Tool Ctrl records every tool box you own, the drawers in each one and the tools inside. Every box gets a number that never changes, so a label you print today still matches in five years. Search finds any tool in a few seconds, with the shelf, box and drawer it's in.
It runs in your browser and saves on your device. There's no account. You can also keep the record in a private GitHub repo of your own, which syncs it between your computer, iPad and phone.
Build the record on a computer or an iPad. A phone is for looking things up.
A box ID is your prefix and a three-digit number: WW-014. Every kind of box, Systainer, Packout, chest or bag, shares one count, and the kind of box is a field, not part of the number.
Open a box and press Add drawers. Say how many and they are made in one step: a drawer unit with three drawers gets WW-014-D1 to D3. D is a drawer, T a tray and B a fixed bin. Drawers count from the top, starting at 1, and left to right where they sit side by side.
A drawer is the smallest thing with a number. A small case inside a drawer goes in the tool's notes.
Sits on links a box to the one it rides on, such as five Systainers on a cart. Its location then follows the cart.
Open a box or drawer and press Add tools. The tick-list has three kinds of tab.
Choose where ticked tools go: into the box you have open, or Each into a new box. The second makes a box for every tick, with the next free number and the tool's name, which suits tools that live in their own case. Untick in the same visit and the new box goes away again.
Anything not on the list can be typed with Add a tool. Every field stays editable.
Consumables such as abrasives, blades and bits are hidden until you turn on Show consumables. They aren't counted as inventory, but a box of 125 mm abrasives can still list what it holds.
Open a box or drawer and press Read from photo. On an iPad it opens the camera; on a computer, choose a photo. Tool Ctrl reads the names it can see and suggests tools.
Printed labels and model plates read best. Small or curved text, glare and low light read less reliably, so check every suggestion. The first photo loads the reader, about 14 MB. After that it works offline.
The photo is read on your device and let go when you add or cancel. It is never saved, synced or backed up.
Search matches box IDs, names, kinds, locations, tool names, brands, notes and serial numbers. A result shows its full path, such as Shop wall › WW-067 › D3 › Trim router.
The Items view lists every tool, with filters and grouping. Select several to Move them, Set a field on all of them, or Retire them, and Undo if you change your mind. A moved tool keeps a line saying where it came from and when.
Any power or hand tool can carry its serial number, purchase date, seller, price, warranty length or end date, registration and a receipt link. All are optional.
If you've registered your tools with the maker, you can bring them all in at once. In Record, press Import warranty list and choose the file. Tool Ctrl shows what it found before anything changes.
How to get your list from Festool. Sign in to your Festool account and open MyToolbox, which lists the tools you've registered. Export the list as a CSV file. It saves with a name like MyToolbox product overview.csv. Tool Ctrl reads the US export, with dates written month/day/year.
Record › Import a list reads a .csv with a name column. It also reads id, kind, location, contents (lines split by |), model and notes, and keeps any other columns with the box. A Box Ctrl spreadsheet export works. Save an Excel file as .csv first.
You see a summary before anything is added. IDs already used are listed and skipped, so importing twice doesn't double anything.
If the list uses another prefix, Tool Ctrl can renumber it to yours in the same order, keeping the number: ST-001 becomes WW-001. Where the old numbers have gaps, you can also number them in order, closing the gaps. That's off by default, because labels may already be printed. Each box keeps its old ID in its notes.
Tool Ctrl doesn't print. Record › Export for Box Ctrl saves a .csv in the columns Box Ctrl imports, one row per box, and one per drawer if you choose. Contents are built from tool names, two lines of up to 40 characters. If a box holds more than fits, the export names it and keeps the first tools that fit, without cutting a word. Warranty details never go in this file.
A screen under 768 px wide is review only. Open boxes, search, read the Items and Warranty views and copy a warranty card. Adding, moving, photos, import and export are left off, so nothing changes by accident.
The record reaches a phone from GitHub, or from a backup file. A phone only reads from GitHub and never writes to it, so a token with read-only rights is enough there.
Without GitHub, your record lives only in this browser on this device. Clearing browser data removes it. So keep a copy.
tool-ctrl-YYYY-MM-DD.json with everything. Open a backup replaces the record, after you confirm.This is optional. A GitHub repo of your own holds the record as a file, syncs it between devices and keeps a history of every change. You need a free GitHub account.
1. Make a private repo
tool-ctrl-data.2. Make a token for that repo only
3. Connect
owner/name, such as yourname/tool-ctrl-data, paste the token and press Connect.tool-ctrl.json and a README. A repo that already holds a record asks whether to use the repo's record or this device's, and says how many boxes each has.Connect each device on its own. The token stays on that device, and never goes in a link, an export, a backup or the repo. Disconnect deletes it.
How syncing works. Changes save on the device at once and go to GitHub a few seconds after your last edit, when the app opens, and on Sync now. Each sync is one commit you can see on GitHub. Offline, changes wait and go up when you're back. If two devices change the same field, Tool Ctrl shows both values and asks which to keep. If two add the same new box number, the second to sync takes the next free number and says so.
When a token expires, make a new one the same way and paste it in. Tool Ctrl carries on where it left off.
That file has no Name column: add a name column, or start from a Box Ctrl export.
WW-014 is already used: that box is in your record. It's skipped, and nothing doubles.
GitHub refused the token: it is wrong, expired or missing rights. Make a new one with Contents read and write for that repo. Your changes stay on the device until then.
This token can read the repo but not write to it: give it Contents read and write.
Storage is running low: export a backup, then connect GitHub so you have a second copy.
Tool Ctrl has no server and no analytics. Your record stays on this device. The only network requests it makes after loading go to api.github.com, for your own data repo, and only after you connect. Photos are read on the device and never kept.