init

Add dev-tools and dev-workflows submodules

docs: added task instructions

docs: updates to md

added pdfs, made instructions more bland

.gitmodules

@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+[submodule "tools"]
+	path = tools
+	url = git@github.com:EricBell/dev-tools.git
+[submodule "workflows"]
+	path = workflows
+	url = git@github.com:EricBell/dev-workflows.git

hardening-work/lock.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,10 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+set -euo pipefail
+
+cd ~
+sudo umount /secure-projects
+sudo cryptsetup close secure_projects
+echo 'VERIFY LOCKED — should report "inactive"'
+status_output="$(sudo cryptsetup status secure_projects)"
+echo "$status_output"
+echo "$status_output" | grep -q 'inactive'

hardening-work/unlock.sh

@@ -0,0 +1,9 @@
+#!/bin/bash
+set -euo pipefail
+
+sudo cryptsetup open /var/lib/secure-projects/projects.luks secure_projects
+sudo mount -o nodev,nosuid /dev/mapper/secure_projects /secure-projects
+echo "VERIFY MOUNTED — must return a line"
+mount_output="$(findmnt /secure-projects)"
+echo "$mount_output"
+[ -n "$mount_output" ]

sources/dont-need-mcp.md

@@ -0,0 +1,547 @@
+# dont-need-mcp
+
+
+
+# [**{ Mario Zechner }**](https://mariozechner.at/)
+## [developer • coach • speaker](https://mariozechner.at/)
+
+# **What if you don't need MCP at**
+# **all?**
+
+### *2025-11-02*
+
+### One chonky MCP server
+
+# **Table of contents**
+
+# My Browser DevTools Use Cases
+
+# Problems with Common Browser DevTools for Your Agent
+
+# Embracing Bash (and Code)
+
+# The Start Tool
+
+
+
+
+The Navigate Tool
+
+The Evaluate JavaScript Tool
+
+The Screenshot Tool
+
+The Benefits
+
+Adding the Pick Tool
+
+Adding the Cookies Tool
+
+A Contrived Example
+
+Making This Reusable Across Agents
+
+In Conclusion
+
+After months of agentic coding frenzy, Twitter is still ablaze with discussions
+about MCP servers. I previously did some very light benchmarking to see if
+Bash tools or MCP servers are better suited for a specific task. The TL;DR: both
+can be efficient if you take care.
+
+Unfortunately, many of the most popular MCP servers are inefficient for a spe‐
+cific task. They need to cover all bases, which means they provide large numbers
+of tools with lengthy descriptions, consuming significant context.
+
+It's also hard to extend an existing MCP server. You could check out the source
+and modify it, but then you'd have to understand the codebase, together with
+your agent.
+
+MCP servers also aren't composable. Results returned by an MCP server have to
+go through the agent's context to be persisted to disk or combined with other
+results.
+
+I'm a simple boy, so I like simple things. Agents can run Bash and write code
+well. Bash and code are composable. So what's simpler than having your agent
+just invoke CLI tools and write code? This is nothing new. We've all been doing
+this since the beginning. I'd just like to convince you that in many situations, you
+don't need or even want an MCP server.
+
+
+
+Let me illustrate this with a common MCP server use case: browser dev tools.
+
+## **My Browser DevTools Use Cases**
+
+My use cases are working on web frontends together with my agent, or abusing
+my agent to become a scrapey little hacker boy so I can scrape all the data in the
+world. For these two use cases, I only need a minimal set of tools:
+
+Start the browser, optionally with my default profile so I'm logged in
+
+Navigate to a URL, either in the active tab or a new tab
+
+Execute JavaScript in the active page context
+
+Take a screenshot of the viewport
+
+And if my use case requires additional special tooling, I want to quickly have my
+agent generate that for me and slot it in with the other tools.
+
+## **Problems with Common Browser DevTools**
+## **for Your Agent**
+
+[People will recommend Playwright MCP or Chrome DevTools MCP for the use](https://github.com/microsoft/playwright-mcp)
+cases I illustrated above. Both are fine, but they need to cover all the bases.
+Playwright MCP has 21 tools using 13.7k tokens (6.8% of Claude's context).
+Chrome DevTools MCP has 26 tools using 18.0k tokens (9.0%). That many tools
+will confuse your agent, especially when combined with other MCP servers and
+built-in tools.
+
+Using those tools also means you suffer from the composability issue: any output
+has to go through your agent's context. You can kind of fix this by using sub-
+agents, but then you rope in all the issues that sub-agents come with.
+
+## **Embracing Bash (and Code)**
+
+Here's my minimal set of tools, illustrated via the README.md:
+
+
+
+
+`# Browser Tools`
+
+`Minimal CDP tools for collaborative site exploration.`
+
+`## Start Chrome`
+
+`\`\`\`bash`
+`./start.js # Fresh profile`
+
+`./start.js --profile # Copy your profile (cookies, logins)`
+`\`\`\``
+
+`Start Chrome on `:9222` with remote debugging.`
+
+`## Navigate`
+
+`\`\`\`bash`
+
+`./nav.js https://example.com`
+`./nav.js https://example.com --new`
+
+`\`\`\``
+
+`Navigate current tab or open new tab.`
+
+`## Evaluate JavaScript`
+
+`\`\`\`bash`
+
+`./eval.js 'document.title'`
+`./eval.js 'document.querySelectorAll("a").length'`
+
+`\`\`\``
+
+`Execute JavaScript in active tab (async context).`
+
+`## Screenshot`
+
+`\`\`\`bash`
+`./screenshot.js`
+
+`\`\`\``
+
+`Screenshot current viewport, returns temp file path.`
+
+This is all I feed to my agent. It's a handful of tools that cover all the bases for
+### my use case. Each tool is a simple Node.js script that uses Puppeteer Core. By
+
+
+
+### reading that README, the agent knows the available tools, when to use them,
+### and how to use them via Bash.
+
+### When I start a session where the agent needs to interact with a browser, I just tell
+### it to read that file in full and that's all it needs to be effective. Let's walk through
+### their implementations to see how little code this actually is.
+
+# **The Start Tool**
+
+### The agent needs to be able to start a new browser session. For scraping tasks, I
+### often want to use my actual Chrome profile so I'm logged in everywhere. This
+### script either rsyncs my Chrome profile to a temporary folder (Chrome doesn't al‐
+### low debugging on the default profile), or starts fresh:
+
+`#!/usr/bin/env node`
+
+`import` `{ spawn, execSync }` `from` `"node:child_process"``;`
+`import` `puppeteer` `from` `"puppeteer-core"``;`
+
+`const` `useProfile = process.argv[``2``] ===` `"--profile"``;`
+
+| `if` `(process.argv[``2``] && process.argv[``2``]!==` `"--profile"``) {` `}` | `console``.``log``(``"Usage: start.ts [--profile]"``);` `console``.``log``(``"\nOptions:"``);` `console``.``log``(``" --profile Copy your default Chrome profil` `console``.``log``(``"\nExamples:"``);` `console``.``log``(``" start.ts # Start with fresh pro` `console``.``log``(``" start.ts --profile # Start with your Chro` |
+| --- | --- |
+| `// Kill existing Chrome` `try` `{` `}` `catch` `{}` | `execSync``(``"killall 'Google Chrome'"``, {` `stdio``:` `"ignore"` `});` |
+
+`// Wait a bit for processes to fully die`
+`await` `new` `Promise``(``(``r``) =>` `setTimeout``(r,` `1000``));`
+
+`// Setup profile directory`
+
+
+
+`execSync``(``"mkdir -p ~/.cache/scraping"``, {` `stdio``:` `"ignore"` `});`
+
+`if` `(useProfile) {` `}`
+`// Sync profile with rsync (much faster on subsequent run` `execSync``(` `);`
+`'rsync -a --delete "/Users/badlogic/Library/Appli` `{` `stdio``:` `"pipe"` `},`
+
+`// Start Chrome in background (detached so Node can exit)` `spawn``(` `).``unref``();`
+`"/Applications/Google Chrome.app/Contents/MacOS/Google Ch` `[``"--remote-debugging-port=9222"``,` ``--user-data-dir=``${proce` `{` `detached``:` `true``,` `stdio``:` `"ignore"` `},`
+
+`// Wait for Chrome to be ready by attempting to connect` `let` `connected =` `false``;` `for` `(``let` `i =` `0``; i <` `30``; i++) {`
+`try` `{` `}` `catch` `{`
+`const` `browser =` `await` `puppeteer.``connect``({` `await` `browser.``disconnect``();` `connected =` `true``;` `break``;` `await` `new` `Promise``(``(``r``) =>` `setTimeout``(r,` `500``));`
+`browserURL``:` `"http://localhost:9222"``,` `defaultViewport``:` `null``,`
+
+| `}` | `}` |
+| --- | --- |
+| `if` `(!connected) {` `}` | `console``.``error``(``"✗ Failed to connect to Chrome"``);` |
+
+`console``.``log``(```✓ Chrome started on:9222``${useProfile?` `" with your`
+
+### All the agent needs to know is to use Bash to run the start.js script, either with `-`
+
+### `-profile` or without.
+
+
+
+
+# **The Navigate Tool**
+
+### Once the browser is running, the agent needs to navigate to URLs, either in a
+### new tab or the active tab. That's exactly what the navigate tool provides:
+
+`#!/usr/bin/env node`
+
+`import` `puppeteer` `from` `"puppeteer-core"``;`
+
+`const` `url = process.argv[``2``];`
+
+`const` `newTab = process.argv[``3``] ===` `"--new"``;`
+
+| `if` `(!url) {` `}` | `console``.``log``(``"Usage: nav.js <url> [--new]"``);` `console``.``log``(``"\nExamples:"``);` `console``.``log``(``" nav.js https://example.com # Navigate c` `console``.``log``(``" nav.js https://example.com --new # Open in ne` |
+| --- | --- |
+| `const` `b =` `await` `puppeteer.``connect``({` | `browserURL``:` `"http://localhost:9222"``,` `defaultViewport``:` `null``,` |
+| `if` `(newTab) {` `}` `else` `{` `}` | `const` `p =` `await` `b.``newPage``();` `await` `p.``goto``(url, {` `waitUntil``:` `"domcontentloaded"` `});` `console``.``log``(``"✓ Opened:"``, url);` `const` `p = (``await` `b.``pages``()).``at``(-``1``);` `await` `p.``goto``(url, {` `waitUntil``:` `"domcontentloaded"` `});` `console``.``log``(``"✓ Navigated to:"``, url);` |
+
+`await` `b.``disconnect``();`
+
+# **The Evaluate JavaScript Tool**
+
+
+
+
+### The agent needs to execute JavaScript to read and modify the DOM of the active
+### tab. The JavaScript it writes runs in the page context, so it doesn't have to fuck
+### around with Puppeteer itself. All it needs to know is how to write code using the
+### DOM API, and it sure knows how to do that:
+
+`#!/usr/bin/env node`
+
+`import` `puppeteer` `from` `"puppeteer-core"``;`
+
+| `const` `code = process.argv.``slice``(``2``).``join``(``" "``);` `if` `(!code) {` `}` | `console``.``log``(``"Usage: eval.js 'code'"``);` `console``.``log``(``"\nExamples:"``);` `console``.``log``(``' eval.js "document.title"'``);` `console``.``log``(``' eval.js "document.querySelectorAll(\'a\').` |
+| --- | --- |
+| `const` `b =` `await` `puppeteer.``connect``({` | `browserURL``:` `"http://localhost:9222"``,` `defaultViewport``:` `null``,` |
+
+`const` `p = (``await` `b.``pages``()).``at``(-``1``);`
+
+| `if` `(!p) {` `}` | `console``.``error``(``"✗ No active tab found"``);` |
+| --- | --- |
+| `const` `result =` `await` `p.``evaluate``(``(``c``) =>` `{` `}, code);` | `const` `AsyncFunction` `= (``async` `() => {}).constructor;` `return` `new` `AsyncFunction``(```return (``${c}``)```)();` |
+
+`if` `(``Array``.``isArray``(result)) {` `}` `else` `if` `(``typeof` `result ===` `"object"` `&& result!==` `null``) {`
+`for` `(``let` `i =` `0``; i < result.length; i++) {` `}`
+`if` `(i >` `0``)` `console``.``log``(``""``);` `for` `(``const` `[key, value]` `of` `Object``.``entries``(result[` `}`
+`console``.``log``(`````${key}``:` `${value}`````);`
+
+
+
+`}` `else` `{` `}`
+`for` `(``const` `[key, value]` `of` `Object``.``entries``(result)) {` `}` `console``.``log``(result);`
+`console``.``log``(`````${key}``:` `${value}`````);`
+
+`await` `b.``disconnect``();`
+
+# **The Screenshot Tool**
+
+### Sometimes the agent needs to have a visual impression of a page, so naturally we
+### want a screenshot tool:
+
+`#!/usr/bin/env node`
+
+`import` `{ tmpdir }` `from` `"node:os"``;`
+
+`import` `{ join }` `from` `"node:path"``;`
+
+`import` `puppeteer` `from` `"puppeteer-core"``;`
+
+`const` `b =` `await` `puppeteer.``connect``({`
+`browserURL``:` `"http://localhost:9222"``,` `defaultViewport``:` `null``,`
+
+`const` `p = (``await` `b.``pages``()).``at``(-``1``);`
+
+`if` `(!p) {` `}`
+`console``.``error``(``"✗ No active tab found"``);`
+
+`const` `timestamp =` `new` `Date``().``toISOString``().``replace``(``/[:.]/g``,` `"-"``);`
+
+`const` `filename =` ``screenshot-``${timestamp}``.png```;`
+`const` `filepath =` `join``(``tmpdir``(), filename);`
+
+`await` `p.``screenshot``({` `path``: filepath });`
+
+`console``.``log``(filepath);`
+
+
+
+
+`await` `b.``disconnect``();`
+
+This will take a screenshot of the current viewport of the active tab, write it to a
+.png file in a temporary directory, and output the file path to the agent, which can
+then turn around and read it in and use its vision capabilities to "see" the image.
+
+## **The Benefits**
+
+So how does this compare to the MCP servers I mentioned above? Well, to start,
+I can pull in the README whenever I need it and don't pay for it in every ses‐
+sion. This is very similar to Anthropic's recently introduced skills capabilities.
+Except it's even more ad hoc and works with any coding agent. All I need to do
+is instruct my agent to read the README file.
+
+Side note: many folks including myself have used this kind of setup before
+Anthropic released their skills system. You can see something similar in my
+"Prompts are Code" blog post or my little sitegeist.ai. Armin has also touched on
+the power of Bash and code compared to MCPs previously. Anthropic's skills
+add progressive disclosure (love it) and they make them available to a non-tech‐
+nical audience across almost all their products (also love it).
+
+Speaking of the README, instead of pulling in 13,000 to 18,000 tokens like the
+MCP servers mentioned above, this README has a whopping 225 tokens. This
+efficiency comes from the fact that models know how to write code and use
+Bash. I'm conserving context space by relying heavily on their existing
+knowledge.
+
+These simple tools are also composable. Instead of reading the outputs of an in‐
+vocation into the context, the agent can decide to save them to a file for later pro‐
+cessing, either by itself or by code. The agent can also easily chain multiple in‐
+vocations in a single Bash command.
+
+
+
+If I find that the output of a tool is not token efficient, I can just change the out‐
+put format. Something that's hard or impossible to do depending on what MCP
+server you use.
+
+And it's ridiculously easy to add a new tool or modify an existing tool for my
+needs. Let me illustrate.
+
+## **Adding the Pick Tool**
+
+When the agent and I try to come up with a scraping method for a specific site,
+it's often more efficient if I'm able to point out DOM elements to it directly by
+just clicking on them. To make this super easy, I can just build a picker. Here's
+what I add to the README:
+
+`## Pick Elements`
+
+`\`\`\`bash`
+
+`./pick.js "Click the submit button"`
+`\`\`\``
+
+`Interactive element picker. Click to select, Cmd/Ctrl+Click for mult`
+
+And here's the code:
+
+`#!/usr/bin/env node`
+
+`import` `puppeteer` `from` `"puppeteer-core"``;`
+
+`const` `message = process.argv.``slice``(``2``).``join``(``" "``);` `if` `(!message) {` `}`
+`console``.``log``(``"Usage: pick.js 'message'"``);` `console``.``log``(``"\nExample:"``);` `console``.``log``(``' pick.js "Click the submit button"'``);`
+
+`const` `b =` `await` `puppeteer.``connect``({`
+
+
+
+`browserURL``:` `"http://localhost:9222"``,`
+`defaultViewport``:` `null``,`
+
+`const` `p = (``await` `b.``pages``()).``at``(-``1``);`
+
+`if` `(!p) {` `}`
+`console``.``error``(``"✗ No active tab found"``);`
+
+`// Inject pick() helper into current page` `await` `p.``evaluate``(``() =>` `{`
+`if` `(!``window``.pick) {`
+`window``.pick =` `async` `(message) => {`
+`if` `(!message) {` `}` `return` `new` `Promise``(``(``resolve``) =>` `{`
+`throw` `new` `Error``(``"pick() requires` `const` `selections = [];` `const` `selectedElements =` `new` `Set``(`
+
+| `const` `overlay =` `document``.``createEl` `overlay.style.cssText =` | `"position:fixed;top:0;lef` |
+| --- | --- |
+| `const` `highlight =` `document``.``create` `highlight.style.cssText =` `overlay.``appendChild``(highlight);` | `"position:absolute;border` |
+| `const` `banner =` `document``.``createEle` `banner.style.cssText =` | `"position:fixed;bottom:20` |
+| `const` `updateBanner` `= () => {` `};` `updateBanner``();` | `banner.textContent =` ````${m` |
+
+`document``.body.``append``(banner, over`
+
+`const` `cleanup` `= () => {`
+`document``.``removeEventListe` `document``.``removeEventListe`
+
+
+
+`};`
+`document``.``removeEventListe` `overlay.``remove``();` `banner.``remove``();` `selectedElements.``forEach``(`
+`el.style.outline`
+
+`const` `onMove` `= (e) => {` `};`
+`const` `el =` `document``.``eleme` `if` `(!el || overlay.``contai` `const` `r = el.``getBoundingC` `highlight.style.cssText =`
+
+`const` `buildElementInfo` `= (el) =>`
+`const` `parents = [];` `let` `current = el.parentEl` `while` `(current && current` `}`
+`const` `parentInfo` `const` `id = curren` `const` `cls = curre` `parents.``push``(pare` `current = current`
+`?` ``.``${cur` `:` `""``;`
+
+`};`
+`return` `{` `};`
+`tag``: el.tagName.``t` `id``: el.id ||` `null` `class``: el.classNa` `text``: el.textCont` `html``: el.outerHTM` `parents``: parents.`
+
+`const` `onClick` `= (e) => {`
+`if` `(banner.``contains``(e.tar` `e.``preventDefault``();` `e.``stopPropagation``();` `const` `el =` `document``.``eleme` `if` `(!el || overlay.``contai`
+
+
+
+`};`
+`if` `(e.metaKey || e.ctrlKe` `}` `else` `{` `}`
+`if` `(!selectedElem` `}` `cleanup``();` `const` `info =` `buil` `resolve``(selection`
+`selectedE` `el.style.` `selection` `updateBan`
+
+`const` `onKey` `= (e) => {` `};`
+`if` `(e.key ===` `"Escape"``) {` `}` `else` `if` `(e.key ===` `"Ent` `}`
+`e.``preventDefault``(` `cleanup``();` `resolve``(``null``);` `e.``preventDefault``(` `cleanup``();` `resolve``(selection`
+
+`}`
+`};`
+`document``.``addEventListener``(``"mousem` `document``.``addEventListener``(``"click"` `document``.``addEventListener``(``"keydow`
+
+`const` `result =` `await` `p.``evaluate``(``(``msg``) =>` `window``.``pick``(msg), messag`
+
+`if` `(``Array``.``isArray``(result)) {` `}` `else` `if` `(``typeof` `result ===` `"object"` `&& result!==` `null``) {`
+`for` `(``let` `i =` `0``; i < result.length; i++) {` `}` `for` `(``const` `[key, value]` `of` `Object``.``entries``(result)) {`
+`if` `(i >` `0``)` `console``.``log``(``""``);` `for` `(``const` `[key, value]` `of` `Object``.``entries``(result[` `}`
+`console``.``log``(`````${key}``:` `${value}`````);`
+
+
+
+`}` `else` `{` `}`
+`}` `console``.``log``(result);`
+`console``.``log``(`````${key}``:` `${value}`````);`
+
+`await` `b.``disconnect``();`
+
+Whenever I think it's faster for me to just click on a bunch of DOM elements in‐
+stead of having the agent figure out the DOM structure, I can just tell it to use the
+pick tool. It's super efficient and allows me to build scrapers in no time. It's also
+fantastic to adjust the scraper if the DOM layout of a site changed.
+
+If you're having trouble following what this tool does, worry not, I will have a
+video at the end of the blog post where you can see it in action. Before we look
+at that, let me show you an additional tool.
+
+## **Adding the Cookies Tool**
+
+During one of my recent scraping adventures, I had a need for HTTP-only cook‐
+ies of that site, so the deterministic scraper could pretend it's me. The Evaluate
+JavaScript tool cannot handle this as it executes in the page context. But it took
+not even a minute for me to instruct Claude to create that tool, add it to the
+readme, and away we went.
+
+
+
+
+This is so much easier than adjusting, testing, and debugging an existing MCP
+server.
+
+## **A Contrived Example**
+
+Let me illustrate usage of this set of tools with a contrived example. I set out to
+build a simple Hacker News scraper where I basically pick the DOM elements
+for the agent, based on which it can then write a minimal Node.js scraper. Here's
+how that looks in action. I sped up a few sections where Claude was its usual
+slow self.
+
+
+
+
+0:00 / 1:21
+
+Real world scraping tasks would look a bit more involved. Also, there's no point
+in doing it like this for such a simple site like Hacker News. But you get the idea.
+
+Final token tally:
+
+## **Making This Reusable Across Agents**
+
+Here's how I've set things up so I can use this with Claude Code and other
+agents. I have a folder `agent-tools` in my home directory. I then clone the
+
+
+
+repositories of individual tools, like the browser tools repository above, into that
+folder. Then I set up an alias:
+
+`alias` `cl=``"PATH=``$PATH``:/Users/badlogic/agent-tools/browser-tools:<othe`
+
+This way all of the scripts are available to sessions of Claude, but don't pollute
+my normal environment. I also prefix each script with the full tool name, e.g.
+
+`browser-tools-start.js`, to eliminate name collisions. I also add a single sen‐
+tence to the README telling the agent that all the scripts are globally available.
+This way, the agent doesn't have to change its working directory just to call a
+tool script, saving a few tokens here and there, and reducing the chances of the
+agent getting confused by the constant working directory changes.
+
+Finally, I add the agent tools directory as a working directory to Claude Code via
+
+`/add-dir`, so I can use `@README.md` to reference a specific tool's README file
+and get it into the agent's context. I prefer this to Anthropic's skill auto-discovery,
+which I found to not work reliably in practice. It also means I save a few more
+tokens: Claude Code injects all the frontmatter of all skills it can find into the
+system prompt (or first user message, I forgot, see
+[https://cchistory.mariozechner.at)](https://cchistory.mariozechner.at/)
+
+## **In Conclusion**
+
+Building these tools is ridiculously easy, gives you all the freedom you need, and
+makes you, your agent, and your token usage efficient. You can find the browser
+tools on GitHub.
+
+This general principle can apply to any kind of harness that has some kind of
+code execution environment. Think outside the MCP box and you'll find that this
+is much more powerful than the more rigid structure you have to follow with
+MCP.
+
+
+
+
+With great power comes great responsibility though. You will have to come up
+with a structure for how you build and maintain those tools yourself. Anthropic's
+skill system can be one way to do it, though that's less transferable to other
+agents. Or you follow my setup above.
+
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