Useful things for modern computing.

Private browser image compression and format conversion.

USE WHEN

A PNG, JPEG, WebP, or AVIF needs to get smaller before a post, PR, or PointCast block.

FIRST MOVE

Drop an image, compare codecs side-by-side, export the smallest version that still looks right.

NOTE

Great for one-offs. Use ImageMagick when a whole folder needs the same treatment.

The command-line workhorse for creating, editing, and converting bitmap images.

USE WHEN

You need repeatable image resizing, format conversion, cropping, compositing, or batch cleanup.

FIRST MOVE

magick input.png -resize "1600x1600>" output.webp

NOTE

Set a local security policy before processing untrusted files.

A complete cross-platform toolchain to record, convert, and stream audio/video.

USE WHEN

Media needs exact control: codecs, bitrates, subtitles, frame rates, extraction, streaming, repair.

FIRST MOVE

ffmpeg -i input.mov -vf "scale=1920:-2" -c:v libx264 -crf 23 -c:a aac output.mp4

NOTE

Download from the official site or trusted package managers. Fake installer pages are common.

A friendly desktop video transcoder for modern MP4, MKV, and WebM outputs.

USE WHEN

You want a visual queue, presets, subtitles, and reliable video conversion without building an FFmpeg command.

FIRST MOVE

Open source, choose a preset, set the destination, start encode.

NOTE

Use handbrake.fr. Similar-looking domains have appeared in search results.

The universal document converter for Markdown, HTML, DOCX, PDF workflows, and slides.

USE WHEN

Notes need to become docs, docs need to become slides, or Markdown needs to travel cleanly.

FIRST MOVE

pandoc notes.md -o notes.docx

Read, write, and remove metadata from images, audio, video, and document files.

USE WHEN

You need to inspect GPS/camera fields, clean uploads, or preserve metadata across a pipeline.

FIRST MOVE

exiftool -all= image.jpg

NOTE

Keep an untouched original when stripping metadata.

A browser workbench for encoding, decoding, hashing, compression, and data analysis.

USE WHEN

A string looks like base64, a timestamp looks wrong, a payload needs decoding, or a recipe needs to be shared.

FIRST MOVE

Paste input, add operations to the recipe, let Auto Bake show the result.

NOTE

For sensitive files, download/run a local copy rather than using a hosted tab.

A lightweight command-line processor for slicing, filtering, and reshaping JSON.

USE WHEN

An API response is too large to eyeball, or a JSON feed needs quick transformation.

FIRST MOVE

curl -s https://pointcast.xyz/blocks.json | jq ".items[0] | {title, url}"

An in-process analytical SQL database that can query local CSV and Parquet directly.

USE WHEN

A spreadsheet is too big, a CSV needs joins, or you want SQL without setting up a server.

FIRST MOVE

duckdb -c "select * from read_csv_auto('data.csv') limit 10"

The small, durable database file that quietly runs half the modern world.

USE WHEN

You need a local app database, a portable data artifact, or a no-server prototype.

FIRST MOVE

sqlite3 local.db ".schema"

A multi-tool for exploring, publishing, and turning SQLite data into JSON APIs.

USE WHEN

A dataset should be browsable, searchable, shareable, and API-shaped in minutes.

FIRST MOVE

datasette data.db

The missing package manager for macOS or Linux.

USE WHEN

You want one reliable way to install CLI tools and desktop apps on a new machine.

FIRST MOVE

brew install imagemagick ffmpeg jq pandoc duckdb

Continuous peer-to-peer file synchronization across your own devices.

USE WHEN

A folder should stay in sync without Dropbox, Google Drive, or a central vendor account.

FIRST MOVE

Pair devices, share a folder, let Syncthing keep both sides current.

Cloud storage sync, copy, mount, backup, and migration from the command line.

USE WHEN

Files need to move between S3, Drive, Dropbox, Backblaze, local disks, or remote servers.

FIRST MOVE

rclone config

Free and open-source screen recording and live streaming software.

USE WHEN

You need to record a walkthrough, capture a bug, make a tutorial, or run a small broadcast.

FIRST MOVE

Create a scene, add a display/window source, hit Start Recording.

A hand-drawn style whiteboard with an open JSON file format.

USE WHEN

A system, flow, wireframe, or weird idea needs to become legible fast.

FIRST MOVE

Sketch, export PNG/SVG, save the .excalidraw file next to the project.

Text-based diagrams that render in Markdown-friendly places, including GitHub.

USE WHEN

A diagram should live next to the code or docs and change in a pull request.

FIRST MOVE

Start with graph TD, sequenceDiagram, or timeline in a fenced mermaid block.

Free and open-source 3D creation for modeling, animation, rendering, and visual effects.

USE WHEN

A project needs custom 3D assets, product renders, motion tests, or visual experiments.

FIRST MOVE

Start with the official tutorials, then automate repeat work through Python.

A professional free and open-source painting program.

USE WHEN

You need digital painting, 2D art, comic layouts, textures, or hand-made visual assets.

FIRST MOVE

Create a canvas, pick a brush preset, keep source .kra files with exported PNGs.

MIT's practical course on shell fluency, editors, Git, debugging, packaging, and agentic coding.

USE WHEN

Someone can code but still feels slow around terminals, files, Git, and everyday developer tools.

FIRST MOVE

Take Course Overview, Shell, Git, Debugging, then Agentic Coding.

Structured web development tutorials from the MDN community.

USE WHEN

You want the web platform explained from first principles with exercises and references.

FIRST MOVE

Start with environment setup, then HTML, CSS, JavaScript.

Google/Chrome team courses on HTML, CSS, JavaScript, performance, accessibility, privacy, and images.

USE WHEN

The question is not just "does it work?" but "is it fast, accessible, responsive, and privacy-aware?"

FIRST MOVE

Pair Learn Images with Squoosh and ImageMagick, then Learn Performance.

Community-driven command examples that make man pages usable in the moment.

USE WHEN

You remember a command name but not the incantation.

FIRST MOVE

pipx install tldr

Hands-on GitHub learning paths for repositories, Markdown, pull requests, and collaboration.

USE WHEN

A collaborator needs to get comfortable contributing without a long onboarding doc.

FIRST MOVE

Start with introduction to GitHub, then pull requests and Markdown.

A community-maintained path to a free self-taught computer science education.

USE WHEN

You want a full curriculum instead of scattered tutorials.

FIRST MOVE

Read the prerequisites and follow the core sequence slowly.

Community-created roadmaps, guides, and skill paths for modern developer roles.

USE WHEN

You know the direction but need a map of the concepts and order.

FIRST MOVE

Pick one path, ignore the rest for a week, and build one tiny project from it.

PointCast's opinionated AI tools guide: what we reach for and why.

USE WHEN

You want the model/tool layer behind the site, not generic AI hype.

FIRST MOVE

Read the principles first, then the daily tier.

Technical disclosure for the runtime, content, Tezos, and agent layers.

USE WHEN

You need to know how PointCast is built or how to copy the agent-native pattern.

FIRST MOVE

Pair /stack with /stack.json.

The human-readable map of every endpoint and machine surface on PointCast.

USE WHEN

An agent, crawler, or builder needs the current list of ways to read this site.

FIRST MOVE

Start at /agents.json when code is doing the reading.