Playbooks

Sell tools that run in the buyer's browser

Build small tools, such as a tab organizer or a PDF merger, that run entirely in the user's browser with no server or database. Users pay a small price, and each new user adds nothing to your monthly bill.

The hard part: getting noticed in a crowded Chrome Web Store where free tools already do many of the same jobs.

Setup 3 daysRuns $0Your time A weekly check-inNeeds ClaudeStripe

Who pays

Users pay a small one-time price after a free trial to unlock the tool. hsaffiliate2025 reports that one indie developer's tab organizer extension earns $200-300/mo at $3 one-time after a 3-day trial. That is a secondhand claim. Because the tool needs no server, the money from each sale stays with you instead of going to hosting bills.

How to build it

  1. Pick a job that needs no server

    Choose a task the browser can do alone, such as organizing tabs or merging, splitting, and compressing PDFs. Skip anything that needs user accounts, shared data, or paid AI calls.

  2. Keep everything on the device

    Plan for files and settings to stay in the browser's own storage. You can say on your store page that files never leave the user's computer.

  3. Build the extension with AI help

    Use Claude Code or Cursor to build the Chrome extension. Test it with real files and many open tabs before you publish.

  4. Add a trial and one-time unlock

    Use ExtensionPay, which runs on Stripe, to offer a short free trial and then a one-time payment to unlock the tool.

  5. Publish to the Chrome Web Store

    Pay the one-time developer fee, write a clear listing that names the job the tool does, and submit it for review.

Sources on X

  • hsaffiliate2025 · Sep 29, 2026

    hsaffiliate2025 reports that one indie developer says his tab organizer extension, built in a weekend with AI help, earns $200-300/mo at $3 one-time after a 3-day trial. That figure is the developer's own claim. It runs entirely in the browser with no server or database, so his 100th user costs him $0.

  • HowToPrompt__ · Jul 9, 2026

    HowToPrompt__ points to an open-source PDF toolkit with 90+ tools (edit, merge, split, OCR, encrypt, convert, sign, compress) running 100% in the browser. Files never leave the user's machine, and there are no server uploads.

Ideas are curated from public posts and untested by us. Read the full note.