Building the Builders: Why Creating Your Own Tools Unlocks Better Software

When you’re deep in the weeds of development, the tools you use can make or break your progress. For us at Tetrix, we quickly realised that the existing tools out there didn’t quite fit our vision—or the way we work. So, instead of forcing square pegs into round holes, we started building our own tools. It’s been one of the best decisions we’ve made.

Let me explain why.

The Problem With Off-the-Shelf Tools

If you’ve ever tried to use a third-party solution for something it wasn’t quite built for, you know the frustration:

• Endless workarounds.
• Features you don’t need.
• Missing the exact functionality you do need.

We faced this early on at Tetrix. The Tetrix ecosystem—T-Do, T-Cal, Inspire, and Venture—relies on interoperability. Everything needs to work together, smoothly and intuitively. But off-the-shelf tools didn’t understand our vision.

For example:

• Our server hosting needed to prioritise security and reliability while staying lightweight and efficient. We built our server architecture on Swift Vapor because it gave us control over performance and encryption.
• Our AI-powered features—like Jot in T-Do, which transforms natural language into tasks—required tools that could seamlessly integrate with our broader ecosystem.

The more we tried to rely on existing tools, the clearer it became: we were being held back. So we decided to own the process.

Why Build Your Own Tools?

1. They’re Made For You

When we build tools, we design them to solve our exact problems. No compromises, no bloated features—just the right solutions for the job.

2. They Grow With You

The tools we’re creating now for app development won’t just help us today—they’ll help us as we expand into bigger projects like T-Mail. We’re laying the groundwork for the future.

3. We Stay Agile

Need a change? Done. Because we own the tools, we can tweak, iterate, and optimise as quickly as we need to.

A Real Example: Tetrix’s Server Infrastructure

Right now, we’re hosting on a server written in Swift Vapor. Why? Because we needed something that was both powerful and privacy-first. Encryption is baked in at every level—no one, not even us, can access user data. That level of security isn’t something we were willing to compromise on.

Self-hosting might seem like a big undertaking (and it is), but it allows us to build exactly what we need while keeping costs low and performance high. As a small team, we can’t afford inefficiencies—our tools have to work for us, not against us.

It’s About Control

At Tetrix, we’re ambitious. We have big plans—like launching our four apps by June 2025. To meet that goal, we need tools that work exactly how we need them to. Owning our tools means we own our process. It gives us control over the quality, performance, and flexibility of what we’re building.