Tools
A curated collection of the software, hardware, and physical tools I use to build products, write code, and stay productive.
Experiments
Hydriq, an Android app
In April 2026 I ran an experiment. Could I build and ship a real Android app with no money spent on tools, no mobile development experience, and only free AI and my own thinking?
The idea came one night: a hydration pet. You log what you drink, and a small Water Spirit grows when you take care of yourself. The responsible thing was to add it to my ideas list and forget it. I did not do the responsible thing.
The toolkit was free: the free tiers of Cursor, Antigravity and Claude, plus my weekends. The app got built in the evenings, sometimes two or three features between dinner and bed. The speed is real. So is the confusion that comes with it.
Shipping was the slow part. Google Play asks a new developer for 12 testers who use the app for 14 days straight before it allows a public release. Then a data safety form, a content rating, a review that can take a week, and a staged rollout. No magic, just paperwork and patience. And one crack in the zero-dollar story: the 25 dollar developer fee.
What I learned: the keyboard is optional, the thinking is not. AI removed the skill barrier, but not the thinking barrier. Anyone can generate code now. Not everyone can hold the whole idea in their head, break it into pieces, and tell “it works” from “it is right”. The AI was maybe a third of it. The rest was an idea I cared about, the grit to keep going, and the patience to ship.
Hydriq is live. Everything stays on your phone, no ads, no tracking, and every core feature is free.