About DesertEBS

DesertEBS is a collection of free, browser-based developer tools for everyday work—formatting JSON, encoding data, comparing text, generating hashes, and more. Every tool runs entirely in your browser: your input does not leave your device, there is no account wall, and analytics (if enabled) stay anonymised at the page level.

The name comes from the site's home on the web— desertebs.com. What you see today grew out of a simple idea: keep the small utilities close at hand, the way you keep a sharp knife in a well-organised drawer.

Why I built DesertEBS

I'm Ranjan, a software developer. I put this site together originally for myself—a quiet place to run the same tasks that kept showing up in my day job: sanity-checking JSON, diffing configs before a deploy, turning a blob into Base64, or hashing a file without pasting it into someone else's opaque backend.

The honest version is smaller than a product roadmap and more useful than a manifesto: I was tired of hunting through ad-heavy pages and sign-up walls for tools that should feel as immediate as a keyboard shortcut. Once the pieces worked well enough that I trusted them with real data, opening them up felt like the natural next step—if they help me ship, they might help you too.

DesertEBS is maintained in my spare time with the same standards I apply at work: clear behaviour, honest copy about what each algorithm is for, and no theatre about “cloud AI” touching your strings.

Professional background & updates:

LinkedIn — Ranjan Chaurasia

What this project stands for

No ads, no noise

Most free online tools are surrounded by ads, cookie banners, and upsells. DesertEBS is designed to feel like opening a local app—just the utility, nothing else.

Privacy by default

Developers regularly paste sensitive data into tools—API keys, tokens, production configs, passwords. Everything here processes data locally in your browser. There is no server receiving your input.

Actually fast

Computation runs in-browser with no round trips to a remote API for the core work, so results stay immediate—no spinners waiting on someone else’s server.

Honest about security

Many online hash tools let you hash a password with SHA-256 without explaining why that is a poor choice for passwords. This site includes guidance on which algorithms fit which use case—because a tool that misleads you is worse than no tool.

What's available

JSON Formatter

Format, validate, and minify JSON

Markdown Preview

Live preview with HTML and PDF export

Base64 Encoder

Encode text and binary to Base64

Base64 Decoder

Decode Base64 strings back to text

URL Encoder

Percent-encode URLs and components

URL Decoder

Decode percent-encoded URLs

Diff Checker

Compare two texts line by line

Hash Generator

MD5, SHA-256, SHA-512, bcrypt

Slug Generator

SEO-friendly URL slugs from titles

Password Generator

Strong random passwords in the browser

World Clock

Compare timezones side by side

How it works

Every tool runs entirely client-side using browser APIs and JavaScript libraries:

SHA-256, SHA-512, and SHA-1 hashes use the browser's built-in window.crypto.subtle Web Crypto API
bcrypt runs via the bcryptjs library, loaded and executed in your browser tab
Base64 encoding and decoding use the native btoa() and atob() browser APIs
Text diffing uses a Longest Common Subsequence (LCS) algorithm implemented in TypeScript, running in-browser
JSON formatting and validation use the standard JSON.parse() and JSON.stringify() APIs

You can verify this for any tool by opening your browser's DevTools → Network tab and observing that no outbound requests are made while you use the tool.

Contact

Spotted a bug, have a tool idea, or want to say hello? Email is the best channel—I read messages when I can between builds.

[email protected]

For work history and longer-form context, use the LinkedIn profile linked above.