Should I Build It Should I Build It
08 Apr 2025
GitHub

It's a small idea. Just an app that does grep but then organizes the ...

...results by git blame date. So given a piece of code you can tell how and how often it's been used recently.

Confidence
Engagement
Net use signal
Net buy signal

Idea type: Swamp

The market has seen several mediocre solutions that nobody loves. Unless you can offer something fundamentally different, you’ll likely struggle to stand out or make money.

Should You Build It?

Don't build it.

Your are here

Your idea of an app that combines `grep` with `git blame` to organize code usage by date falls into a crowded space where many solutions already exist. This puts you in the "Swamp" category, characterized by numerous mediocre solutions that haven't resonated strongly with users. With an `n_matches` value of 5, we have a medium confidence that this idea category is accurate, but this also means there's considerable existing competition. User engagement for similar tools is generally low, indicated by an average of only 2 comments across those products. Considering these factors, it's crucial to carefully assess whether your proposed solution offers a significant improvement over existing tools to gain traction in this market. Without a clear differentiator, standing out and achieving financial success will be challenging. The net use and net buy signals are also neutral, indicating there's no clear demand for similar tools either.

Recommendations

  1. Before proceeding, conduct thorough research to understand why existing `grep`-like solutions haven't achieved widespread adoption. What are their shortcomings? Are there specific user pain points that are not being addressed? The discussion and criticism summaries for similar products mention the lack of clear differentiation from existing tools like `git log -G` or `git log -S` and the desire for integrations, so you must solve these shortcomings. Without this understanding, you risk building a tool that nobody truly needs.
  2. If you decide to move forward, identify a specific niche or user group that is currently underserved by existing code search and analysis tools. Are there specific programming languages, development workflows, or team sizes that your app could cater to particularly well? For example, if you are targeting at specific programming language, make sure to build in language-specific search and refactoring tools using the abstract syntax tree (AST).
  3. Consider pivoting to building tools or integrations that enhance existing code analysis platforms rather than creating a standalone app. Explore integrations with popular IDEs like VSCode, which already offers similar functionality through extensions like GitLens. This could involve creating a plugin that adds `git blame`-aware search capabilities to existing editors, or offer your tool as a cloud service.
  4. Instead of focusing solely on `grep` and `git blame`, explore adjacent problems in the software development lifecycle that might be more promising. For example, consider tools that automate code reviews, identify potential security vulnerabilities, or visualize code dependencies. One similar product uses LLMs to automate status updates using Git log, so you should look at what's new in the fields of LLMs, code analysis, and/or version control.
  5. Given the crowded market and low engagement with existing solutions, carefully weigh the opportunity cost of pursuing this idea. It might be more prudent to allocate your time and resources to a different project with a clearer path to success. If you choose to keep working on it, focus on open source contributions. Get users using your tool for free, and then start thinking about monetizing it once it has sufficient user engagement.

Questions

  1. What fundamentally new capability or user experience does your app offer that isn't already available in existing code search and analysis tools, and how will you validate that this is a genuine need for your target audience?
  2. Given the neutral use and buy signals for similar tools, what go-to-market strategy will you employ to generate initial traction and demonstrate the value proposition of your app to potential users?
  3. How will you continuously monitor user feedback and iterate on your app to ensure that it remains relevant and competitive in a rapidly evolving software development landscape, especially given the common criticism that similar tools don't differentiate themselves enough from existing git tools?

Your are here

Your idea of an app that combines `grep` with `git blame` to organize code usage by date falls into a crowded space where many solutions already exist. This puts you in the "Swamp" category, characterized by numerous mediocre solutions that haven't resonated strongly with users. With an `n_matches` value of 5, we have a medium confidence that this idea category is accurate, but this also means there's considerable existing competition. User engagement for similar tools is generally low, indicated by an average of only 2 comments across those products. Considering these factors, it's crucial to carefully assess whether your proposed solution offers a significant improvement over existing tools to gain traction in this market. Without a clear differentiator, standing out and achieving financial success will be challenging. The net use and net buy signals are also neutral, indicating there's no clear demand for similar tools either.

Recommendations

  1. Before proceeding, conduct thorough research to understand why existing `grep`-like solutions haven't achieved widespread adoption. What are their shortcomings? Are there specific user pain points that are not being addressed? The discussion and criticism summaries for similar products mention the lack of clear differentiation from existing tools like `git log -G` or `git log -S` and the desire for integrations, so you must solve these shortcomings. Without this understanding, you risk building a tool that nobody truly needs.
  2. If you decide to move forward, identify a specific niche or user group that is currently underserved by existing code search and analysis tools. Are there specific programming languages, development workflows, or team sizes that your app could cater to particularly well? For example, if you are targeting at specific programming language, make sure to build in language-specific search and refactoring tools using the abstract syntax tree (AST).
  3. Consider pivoting to building tools or integrations that enhance existing code analysis platforms rather than creating a standalone app. Explore integrations with popular IDEs like VSCode, which already offers similar functionality through extensions like GitLens. This could involve creating a plugin that adds `git blame`-aware search capabilities to existing editors, or offer your tool as a cloud service.
  4. Instead of focusing solely on `grep` and `git blame`, explore adjacent problems in the software development lifecycle that might be more promising. For example, consider tools that automate code reviews, identify potential security vulnerabilities, or visualize code dependencies. One similar product uses LLMs to automate status updates using Git log, so you should look at what's new in the fields of LLMs, code analysis, and/or version control.
  5. Given the crowded market and low engagement with existing solutions, carefully weigh the opportunity cost of pursuing this idea. It might be more prudent to allocate your time and resources to a different project with a clearer path to success. If you choose to keep working on it, focus on open source contributions. Get users using your tool for free, and then start thinking about monetizing it once it has sufficient user engagement.

Questions

  1. What fundamentally new capability or user experience does your app offer that isn't already available in existing code search and analysis tools, and how will you validate that this is a genuine need for your target audience?
  2. Given the neutral use and buy signals for similar tools, what go-to-market strategy will you employ to generate initial traction and demonstrate the value proposition of your app to potential users?
  3. How will you continuously monitor user feedback and iterate on your app to ensure that it remains relevant and competitive in a rapidly evolving software development landscape, especially given the common criticism that similar tools don't differentiate themselves enough from existing git tools?

  • Confidence: Medium
    • Number of similar products: 5
  • Engagement: Low
    • Average number of comments: 2
  • Net use signal: 17.1%
    • Positive use signal: 17.1%
    • Negative use signal: 0.0%
  • Net buy signal: 0.0%
    • Positive buy signal: 0.0%
    • Negative buy signal: 0.0%

This chart summarizes all the similar products we found for your idea in a single plot.

The x-axis represents the overall feedback each product received. This is calculated from the net use and buy signals that were expressed in the comments. The maximum is +1, which means all comments (across all similar products) were positive, expressed a willingness to use & buy said product. The minimum is -1 and it means the exact opposite.

The y-axis captures the strength of the signal, i.e. how many people commented and how does this rank against other products in this category. The maximum is +1, which means these products were the most liked, upvoted and talked about launches recently. The minimum is 0, meaning zero engagement or feedback was received.

The sizes of the product dots are determined by the relevance to your idea, where 10 is the maximum.

Your idea is the big blueish dot, which should lie somewhere in the polygon defined by these products. It can be off-center because we use custom weighting to summarize these metrics.

Similar products

Relevance

Git Searcher, search commits for an added or removed string

12 May 2024 GitHub

Hello all,I created a command line utility called Git Searcher that can find in which commit any line of code was added; it can also find where a line of code was removed. I have found this very helpful for determining where code originated from and for debugging. I hope you find this useful!Many thanks, Sam

Users discussed the differences between the tool and 'git log -G' or 'git log -S'. Some mentioned that GitLens in VSCode already provides this feature. Another user noted the use of 'jj log -pr ..' and pager for search. There was a clarification that the tool's independent operations for fetch and search are a feature, not a bug. One user suggested integrating the 'git search' command into git.

Users criticized the lack of a clear explanation of the differences, the need to run 'git fetch' every time, and the preference for a standalone script. One user had no criticisms.

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Relevance

Automating status updates using Git log and LLM

15 Feb 2024 GitHub

Hi HN, I built a simple tool that summarizes your team’s git logs into a weekly update that teams can send to leaders, other teams, etc.I hated writing the same update multiple times a week to everyone asking “what’s the status of X”Copy your repo’s commit logs with git log —all —since=“1 week ago”, paste them, and get a well-formatted update.Planning to add Github integration to further automate. Curious what folks think.

Loves meme generator, suggests Slack integration.

No Slack integration.

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