Snipster: AI-Powered Code Snippet Manager
Case Study Summary
Project: PyBites Developer Cohort
Type: Developer Productivity Tool
Status: In Production
Impact Metrics:
- Unlimited snippet storage capacity
- Instant code retrieval via intelligent search
- Full CLI and web interface
- 100% test coverage
- Actively used in development workflows
Snipster is a code snippet management tool built to help developers stop wasting time searching for code they've already written and start reusing it instantly.
Challenge
Developers face a common problem: they write useful code snippets, then forget where they saved them. Hours are lost:
- Searching through old projects for "that function I wrote once"
- Rewriting code that already exists somewhere
- Managing snippets across multiple files, gists, and notes
- No intelligent way to find code by what it does, not just its name
Our Approach
I built Snipster as a complete solution for code snippet management, combining:
- CLI-first design: Manage snippets without leaving the terminal
- Web interface: Visual browsing and management via Streamlit
- Intelligent search: Find snippets by description, tags, or content
- Unlimited storage: No artificial limits on your code library
- Developer-friendly: Built by a developer, for developers
Solution Features
Command Line Interface (Typer + Rich)
# Add a new snippet
snipster add "Python decorator for timing functions" --tags python,performance
# Search snippets
snipster search "API authentication"
# List all snippets by tag
snipster list --tag python
Web Dashboard (Streamlit)
- Visual snippet browser
- Tag-based filtering
- Quick copy-to-clipboard
- Syntax highlighting
Robust Testing
- Comprehensive test suite with pytest
- Coverage reporting with pytest-cov
- CI/CD integration ready
Tech Stack
- Backend: FastAPI
- CLI: Typer + Rich (beautiful terminal output)
- Frontend: Streamlit
- Testing: pytest + pytest-cov
- Python: Core language
Architecture
snipster/
├── api/ # FastAPI backend
├── cli/ # Typer CLI application
├── web/ # Streamlit dashboard
├── core/ # Business logic
└── tests/ # pytest test suite
Timeline & Context
- Timeline: 6 weeks
- Context: Built as part of PyBites Developer Cohort
- My Role: Solo developer (full-stack)
- Status: In production, actively maintained
Key Learnings
This project reinforced the value of:
- CLI-first design for developer tools
- Rich terminal interfaces that developers actually enjoy using
- Test-driven development from day one
- Building tools that solve your own pain points
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