Basetool v1: from scattered SaaS data to one composable workspace for technical teams (7 months)
Co-founded the original Basetool in 2021: a TypeScript / React / Next.js platform that let technical teams pull data from all their tools into one configurable workspace. Shipped in 7 months; informed the studio we run today.
- TypeScript
- React
- Next.js
- Redux
- Tailwind
Challenge
Most SMB technical teams we spoke to had the same problem: important data scattered across ten different SaaS tools, a handful of Postgres tables, and a Google Sheet that someone had been maintaining since 2019. A useful cross-cutting view of the business meant either building a new internal tool for every new question (expensive and slow) or buying enterprise BI software priced for a very different customer.
The gap in the middle was real and persistent. Teams needed something that understood their sources, gave them a flexible field model, and let them build the views they actually needed without writing a new application each time.
Solution
We built Basetool v1 in seven months as a TypeScript / React / Next.js platform centered on three ideas:
- Composable fields. Rather than a rigid schema, Basetool v1 treated fields as first-class objects: typed, filterable, reusable across views. A team could reshape how data was presented without reshaping the underlying database.
- Views and roles. Different people needed different slices of the same data. The view and permission model let one source of truth power multiple screens, without each team maintaining their own copy.
- Boring, maintainable frontend. TypeScript for safety, React for the UI, Next.js for rendering, Tailwind for styling. No clever abstractions, no novel state management. The product was meant to feel like an internal tool a competent team would build for themselves, if they'd had the time.
Cross-cutting view of the business
Before
Data scattered across ten SaaS tools, a handful of Postgres tables, and a Google Sheet maintained since 2019. Every new question meant a new one-off internal tool (expensive and slow) or enterprise BI priced for a different customer (overkill).
After
One multi-source platform that understood the sources and gave teams a flexible field model, so they could build the views they actually needed without writing a new application each time.
Reshaping data
Before
A rigid schema meant reshaping how data was presented usually meant reshaping the underlying database, and each team maintaining its own copy.
After
Composable fields as first-class objects (typed, filterable, reusable across views) let one source of truth power multiple screens through the view and permission model.
Basetool v1 was a product exploration; no commercial metrics are available or invented.
Results
We shipped the v1 platform with core primitives intact: sources, fields, filters, views, and role-based permissions. The product ran in production and validated the thesis that SMB technical teams want composable internal tooling, not a scaled-down version of enterprise dashboards.
Basetool v1 is no longer in active development. It was a product exploration, not a growth-stage company. No commercial metrics are available and we do not present this as a scale story. What it did produce is the playbook that Basetool Labs now runs: instead of building one generalized product for everyone, we build the right custom tool for each team, faster and with AI-native leverage.