Fractional CTO · Developer Tools
Fractional CTO for developer tools startups
CLI, SDK, and API design that developers adopt instead of abandon.
The case
Developer Tools engineering is not generic engineering.
Developer tools live and die on the first 30 seconds of installation. If your CLI is slow, your SDK breaks on the developer's stack, or your docs are missing the one example they need, you lose them — and they tell three friends. We help dev-tools founders ship the kind of polish that turns first contact into adoption.
Dev tools are built by developers, for developers. A fractional CTO who builds dev tools for a living knows the conventions, the failure modes, and the small touches that signal 'these people get it.'
What we cover
Developer Tools-specific decisions we help you make
Tools we use in developer tools
Book a call
Talk through your developer tools problem.
Free 30-minute technical review. Tell us where you're stuck — we'll tell you what it takes.
FAQ
Developer Tools questions founders ask
How do you design a public API to last? +
Start with OpenAPI as the source of truth. Version aggressively in the URL (v1, v2). Deprecate slowly with clear warnings. Never break a working endpoint silently. Treat every breaking change as a customer trust event.
How do you balance telemetry and privacy? +
Opt-in, transparent, and useful to the user — not just to you. Surface a public dashboard of what you collect. The dev-tool community will reward transparency and crucify hidden tracking.
Should we publish on GitHub or our own site? +
Both, but the canonical home is your own site (docs, pricing, signup). GitHub is where developers go to read your source and file issues — make sure the README is a complete getting-started guide on its own.