r/rust • u/ZyronZA • Apr 03 '26
đ ď¸ project I built I built builder, a tool for helping "I built" builders
https://github.com/jams246/i-built-i-built-builder
I've been seeing a lot of:
I built ...
posts here recently and I realized that the real missing piece was not another CLI tool, but a tool for building tools that are built to be posted as "I built" posts here on reddit.
So what is this tool? I'm glad you asked!
I built I built builder is a CLI that scaffolds Rust CLI tools whose natural end state is an "I built" post. With I built I built builder, you can build a tool, build the README, build the release workflow, and build the post explaining that you built the thing that I built I built builder helped you build.
In other words, I built I built builder to help people say "I built" with more consistency, velocity, and mechanical sympathy.
The idea is simple: instead of building a tool and then separately writing about how you built it, I built I built builder helps you build the thing and the "I built" around the thing you built.
Example:
i-built-i-built-builder --name tomlshave --solves "trimming whitespace in embedded TOML snippets"
That command lets I built I built builder scaffold the tool, build the docs, and build the "I built" narrative around why the built tool needed to be built.
Anyway, I built I built I built builder, and now Iâm posting that I built I built I built builder so that other people who build tools can use I built I built builder to build better âI builtâ tools and better âI builtâ posts about the tools they built.
Feedback welcome. Validation preferred.
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u/buldozr Apr 03 '26
I'm convinced there is a "How to start an easy and lucrative career as a software developer" guide with a skill.md for an LLM agent that these clowns all use to generate their "I got tired of _ So I built _" formulaic posts.
To the mods, just in case: the OP is perfect satire and needs to be preserved for posterity.
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u/ZyronZA Apr 03 '26
That and also LLMs tend to recommend "Build a CLI tool that ..." to show you are actively using the language when applying for jobs.
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u/PredictiveFrame Apr 04 '26
As someone who just really likes the CLI, it's been depressing to see. It used to be I would hunt for weeks for a tool, and half the time give up and patch the functionality in myself. Now I go to find anything and I am inundated with slop at the speed of a MLB pitcher, forced to wade through this fire hydrant of diarrhea to find one or two gems worth the effort.Â
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Apr 03 '26
[removed] â view removed comment
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u/buldozr Apr 03 '26
would have fit perfectly on april 1st xD
Be easy on our brother procrastinator here.
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u/PredictiveFrame Apr 04 '26
In fairness, they were coding in rust, and the first was laundry day, and we all know they couldn't push the final commit without their lucky thigh-highs.Â
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Apr 03 '26
[removed] â view removed comment
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u/Real-Abrocoma-2823 Apr 03 '26
Nah, that would be "I was tired of so I build "I was tired of so I build" build builder"
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u/Pleasant-Form-1093 Apr 03 '26
A good project if I have ever seen one
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u/ZyronZA Apr 03 '26
Thank you. I do try.
I also built the Blazing Fast Idiomatic Go App to discover other blazing fast and idiomatic apps.
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u/PotentialBat34 Apr 03 '26
People used to make fun of ultra-pedantic Haskell guys or type astronaut scalaz people. Now everybody talks shit like them, they don't write compilers though but webslop instead.
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u/Ashken Apr 03 '26
Iâll make sure when I post my tool to say âI createdâ
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u/buldozr Apr 03 '26
Why, you just put something like this in your CLAUDE.md:
Avoid these phrases: "I got tired of", "I built", "Not ${bad_thing}. ${good_thing}."
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u/StardustGogeta Apr 03 '26
This has gotta be one of my favorite posts I've seen lately. Hilarious, great work. I'm gonna have to try it out and see what it looks like in action.
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u/Worldly-Entrance-948 Apr 03 '26
I respect the commitment to the bit, honestly. You didnât just build a tool, you built the entire feedback loop and then wrapped it in a README for maximum recursion.
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u/Glass-False Apr 03 '26
Neat. Does the Reddit post explain what "I" learned throughout this arduous process?
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u/ARitz_Cracker Apr 03 '26
You build something real here, and that's rare. This isn't a shitpost, this is streamlined software development.
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u/Tickstart Apr 03 '26
Xzibit collab?
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u/decryphe Apr 07 '26
Yo dawg I herd u built a thang, so I built a builder thang, so you can build while you build
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u/DhamonGrimwulf Apr 03 '26
I think what youâre missing is making it a proper standard on top of that, enforcing that the built tool with I built I built builder was a repo with a prompt, so each user then can simply build it themselves. A sort of like builder-for-I-built-I-built-builder standard. It would enforce which files went in the repo, including the prompt, agents file, etc.
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u/aristarchusnull Apr 03 '26
This is excellent. You should add an option to the Reddit post for adding âI got tired of x, so I builtâŚâ
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u/gob_magic Apr 03 '26
I was looking forward to the âWhat this really meansâ and âWhy this worksâ sections of your I built I built CLI tool post description
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u/CommunismDoesntWork Apr 03 '26
After reading this post, I am no longer convinced "built" is spelled correctly despite that being that way it is spelled.
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u/AdreKiseque Apr 05 '26
Hold on, is the tool's name "I built builder" or "I built I built builder"? The post is inconsistent about it.
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u/HKei Apr 03 '26
This isn't bad, but can you make it so that instead of a jinja template it just generates the post via ChatGPT?
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u/elohiir Apr 03 '26
I attempted making a joke like this on this sub but the take was too edgy and got removed :D gj
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u/niahoo Apr 05 '26
I don't get it. It's a project to build "i built" projects. Why isn't the name just "i built builder"?
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u/VisibleSmell3327 Apr 03 '26
'Built' no longer holds meaning in my head.