Local-first tools for developer workflow friction.
Friction Lab builds small, practical tools for the moments that slow developers down: messy caches, painful folder navigation, confusing environments, long error logs, and scattered Mac workspaces.
Our tools are designed to be:
- local-first — your workflow stays on your machine
- explainable — tools should tell you what they are doing and why
- safe by default — especially when touching files, caches, or developer artifacts
- small but useful — focused tools for real daily friction
- free for CLI users — developer utilities should reduce friction, not add another paywall
Safe cleanup for generated developer artifacts.
Cleanroom scans developer cache and build artifact locations, explains what it finds, and helps recover disk space without touching user work.
Current focus:
- Xcode DerivedData
- Xcode DeviceSupport
- Xcode Archives
- simulator caches
- profile-based artifact explanations
- Trash-backed cleanup
- privacy-safe aggregate stats
Planned command: cr
Interactive project and folder navigation.
Wayfinder helps move through files and folders from the terminal without manual cd pain. It supports local navigation, global indexed search, shell-integrated actions, open, copy path, and reveal in Finder.
Planned command: way
Command failure capture and report generation.
Faultline is planned as a tool for running failing commands, capturing long terminal output, extracting useful context, and producing formatted reports for debugging or asking AI.
Planned command: fault or report
Environment and dependency diagnosis.
Env Doctor is planned as a local diagnosis tool for Python environments, virtual environments, dependency mismatches, missing packages, wrong interpreters, and .env issues.
Planned command: envd
A task-workspace companion for macOS.
Space Buddy explores a better way to manage task contexts on Mac: named workspaces, app/window anchors, focus memory, workspace presets, minimized-window restore, and low-power state monitoring.
An experimental research direction around learning from mistakes, confusion, and failure patterns.
The broader idea is simple:
friction → structure → memory → better future behavior
Friction Lab is not trying to build giant platforms first.
It starts with small tools that solve real developer pain:
- “Where is that project folder?”
- “Why is Xcode using so much storage?”
- “Which Python interpreter is this project using?”
- “How do I summarize this huge error log?”
- “How do I get back to the Mac workspace for this task?”
Each tool should make one painful workflow feel calmer, clearer, and safer.
Friction Lab is separate from Roadscript / Cyphra.
- Roadscript / Cyphra focuses on image authenticity, invisible watermarking, verification, and content provenance.
- Friction Lab focuses on local-first developer tools, Mac utilities, cleanup, diagnostics, navigation, workspace control, and workflow experiments.
General contact: contact@frictionlab.dev
Support: support@frictionlab.dev
Website: https://frictionlab.dev