How many tools do you use as a developer? I’m guessing that the answer is “many.”

There are token generators, hash text, Universally Unique Identifier generators, encrypt/decrypt text, RSA key pair generators, Docker run to Docker compose converter, and much more. Your workflow is probably filled with all types of tools (other than your favorite IDE), and you wind up having to search high and low for them as you work.

What if you could bring all of those tools together under one “roof”? Wouldn’t that be handy?

That’s what IT-Tools does. This curated collection includes over 80 tools for developers to make use of. Instead of having to track down useful sites/tools to add to your workflow, you can simply open your self-hosted instance, locate the tool you want on the page, and use it.

You can even create your own tools.

Can you imagine a handier tool to have around?

I want to show you how to deploy IT-Tools, so you can make your developer workflow a bit more efficient.

Are you ready for this?

The only thing you’ll need for this is a server that uses a Docker-supporting operating system. I’ll demonstrate on Ubuntu Server 24.04. If you’re using a different OS, you’ll only need to modify the Docker installation instructions.

Before you can deploy IT-Tools, you have to first install Docker. Here’s how I install Docker on Ubuntu Server.

The first thing you must do is add the official Docker GPG key, which can be done with the commands:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install ca-certificates curl
sudo install -m 0755 -d /etc/apt/keyrings
sudo curl -fsSL https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu/gpg -o /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc
sudo chmod a+r /etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc

Next, add the official Docker repository with the command:

echo \
  “deb [arch=$(dpkg –print-architecture) signed-by=/etc/apt/keyrings/docker.asc]
https://download.docker.com/linux/ubuntu \
  $(. /etc/os-release && echo “${UBUNTU_CODENAME:-$VERSION_CODENAME}”) stable” | \
  sudo tee /etc/apt/sources.list.d/docker.list > /dev/null

Update apt with:

sudo apt-get update

Install the necessary software with the command:

sudo apt-get install docker-ce docker-ce-cli containerd.io docker-buildx-plugin docker-compose-plugin git -y

You don’t want to run Docker containers using either sudo or a root user account, as that would lead to possible security issues. Instead, add your user to the Docker group so containers can be deployed/managed without admin privileges. This is done with the command:

sudo usermod -aG docker $USER

Log out and log back in for the changes to take effect.

You can verify the installation by running the command:

docker ps -a

If you see a listing (which will be empty), congratulations, Docker is up and running.

With Docker ready, it’s time to deploy IT-Tools. Back at the terminal, issue the following Docker Run command:

docker run -d –name it-tools –restart unless-stopped -p 8080:80 corentinth/it-tools:latest

When I deployed IT-Tools, I discovered that port 8080 was already taken. Because I have so many containers running on that server, I had to go with external port 8099, so the command was:

docker run -d –name it-tools –restart unless-stopped -p 8099:80 corentinth/it-tools:latest

Give the container a minute or two to spin up. You can verify that it’s running with the same command I showed you above:

docker ps -a

If you have a lot of containers running, check IT-Tools with the command:

docker ps -a | grep “it-tools”

You should see a listing like this:

c1050374fddd   corentinth/it-tools:latest                   “/docker-entrypoint.…”   27 hours ago   Up 27 hours                 0.0.0.0:8099->80/tcp, [::]:8099->80/tcp

Huzzah, IT-Tools is running.

You can access IT-Tools via a web browser connected to your LAN at http://SERVER:PORT (where SERVER is the IP address of the hosting server and PORT is the external port you used in the Docker run command).

You should be greeted by the IT-Tools main page (Figure 1).

Figure 1: There are a lot of tools to be found in IT-Tools.

As you scroll through the long list of tools, you can click the heart icon associated with a particular app to add it to your favorites. I would highly recommend doing this, as it will further simplify your workflow. Your favorites will live at the top of the main page.

Click on any one of the listed tools to see what it offers and/or how to use it. For instance, the Docker run to Docker compose tool (Figure 2) allows you to type or paste a Docker run command, and it will automatically convert it to a compose file that you can then copy and paste for use.

Figure 2: This tool makes converting Docker run commands to Docker compose files very easy.

IT-Tools should be considered a must for developers who depend on several apps to get the job done. Outside of your favorite IDE, this might become your go-to for your development workflow.

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