Frequently asked questions
What is ESPYCRUX?
A small product studio based in India. We build focused web applications and publish long-form writing about the engineering behind them. Everything listed on this site was built by the studio.
How big is the studio?
Small, and honest about it. Core work is done in-house, with freelance collaborators brought in per project where a piece of work needs a specialist. There is no sales team and no support department.
What is the ESPYCRUX network?
espycrux.com is the main site: it is where the studio publishes its writing and where every property it runs is listed. Each property then lives at its own address — game.espycrux.com for the game hub, iblog.espycrux.com for the publication, smarttoolstoday.com for the tools, with a storefront, a forum and a showcase still being built at ecom, forum and ishowcase. Each one gets a link here when it is genuinely usable, and not before.
What can I actually use right now?
Three things. Smart Tools Today (smarttoolstoday.com) is 26 browser-based utilities. ESPYCRUX Games (game.espycrux.com) is five original browser games with live leaderboards. iBlog (iblog.espycrux.com) is a general-interest publication. The other three — Ecom, Forum and iShowcase — are listed but still in development, with nothing usable behind them yet.
Does the network have more addresses than the six listed here?
The six on the network page are the network. Other subdomains were started over the past year and left unfinished, and we are closing them rather than leaving empty addresses running under our name. If you find one still up, it is on its way out — the network page is the list that counts.
Do the games work on a phone?
Not properly yet. The games are built for a keyboard and a larger screen, so desktop is where they play as intended. Making them work on a phone is real work still ahead of us — a game built around a held key does not become a touch game by resizing the layout. The rest of the site is responsive; the games themselves are not there yet.
Are the games on game.espycrux.com yours, or embedded from somewhere else?
Ours. Every game on the hub was written in-house — no licensed feeds, no embedded third-party titles, no ROMs. A portal that iframes other people's games owns none of what it shows; we would rather own all of it.
Why list Ecom, Forum and iShowcase at all if they are not finished?
Because hiding them would be less honest than showing them. Each carries an "in development" label and no link, so you know it exists and you know it is not ready. Each gets a real link when there is something real behind it — a working store, an open forum, actual work on show.
Do I need an account for anything?
No. Smart Tools Today has no accounts at all — nothing to register for and nothing to log into. If that ever changes for a specific tool, that tool will say so.
Do the tools cost anything?
No. There is no paid tier, no trial and no upgrade prompt. If a paid option is ever added, the tools that are free today stay free.
What happens to data I paste into the tools?
On Smart Tools Today, nothing leaves your browser. The tools run client-side, so text you paste into the JSON formatter or the hash generator is never uploaded and never written to a server log. Full detail is in the Privacy Policy.
Is iBlog the same as the writing on this site?
No, and they are deliberately different. The articles on espycrux.com are engineering and product notes from our own work. iBlog is a separate WordPress publication on its own subdomain, with its own contributors and a general-interest mix.
Who writes the articles here?
Whoever did the work being described, published under the studio name. Articles come out of projects we have actually shipped, which is why the archive covers a narrow range of subjects rather than a broad one. Nothing here is syndicated or guest-posted.
Does this site show advertising?
Not at the moment. The site is applying to Google AdSense, and if approved, placements will be clearly marked and kept out of the reading column. Nothing published here is a paid placement or a sponsored post.
Can I republish or quote an article?
Quote up to 200 words with a link back to the original and no permission is needed. For anything longer, email us — the answer is usually yes, with attribution.
Which browsers are supported?
Current and recent versions of Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari, on desktop and mobile. Older browsers still render every page — the scroll animations simply degrade to static layouts rather than breaking.
Is the site accessible?
That is the target. Interfaces are keyboard-navigable with visible focus states, colour contrast is checked, and every animation is disabled when your system asks for reduced motion. If you find something that fails, tell us and we will fix it.
Where are you based?
India. Everything is built and maintained from here.
How do I report a bug, a mistake in an article, or a security issue?
Email admin@espycrux.com. For security specifically, put "Security" in the subject line. It is one inbox and it is read — there is no ticket system, so expect a reply within a few days.