[GeneralMaximus]

I love this idea! I've also been using LLMs to build tiny utilities and automations for myself, but instead of using HTML, I'm building them as:

- Shell scripts, AppleScripts, etc. that I trigger from Alfred

- Obsidian plugins

- The occasional Emacs Lisp function

They serve a similar purpose for me as OP's HTML Tools, in the sense that they let me automate a small part of my workflow that I wouldn't otherwise have automated. If I have to choose between writing AppleScript and just doing something manually, I'll pick doing something manually 100% of the time. But if I can just ask an LLM to write the automation for me and then test it in a bunch of different scenarios, the choice becomes much easier.

After reading this post, I really want to try moving some of my automations to the web. Using HTML/JS/CSS for some of these tools will let me solve a whole different set of problems. E.g. I could more easily build automations for the non-techy folks in my family instead of just keeping them to myself.

[regus]

I used to dislike AppleScript but now I enjoy using it. The turning point for me was when I finally bit the bullet and read a book on the subject.

AppleScript’s human readable language lulls you in this false sense of security that you can wing it and everything will just work out. This is simply not the case, it is a very quirky language and it helps to read a book to get the right mental model.

The second thing that helped was getting AppleScript debugger from Late Night Software. They recently decided to no longer develop it and release it for free on their site. It’s worth getting if you haven’t done so already.

[simonw]

I've written a bunch of shell scripts like this too, but I've been focusing increasingly on web tech mainly because that way the same tools work on both my laptop and my phone.