You don’t need a new platform. You need a .
Here is why adding a dedicated tools/ directory to your platform repository is the highest leverage, lowest effort change you can make this quarter. It is not a dumping ground. It is a curated, version-controlled, executable collection of scripts, binaries, and utilities designed to operate your platform.
April 14, 2026 Reading Time: 4 minutes
# tools/db-failover #!/bin/bash # Usage: Run when primary DB pod is stuck in CrashLoopBackoff echo "Initiating failover for database..." kubectl exec -it db-backup-pod -- ./restore-latest Keep the platform tidy without remembering complex jq queries.
Every platform engineering team starts the same way. You build a beautiful internal developer portal (IDP), write some Terraform modules, and set up a few CI pipelines. But six months later, you hit the wall .
# tools/bootstrap-dev #!/bin/bash # Installs the exact versions of Terragrunt, Helm, and Node used in production ./tools/install-tfenv && tfenv install ./tools/install-helm-3.14 A tools/ folder is useless if nobody knows how to invoke it. Add a Makefile at your repo root to act as the catalog.
What is the most useful script in your team's tools/ folder? Let me know in the comments below.
