https://byrondgdev.com/tags/build-vs-buy/Recent content in Build-vs-Buy on Byron DG — The UpstreamHugoen-usFri, 24 Jul 2026 13:08:25 -0400https://byrondgdev.com/posts/tool-showcase-the-research-cli/Fri, 24 Jul 2026 09:00:00 +0000https://byrondgdev.com/posts/tool-showcase-the-research-cli/<!-- FIGURE 1: hero image. Type: generated infographic. Title: the research CLI on display. Contents: knolling composition — terminal window with the "research" prompt upper-left, four dashed component trays with connector lines: search (Exa, Tavily, merge, results), fetch (guard, cache, extract, browser, markdown), paper, academic (ArXiv, Semantic Scholar, OpenAlex, CORE). All 18 labels verified against the verbatim list. Caption: none (hero). --> <p>Now for a new type of post: the tool showcase, a series dedicated to the tools our fleet uses. Each post covers one tool: its origin, its usage, and its value. First up is the research CLI, because it was one of the first tools in my fleet that I put real engineering time into, and because the story behind it covers a decision I make over and over: when do you actually need a tool, and once you know you need one, do you build it, adopt it, or buy it?</p>