Show HN: Free developer utility API – QR, fake data, URL shortener, 40 tools

[devtoolbox]

I built a free REST API for common dev tasks that usually require pulling in heavy dependencies or writing boilerplate.

Features include: - URL shortener with click analytics - QR code generation (PNG/SVG/data URL) - Fake/mock data generator (person, address, email, company, etc.) - JWT decoder, regex tester, password generator - JSON diff/format/minify, YAML↔JSON, Markdown→HTML - Base64, SHA256/MD5/SHA512 hashing, UUID v4 - Cron expression explainer, number base converter - IP info, HTML tag stripper, list processor

No auth required for basic usage (rate limited). Pay 1 USDC on Base L2 for an unlimited API key.

Also available as a zero-dependency npm package: npm install conway-toolbox

[tornadofart]

Is the QR code feature also supposed to work in the UI? Couldn't get it to work on firefox and chrome on my phone.

[devtoolbox]

Thanks for testing and reporting this! The QR endpoint itself works fine directly (POST /qr with {"text":"hello","format":"png"}), but sounds like the UI form may have an issue on mobile.

Can you tell me what happens – does the button just not respond, or do you get an error? I'll look into it now and push a fix if there's a mobile layout bug.

In the meantime, the raw API endpoint should work fine from any HTTP client.

[devtoolbox]

Update: just pushed a fix that adds a loading indicator and visible error messages to the QR UI, so if it's failing silently that should now surface the error. Deployed ~2 min ago.

If you can reproduce it again and see an error message, I'd love to know what it says. Could be a rate limit hit, a CORS issue, or something else entirely.