Most side projects don’t start with inspiration.
They start with irritation.
A repeated task.
A broken workflow.
A problem you keep telling yourself you’ll “fix later.”
That’s how all of mine started.
Not with a grand plan.
Just friction I couldn’t ignore anymore.
1. TermiCool — Because Terminal Customization Shouldn’t Feel Like Surgery
Customizing my terminal was taking way more time than it should.
Editing config files.
Hunting hex codes.
Tweaking themes.
Accidentally breaking everything.
Something that should take 30 seconds was eating hours.
I wanted:
- one click to apply a theme
- one click to undo it
- zero risk of breaking my setup
So I built TermiCool.
Simple, fast, reversible terminal theming without the usual pain.
2. TreePress — Because PDF Export Shouldn’t Destroy Your Work
Exporting to PDF was worse.
Code lost syntax highlighting.
Markdown lost formatting.
HTML dashboards broke completely.
And tabs?
Especially painful.
PDF has no concept of tabs, so content hidden behind tabs would simply disappear.
Half the page gone.
That made exports useless for real documentation.
I needed exports that looked like what I actually built—not a flattened, broken version of it.
So I built TreePress.
Now it creates:
- pixel-faithful exports
- searchable PDFs
- tab-aware rendering
- proper HTML + Markdown support
- predictable output without manual fixing
No config.
No surprises.
3. CCL — Because Rebuilding Claude Code Setup Was Repetitive
Every new project meant rebuilding the same Claude Code setup.
Same files.
Same folder structure.
Same configuration.
Again.
And again.
It felt like setup work pretending to be productivity.
So I built CCL.
Now I run one command and get:
CLAUDE.md- subagents
- skills
- security hooks
- project-aware scaffolding
All generated around the actual codebase.
Done in seconds.
None of This Was Planned
These weren’t startup ideas.
They were problems I got tired of tolerating.
They were built in stolen hours:
late nights after work,
early weekend mornings,
small windows between real life and responsibilities.
That’s how most side projects actually happen.
Not in perfect focus.
In fragments.
If You’re Facing the Same Friction
If terminal customization feels like a chore → TermiCool
If your PDF exports destroy what you built → TreePress
If you keep rebuilding Claude Code setup from scratch → CCL
I built these because the pain was real.
Maybe one of them saves you a few hours too.
Your Turn
What repetitive frustration have you been tolerating for too long?
And which one of these feels the most painful to you?
Would love to hear it ↓