# Software for One Software for one is software built by and for a single person (or a household, or a tiny team), designed around their exact needs and workflow, with no intention of scaling, selling, or pleasing anyone else. Its value comes from fitting one context perfectly, not from reaching many users. The idea has a long lineage. In 2004, Clay Shirky described "situated software": software designed for a specific social group rather than for generic users. In 2020, [[Robin Sloan]] wrote "An app can be a home-cooked meal" about BoopSnoop, a messaging app he built for his family (four users, zero churn). In 2024, Maggie Appleton talked about home-cooked software and "barefoot developers". In 2026, [[Adam Waxman]]'s essay "Software for One" popularized the phrase itself, describing five apps he built only for himself with AI coding agents (sleep schedule, fitness, marathon training, jazz practice, medical records). ## Why it's viable now - For decades, building software was so expensive that only needs shared by many people justified it. Everyone else adapted to existing tools - AI coding agents like [[Claude Code]] collapsed the cost of building. Apps that would have taken months now take a weekend - Non-developers can now create working apps, plugins, and extensions. Before, you had to be a developer, pay one, or have a friend who was one - It's cheaper, not free: tokens, time, steering the AI, and a clear idea of what you want ## When it makes sense Build selectively. Software for one pays off when: - The friction blocks a goal that matters - You need the tool often (daily or weekly) - Nothing on the market fits the way you work, or it's unaffordable, or no one would ever build it for you Otherwise, buy an existing product, extend a tool you already use, or live with the friction. Often, the best software for one is a small extension to a [[Malleable Software]] platform like [[Obsidian]] (plugin, script, AI skill) rather than a new standalone app. ## Costs and risks - **Maintenance**: every tool you build is a recurring time investment. Dependencies, platforms, and APIs change, and things break - **Regressions**: without version control and tests, AI-driven changes can silently break features that used to work, sometimes forcing a rebuild from scratch - **Unknown unknowns** for non-developers: data security, data consistency, maintainability, code quality, architecture - **[[Cognitive debt]]**: depending on a system you no longer understand - **Procrastination**: agentic coding has slot-machine mechanics; building the tool can replace doing the work - **Over-engineering**: a single-user app rarely needs a hosted stack; [[Local-First Software]] is usually enough ## Principles - Data first, apps second: keep data in open formats you own (see [[File over app principle]]) - Extend before you build - Local-first by default - Version everything, budget for maintenance - Kill tools freely when they stop serving you ## References - https://www.ajwaxman.com/writing/software-for-one - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49096605 - https://www.robinsloan.com/notes/home-cooked-app/ - https://maggieappleton.com/home-cooked-software - https://gwern.net/doc/technology/2004-03-30-shirky-situatedsoftware.html ## Related - [[Malleable Software]] - [[Adam Waxman]] - [[Robin Sloan]] - [[Build Software for an Audience of One (Article)]] - [[Vibe Coding]] - [[Agentic Engineering]] - [[Local-First Software]] - [[File over app principle]] - [[Code is cheap, quality is not]] - [[Cognitive debt]] - [[Menugen Architecture Pattern]] - [[Knowii Voice AI]]