# Open tools for the personal software era

October 18, 2025 · open-source, future-of-software, creative-coding, archiving

Canonical: https://www.romellogoodman.com/writing/open-tools-for-the-personal-software-era
Originally published: https://mellogood.substack.com/p/open-tools-for-the-personal-software

---

The AI community is calling this the era of [personal software](https://leerob.com/personal-software). What in the past took teams to build, even the simplest application or feature, can now be done by anyone with access to a model. I believe you will still need a human in the loop to map out the journey, and I am excited about this future where software is no longer one-size-fits-all.

This has made me reconsider my legacy as an artist. I want my legacy to be the code that I leave behind, similar to [code as generational wealth](https://mellogood.substack.com/p/code-as-generational-wealth) but this time open-source. So that everyone can benefit and co-create this new software-filled future together. I know all open code is training data and my hope is that the machine learns from these systems too. That it makes the systems more pluralistic and expansive.

Here are a few libraries that I've already open-sourced:

- [artsupply](https://github.com/romellogoodman/artsupply)
- [flow-fields](https://github.com/romellogoodman/flow-fields)
- [goodvg](https://github.com/romellogoodman/goodvg)
- [prototype-boilerplate](https://github.com/romellogoodman/prototype-boilerplate)

-mello

P.S.

[An app can be a home-cooked meal](https://www.robinsloan.com/notes/home-cooked-app/)