Wikipedia:Proposed tools

Tools, such as bots, semi-automated editing and administrative tools, and Toolserver tools with access to the Wikipedia database, regularly help in dealing with routine everyday tasks, either by automating them completely or streamlining the workflow to only involve human input where needed. They can make certain types of tasks possible that are impossible or too tedious to be cost-effective using ordinary website functions.

However, tool design is currently fragmented among many individuals with limited public discussion. The result of this is that designs are often not well-reviewed before implementation, it is difficult to recruit developers for complex tool development efforts, and creative contributors with tool ideas may have trouble finding people with the skills to make their idea a reality. The purpose of this page is to propose new tool ideas, flesh out their high-level requirements and design, and recruit interested developers.

Please be bold and invite feedback even if you're not quite sure how your tool idea would work - this is a collaborative forum and we can all work together to come up with good designs.

How to propose a new tool

 * 1) Come up with a short name or terse description for your proposed tool.
 * 2) Create a new subpage Proposed tools/Your tool name.
 * 3) Copy the following template wikitext into the subpage and fill out each field. If you don't know the answer to a question, leave it blank.
 * 4) At the bottom of this page, transclude your proposed tool using.
 * 5) Direct any questions, disagreements, and reservations to the new subpage's discussion page.

In the future, proposed tools may be further categorized and structured as necessary.

Name of tool
(one-sentence description of the tool, with a link to the tool development website, if one exists)

Problem
(description of the problem motivating this tool)

Requirements
(what does the tool need to do? do not include details about implementation here)

Interface design
(describe how you imagine the user interface might look; it can be web-based, GUI-based, console-based, or whatever you like)

High-level architecture
(to be filled in by developers; what components will the tool have, and how will they interact?)

Implementation details
(to be filled in by developers; how will the tool be implemented? what technologies will be used and what implementation issues do you anticipate?)

Progress
(as the tool is developed, describe here how far along it is and what problems are being encountered)