docker run gives your whole office a private, ad-free, always-available toolbox on the LAN. See the Admin Guide for configuration and hardening.

8. Troubleshooting

Error: 404 Not Found / "Maybe the cache is doing tricky things, try force-refreshing?"

Cause: You followed a link to a tool path that has changed, or your offline (PWA) cache is serving an old build after a deploy.

Solution: Force-refresh the page to clear the cached app:

Windows/Linux:  Ctrl + Shift + R
macOS:          Cmd + Shift + R

Prevention: The PWA updates itself automatically on the next visit after a new version ships; a force-refresh just speeds that up.

A tool page is blank or shows stale content after an update

Cause: The service worker cached the previous version.

Solution: Force-refresh (above). If it persists, clear the site's cached data in your browser's site settings, then reload.

The ASCII Art generator produces nothing

Cause: This is a known issue with certain inputs/fonts (community-reported).

Solution: Try a different font or a shorter input string. If it still fails, report it via search → Report a bug or an issue.

The Regex tester behaves unexpectedly on some patterns

Cause: Edge-case patterns have produced incorrect highlighting in some versions (community-reported).

Solution: Double-check the pattern against the Regex cheatsheet (/regex-memo); for complex patterns, validate behavior in your actual runtime as well.

"Add to favorites" doesn't seem to stick

Cause: Favorites are stored in browser local storage; private/incognito windows and "clear on close" settings discard them.

Solution: Use IT-Tools in a normal browser window, and don't clear site data if you want favorites to persist.

Camera recorder shows no video

Cause: The browser blocked camera access, or another app is using the camera.

Solution: Grant camera permission when prompted (check the address-bar camera icon), close other apps using the camera, and ensure you're on https:// (or localhost), which browsers require for camera access.

Self-hosted instance shows the nginx welcome page or 404s on refresh

Cause: Wrong container/port mapping, or a reverse proxy not forwarding SPA routes.

Solution: Confirm the container is published as -p 8080:80 and browse to that port. (The official image already handles SPA routing internally.) See the Admin Guide for reverse-proxy and base-path configuration.

9. Frequently Asked Questions

Q: Is IT-Tools free? Yes. It's open-source under the GNU GPLv3 and free to use, both the hosted site and self-hosted copies.

Q: Do my inputs get sent to a server? No. Tools run in your browser. For data-transformation tools, nothing you type is transmitted. This is what makes IT-Tools safe for sensitive values like tokens and keys.

Q: Does it track me? The hosted site uses privacy-friendly, cookieless analytics (page views only). Self-hosted instances ship with analytics disabled. No personal data or tool input is collected.

Q: Do I need an account? No. There are no accounts, logins, or sign-ups.

Q: Can I use it offline? Yes. Install it as a PWA (or just load it once) and it works offline thanks to its service worker.

Q: Where are my favorites and settings stored? In your browser's local storage. They persist on the same browser but are not synced across devices, and clearing site data resets them.

Q: How do I change the language? Use the locale selector in the top bar. Several languages are bundled.

Q: A tool I need is missing — can I request it? Yes. Use search → Report a bug or an issue, or open a feature request on the GitHub issues page.

Q: Can I run it on my own server? Absolutely — that's a first-class use case. One docker run command does it (see Accessing IT-Tools). For configuration, see the Admin Guide.

Q: How do I get a random tool to explore? Open search and choose the Random tool action.

Q: Why does a tool show a small colored dot? That marks a New tool — one added within the last two weeks.

Q: Is the JWT parser checking the signature? No — it decodes and displays the token's contents. It does not validate the signature. Decoding happens locally, so it's safe to paste real tokens.

Q: Which encryption algorithm should I pick in the Encrypt/decrypt tool? Use AES. The other options (TripleDES, Rabbit, RC4) are legacy or weak and are included for compatibility, not security.

Q: Can I share a tool with my settings pre-filled? Often yes — many tools keep state in the URL, so copying the address bar shares your current configuration.

10. Reference

Tool routes by category

Hash algorithms available (Hash text & HMAC)

MD5, SHA1, SHA256, SHA224, SHA512, SHA384, SHA3, RIPEMD160.

Encryption algorithms (Encrypt / decrypt text)

AES (recommended), TripleDES, Rabbit, RC4 (legacy — avoid for real secrets).

Where your data is stored

Useful links

• Hosted app: it-tools.tech
• Source code: github.com/CorentinTh/it-tools
• Report a bug / request a tool: GitHub issues
• Self-hosting & configuration: see the Admin Guide