The tools on a2zutil.dev exist to solve a two-minute problem: format this JSON, indent this query, convert this string. An account gate adds friction to exactly the wrong moment — right when someone just wants the tool to work.
It's also a real cost on our side. Accounts mean auth, password resets, session storage for people who aren't doing anything that needs to persist, and a database of emails to secure. None of that makes the formatters format better.
The one place state genuinely helps — the Webhook, which needs a URL to exist for longer than a single request — gets a temporary session instead of an account: no signup, and it expires on its own. That's the pattern going forward: add state only where the tool needs it, and let it expire rather than asking anyone to register for it.
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