Parsistent
Free browser toolkit for web scrapers & API devs
I kept a pile of scraping tools scattered across browser tabs, so I put them in one place and shipped it: parsistent.com. Free, no signup, runs in the browser.
The two tools I finished most recently:
- Proxy Checker — paste a list, get GOOD / RISKY / REPLACE per proxy plus a live anti-bot test
- cURL Converter — paste a cURL command, get code in 7 languages (Python, JS, Java, Go, C#, PHP, Ruby)
Everything that can run client-side runs in the browser, so requests with your tokens and cookies stay on your machine.
I'm switching from building to distribution now — figuring out how people actually find a tool like this. Happy to answer anything about the anti-bot detection or proxy checking under the hood.
6 Comments
The switch from building to distribution is where most solo builders get stuck. For developer tools like this the channels that tend to work are niche communities StackOverflow, specific subreddits, GitHub issues where people are already asking about proxy checking or cURL conversion. Are you going broad or picking one channel first?
Picking, not broad — solo, I can't run five channels without all five being mediocre. Right now it's basically two: search (writing up the exact problems people google when scraping breaks) and being in the threads where someone's already stuck on anti-bot or a cURL port.
That second one is your "where people already ask" point, and it's the only thing that's actually converted so far — a real anti-bot question beat every broadcast post I've made.
GitHub issues is the one I keep eyeing and hesitating on. The intent is perfect — someone's literally debugging a 403 — but dropping a link in a stranger's issue is a step from spam unless it answers their exact problem dead on. How do you see doing that one without it reading as drive-by promo? That's the part I haven't cracked.
The bar for GitHub issues is simple write the full answer first, solve their exact problem, then mention the tool exists at the end only if it’s directly relevant. If the answer stands without the link, post it. If it needs the link to make sense, it’s promo. Most people fail because they lead with the tool instead of the solution.
Are you on X or Telegram? Would love to connect this is exactly the kind of distribution problem I help founders work through.
The part that stood out to me was the shift from building to distribution.
Shipping feels like a series of clear technical problems. Getting the right people to discover a useful tool is a completely different challenge, even when the product already solves a real need.
Curious to see what ends up becoming your biggest source of steady users.
Yeah, that gap caught me off guard. Building had a clear definition of done — distribution doesn't. There's no test that goes green when you've "found your users."
So far the only thing that's actually worked is showing up wherere someone's fighting anti-bot and I've got the thing that spotsit — instead of announcing into a feed. The broadcast posts mostly echo.
My bet for steady users is search: write up the stuff people google at 2am when a scraper breaks ("why is this site returning 403", "is this proxy actually
anonymous") and let the articles do the finding. Slower, but it g away. Ask me in three months if it worked.
What's been your experience — did steady users come from a channe you stumbled into?
Interesting.
The reason I asked is that I'm not sure I'd draw the same product conclusions from that as most founders would.
Happy to explain what I mean over email if it's useful.
What's the best email to reach you on?