Apple removed Network Utility from macOS a few years back. I figured rebuilding it would be a good way to see what Claude Code could do on a real project and it would give me a chance to learn about the Apple dev ecosystem.
I'm primarily a web dev (Django/Python, JavaScript, Go) with minimal Swift experience. Claude Code wrote the code. I steered and debugged.
What I learned: notarization, code signing, Sparkle for auto-updates, Xcode configuration. That stuff took longer than the features.
What I didn't learn: Swift and SwiftUI. I can read it enough to spot problems, but I couldn't write this app myself. Not sure how I feel about that.
The app is straightforward: ping, traceroute, DNS lookup, netstat, whois, port scan. Free, no ads. Also used Claude Code for the Hugo/Tailwind marketing site and generate the SEO slop articles.
I used Gemini Nano Banana Pro to create the app icon. I took the screenshots myself. Hard work.
https://www.netutil.app
Happy to answer questions about the process.
