12 Open Source Gems To Become The Ultimate Developer 🔥

TL;DR

It's been a while since I've done a collection, but today let's look at 12 new and not-so-new projects that can really help you in development.

They touch on different areas of development, but we will mainly talk about web development.

If there's a project worth adding to the next collection, feel free to write about it in the comments, and maybe it will be included.

1. 🐜 HMPL - Lightweight server-oriented template language for JavaScript.

Let's start with a classic project that will help you build a HATEOAS app architecture in just a couple of lines of markup. It's not demanding, but it's very functional.

Fetch HTML, render it safely, and keep apps dynamic, modern, and small.

💎 Check out the HMPL repository ☆

2. 🌐 Motia - The Unified Backend Framework That Eliminates Runtime Fragmentation

This module allows you to create APIs for your applications in a modern interface.

Multi-Language Backend Framework that unifies APIs, background jobs, queues, workflows, streams, and AI agents with a single core primitive with built-in observability and state management.

💎 Check out the Motia repository ☆

3. 👾 8bitcn-ui - A set of retro-designed, accessible components and a code distribution platform.

An interesting set of components for creating beautiful 8-bit websites from the Super Mario era.

Accessible retro components that you can copy and paste into your apps. Free. Open Source.

💎 Check out the 8bitcn-ui repository ☆

4. 🔎 ripgrep - recursively searches directories for a regex pattern while respecting your .gitignore

It allows users to find matches in folder text very quickly using the most mathematically advanced algorithms for the task.

rg -w 'Sherlock [0-9]'

ripgrep is a line-oriented search tool that recursively searches the current directory for a regex pattern. By default, ripgrep will respect gitignore rules and automatically skip hidden files/directories and binary files

💎 Check out the ripgrep repository ☆

5. ⚙️ Chatbot UI - AI chat for any model

What would our list be complete without an AI tool? The next project is a chat app that will allow you to quickly switch between different agents.

The open-source AI chat app for everyone.

💎 Check out the Chatbot UI repository ☆

6. 🐇 Bun - Fast JavaScript package manager

Bun was recently acquired by Anthropic, which provides insight into the future development of this module within the modern AI space.

Bun is an all-in-one JavaScript runtime & toolkit designed for speed, complete with a bundler, test runner, and Node.js-compatible package manager. Bun aims for 100% Node.js compatibility.

💎 Check out the Bun repository ☆

7. 💼 Resume Matcher - Improve your resumes with Resume Matcher

If you're an HR professional, this tool will help you find interesting resumes on the job market faster and fill vacancies.

Resume Matcher is the AI-powered platform that reverse-engineers hiring algorithms to show you exactly how to tailor your resume. Get the keywords, formatting, and insights that actually get you past the first screen and into human hands.

💎 Check out the Resume Matcher repository ☆

8. ▲ Turborepo - Build system optimized for JavaScript and TypeScript, written in Rust

Created by the same folks behind Vercel and Next.js, Turborepo is a high-speed build system that’s especially useful for monorepos.

Turborepo is a high-performance build system for JavaScript and TypeScript codebases, written in Rust.

💎 Check out the Turborepo repository ☆

9. 🧠 Agent TARS - The Open-sourced Multimodal AI Agent Stack connecting Cutting-edge AI Models and Agent Infra.

A handy tool from ByteDance that will allow you to create cool user interfaces for AI agents.

agent-tars --provider openai --model gpt-4o --apiKey {apiKey}

Agent TARS is a general multimodal AI Agent stack, it brings the power of GUI Agent and Vision into your terminal, computer, browser and product.

💎 Check out the Agent TARS repository ☆

10. 🕷 Supertest - Super-agent driven library for testing node.js HTTP servers using a fluent API

Yes, a bit old, of course, but no less relevant module for testing http. Usually, other, more recent solutions are used, but this module is also valid even in 2025. Example of use:

const request = require('supertest');
request(app)
  .get('/user')
  .expect('Content-Type', /json/);

The motivation with this module is to provide a high-level abstraction for testing HTTP, while still allowing you to drop down to the lower-level API provided by superagent.

💎 Check out the Supertest repository ☆

11. 👀 Mockoon - Easiest and quickest way to run mock APIs locally

A fairly new project for local API mocking during development. Notable for its interface, as well as integration capabilities.

Mockoon is the easiest and quickest way to design and run mock APIs. No remote deployment, no account required, free and open-source.

💎 Check out the Mockoon repository ☆

12. 🐳 Dockprom - Docker hosts and containers monitoring

If you're a DevOps developer, this tool is essential because it allows you to monitor all your Docker containers with just one command.

A monitoring solution for Docker hosts and containers.

💎 Check out the Dockerprom repository ☆

✅ Conclusion

Knowing all these tools will enable you to apply the most effective solutions to development problems, allowing you to get the most out of the situation. This allows you to become the ultimate specialist needed by any company.

Thank you for reading the article!