I make certain decisions without really thinking them through. For instance, if I need to convert a photo or rotate a PDF, I Google it, click the first option, and hope the site finishes the task quickly. It usually does, and it only takes a few minutes, which is why the risk of using random websites never feels real.

If you have a home server or NAS, those throwaway websites can be replaced by permanent Docker containers that make you reach for Google less often.

The junk drawer of the internet’s tiny tools, minus the mess

It takes only 20 seconds of actual work to resize one photo, clean up a messy bit of text, or spit out a QR code. Still, you are likely to reach for Google and click on the first usable site for this task.

My go-to is OmniTools. It’s not just a single tool, but a collection of web-based tools that consolidate several of my scattered tasks. It includes an image resizer, converter, and editor; video trimmer and reverser; PDF splitter, merger, and editor; and text/list tools. The OmniTools Docker image is about 2 MB, which is pretty small for the number of tasks it does.

Running this tool is very convenient because most of the tasks are things I used to do in a browser, but now I have a central, trusted location without the numerous ads I see on browser services. It’s great for small jobs; once jobs become more demanding, I may require more specialist tools. One bonus is that Omnitools has a mobile app, which makes it more useful on the go.

OS

Android

Price model

Free with optional in-app purchases

OmniTools bundles dozens of everyday utilities into a single sleek Android app, from unit converters and calculators to timers and QR code tools. It replaces a pile of single-purpose apps with a fast, lightweight toolkit you can use even offline.

Stirling-PDF

The PDF you probably shouldn’t have handed to a stranger

I feel very uncomfortable uploading a signed lease, résumé, or tax paperwork to any site on the internet. These kinds of documents often contain personal information, and even though you only need them on the site for a minute, it’s not always clear how much you can trust a random website you found via a Google search.

Now I run a Docker container for Stirling-PDF, and it’s changed the entire equation. My typical use of this service includes dropping in a few documents, merging them, running text recognition on a scanned page, and adding signatures.

All the heavy PDF work I need to do takes place on my own server. Once I set up Stirling-PDF, it quickly became where I do most of my paperwork.

ConvertX

For the file format you only meet once a year

I often run into odd files I can’t access without converting. The easy option is the random converter sites, because almost nobody actually installs dedicated software for converting. The conversion sites are quite convenient; you open a browser, drop the file, and download the result.

ConvertX keeps the convenience but moves the conversion to your actual computer. Because it puts several established conversion tools behind one interface, it can handle a huge range of formats. The real gain of using ConvertX is that you don’t have to remember the random site you used the last time to convert a file.

CyberChef

The ten-second job that’s somehow the hardest thing to Google

This service describes itself as the “Cyber Swiss Army Knife,” and the reason becomes obvious once you start using it. It carries out all types of “cyber” operations within a web browser. These range from simple XOR and Base64 encoding to more complex encryption like AES, DES, and Blowfish. CyberChef also lets you do data compression and decompression, and calculate hashes and checksums.

Even before Docker entered the picture, CyberChef was already unusual because its operations run locally in the browser rather than requiring you to upload the data to a server. When you self-host it, you get a local address you can control even if the public version changes or is offline.

MeTube

The last time you’ll need to Google “download this video”

You may have experienced this several times: search for a video download option, land on a site with several fake buttons, repeat the process a few times before finally getting a site that actually downloads the video. What makes it worse is that video downloading isn’t a task you perform every day, so the next time you need a download, you repeat the same frustrating process all over again.

MeTube presents a clean front end for yt-dlp that replaces your traditional video download cycle. You just point the download to a folder on your home server, and the file lands where you want it. After setting up MeTube, the underlying engine will need periodic updates since video sites are constantly changing.

After using MeTube instead of the usual Google search, it suddenly feels like a less sketchy part of the internet because I avoid the ads and fake download buttons I typically run into.

The containers mainly feel ordinary

None of these tools feels particularly impressive on its own. But what they have all changed is a habit of Googling and using websites that I haven’t researched properly. Most of the time, these Docker containers just sit there, but it doesn’t matter much because they don’t demand much from my server, and when I do need them, they complete the tasks well and stay under my control.