I got tired of shallow online network tools, so I built ones that actually perform DNS queries, TLS handshakes, SPF recursion and HTTP timing checks

Most online developer tools are fine for simple things, but I kept getting frustrated whenever I needed to dig a little deeper.

A TLS checker that only shows the certificate.

A DNS checker that hides the actual response.

An email checker that says SPF is broken without showing where the 10 DNS lookups went.

So I started building my own.

kirkdiamond.com is now a growing collection of free developer and infrastructure tools for DNS, TLS, HTTP, email, networking and the usual developer utilities.

A few of the things I've focused on:

• TLS checks that make a real connection and inspect the chain, protocol versions, SNI, ALPN and expiry
• DNS lookups with real record data, TTLs and resolver selection
• SPF analysis that recursively expands includes and counts DNS lookups
• HTTP inspection with redirects, headers and DNS/TCP/TLS/TTFB timing
• A Domain Health check that combines DNS, TLS, HTTP and email security into one report
• Browser-side tools for things like JSON, JWT, hashing and encoding where sensitive input doesn't need to leave the browser

There is no account required. I wanted the site to be something where you can land on a tool, get the answer, and leave.

It's still very much a side project and I'm continuing to add to it.

The video shows a few of the tools running.

I'd especially love feedback from other developers on one thing: what diagnostic/debugging tool do you regularly Google for that still annoys you?

https://kirkdiamond.com