About Rapikan

How It All Started

It all started because I struggled to find a simple Java and Kotlin formatter for VS Code. Getting them to work required tedious manual system installations—like setting up google-java-format for Java and ktlint for Kotlin. So, I dug in and built a wrapper to handle those binaries automatically.

Then I wanted to add JS and TSX. Initially, I recklessly hardcoded the formatting logic from scratch! But it took way too much time. After doing some research, I realized Prettier is the standard and much more dev-friendly. So I scrapped my code, reworked it to use Prettier under the hood, and handled all the internal logic so it just works seamlessly.

Once I got Prettier integrated, I got carried away. Whenever I opened a new file type in VS Code and saw it wasn't formatted, I spontaneously added support for it. From Android Gradle scripts to various config files and backend languages. Before I knew it, hundreds of commits had passed, and the extension was orchestrating dozens of different formatters in one local system. To make this tool truly accessible globally, I also added multi-language support for its UI.

Why Is There a Paid Version?

Honestly, since junior high, I've always survived on free tools and I dislike subscriptions. I overthought it: 'Will people even buy a .vsix extension? Though, if 1 million companies bought a license, I could retire peacefully for the rest of my life, hahaha.'

The Pricing Philosophy

So here is the middle ground: Rapikan is strictly 100% FREE with no limitations for personal use, students, and open-source projects.

But for companies and teams, I offer a Pro License for $49 per year. Tech ecosystems constantly change, and this recurring support allows me to maintain these 50+ languages long-term. Your company saves countless hours of setup time, and you directly support a solo developer's work.

— Nabil Aba