Why I Built Wut — I Was Tired of Reading Marketing Pages
Every new tool promises to "revolutionize your workflow." But what does it actually do? I got tired of asking that question, so I built something to answer it for me.
The Problem That Wouldn't Go Away
I'm a developer. I discover new tools constantly — through Twitter, Hacker News, Product Hunt, or a random link in a Slack channel. And every single time, the experience is the same:
I land on the homepage. It says something like "The AI-powered platform for modern teams." I scroll. Feature sections with abstract icons. More buzzwords. A pricing page that requires three clicks to find. By the time I figure out what it actually does, 15 minutes have passed.
Sometimes I'd just copy the URL into ChatGPT and ask: "What is this?" But that's its own friction — switching tabs, waiting for a response, losing context.
I just wanted a button that says: "What is this page? Should I care?"
The Moment It Clicked
One afternoon, I was evaluating a backend-as-a-service platform. After reading through their entire site, watching a demo video, and skimming their docs, I realized it didn't support the one thing I needed. 30 minutes, wasted.
That's when I thought: what if I could get a structured verdict in 5 seconds? Not a summary — a judgment. Something that tells me who this is for, and more importantly, who it's NOT for.
What Wut Actually Does
Wut is a Chrome extension. You click the icon on any webpage, and it gives you a structured breakdown:
- What it is — in one sentence, no marketing fluff
- Key content — the important parts only
- Who it's for — specific, honest use cases
- Who it's NOT for — the part everyone else skips
- Alternatives — what else is out there
It works on any page type — not just product pages. Blog posts, technical docs, job listings. It detects the type automatically and adapts the analysis.
Most AI tools give you a polished summary. Wut gives you a reason to leave — or stay. That's the difference between a summarizer and a decision-support tool.
Design Decisions
No prompts. You don't type anything. Click the icon, get the result. If I have to type "summarize this page" every time, I might as well use ChatGPT.
No servers. Your API key stays on your device. Page content goes only to the AI provider you chose. I didn't want to run a server, and you shouldn't have to trust one.
Multiple AI models. Claude, GPT, Gemini — use whatever you already have. I didn't want the API key setup to be a blocker.
8 languages. The analysis always comes in your browser's language, regardless of the source page. Visit a Japanese site with a Korean browser? Korean analysis.
What I Learned Building It
The hardest part wasn't the code. It was the prompt. Getting an AI to consistently produce honest, structured, non-marketing analysis took a lot of iteration. The AI naturally wants to be positive — teaching it to say "this is NOT for you" was surprisingly difficult.
The second hardest part was keeping it simple. Every feature I considered adding ("what about a sidebar?", "what about a chat?", "what about bookmarks?") would have made it less focused. Wut does one thing. That's the point.
Try It
Wut is free to install. You bring your own API key from Anthropic, OpenAI, or Google — that's the only cost. A typical analysis costs less than a penny.
If you've ever wasted 20 minutes on a landing page only to realize it's not for you, give Wut a try.