Developer tool · concept build · 2026
Thrum
Distributed tracing that a two-person team can actually run.
The brief
Developer tools get sold to skeptics. The site had to survive an engineer skimming it at 2am with three other tabs open — which means showing the product doing its job above the fold, not a stock photo of a team high-fiving.
- Rendering
- Static, server components
- Client JavaScript
- None on this page
- Type
- Geist Sans + Mono
Decisions worth defending
- 01
The hero is the product, not a promise
A live, annotated trace waterfall sits above the fold. Engineers evaluate tools by looking at the output, so the fastest path to trust is to show the output immediately instead of describing it in adjectives.
- 02
Install instructions before pricing
The conversion event for a dev tool is not a demo booking, it is a terminal command. The copy-paste install block appears twice before anything asks for money.
- 03
Dark by default, and honest about it
Not a style choice — this is a tool people use inside a dark IDE, and the site should feel continuous with the environment it lives in.
Next step
Tell me what you’re building. I’ll tell you what it needs.
A short intro call, no deck, no pitch. If I’m not the right fit I’ll say so and point you somewhere better.