Start a tool library without buying a drill ladder sander sewing machine pressure washer

A pool is one shared shelf for a group that already trusts each other. You put up what you'd lend anonymously, and so does everybody else. You can also list skills that you'd like to teach the same way. People can only get invited by an admin's email invite or by using the pool's invite link if it's enabled.

When you're lending something, you're taking on the risk of putting it out there, so we think you should get to decide more of how that happens. You stay anonymous until you click Reveal, and then it's only to that one person, for the one thing they asked about. You still see who's asking, with their profile, reviews and ranks. You can undo it any time with Hide identity.

Through a 1-on-1 chat between the requester and the owner. Each chat has an optional discussion checklist that both sides can tick off, but it's up to you until you both feel comfortable.

Yep! You can anonymously post skills that you're willing to teach. Then, if someone wants to learn, you can chat about the details until you're ready to reveal yourself. Reviews for teachers and learners make it easier to commit to newer friends.

Yes! Post a request for something you're looking for, whether it's something to borrow or a hand with a project, and pick which pools see it. Anyone who can help opens a chat with you. Your name shows on a request you post, and the people who offer to help stay anonymous until they click Reveal.

Put them up anyway! A listing doesn't have to be a tool: board games, camping gear, a cotton candy machine, the folding tables somebody keeps in their garage, as long as it follows the Acceptable Use Policy. If "tools" is the wrong word for your group, an admin can even change the label for the listings!

Free to start. Your first month is always free, whoever joins in it, and a pool up to 20 members and up to 250 listings stays free after that. It's $4.99 a month for one admin once the pool is past its first month and has passed either of those. Any admin can also take over the subscription, if it's needed.

No. Borrowing from another member is free: we don't take a cut and there's no per-borrow charge. Running a pool costs $4.99 a month once it's past its first month and has more than 20 members or more than 250 listings, plus any applicable taxes at checkout, but borrowing itself never costs anything. If an owner wants a deposit, that's between the two of you, to be worked out in the chat.

The owner and the borrower are, on whatever terms they settled in chat. ToolPool.Garden is not an insurer: everyone signs a liability waiver before they can use the app, releasing the platform from responsibility for damage, loss, injury, or misuse during a borrow. The discussion checklist exists so both sides agree up front about the important stuff before anything changes hands.

One member (an admin) subscribes for the whole pool at $4.99 a month, plus any applicable taxes at checkout, once it's past its first month and has more than 20 members or more than 250 listings. Before that nobody is charged. If that subscriber leaves, another admin can take over the subscription.

Nope. A location is optional, and you can still make your pool public without one. However, we recommend making your pool show up on the Garden map, so that people can find your pool if they're nearby. Item or user location is never displayed through the map, that's all worked out through the chats.

Not right now. ToolPool.Garden is only offered in the United States at the moment, but we'd like to expand if we're able to!

Both are self-service from your settings: export everything as JSON, or delete your account. Deleting it erases your account and profile and the listings you posted, and anyone you'd previously revealed yourself to sees you as 'Deleted user' afterward. Messages you sent and reviews you wrote or received stay where they are, shown as 'Deleted user', because the conversation belongs to the other person too. We also keep what accounting and tax law require, and you can read more in our Privacy Policy.

No. Analytics and ad measurement are both optional, and you turn them on or off in the cookie banner. If you accept ad measurement, we pseudo-anonymously tell our ad platform a few account milestones. You can switch it off in your account settings at any time. Read the details in our Privacy Policy .

No, unless you want it. None of our features use AI and we don't send any of your data to an AI model. However, if you're already using something like ChatGPT, Claude, Grok, or any other agent that supports the Model Context Protocol (MCP), then you can add ToolPool.Garden and use your AI assistant to change your listings, read the contents of the pools you're in, and invite people by email into pools you administer. It can't access your chats, and you can cut it off at any time from your settings. Check out our tutorials for step-by-step instructions on how to link ToolPool.Garden to an AI assistant. Using AI will always remain completely optional.

ToolPool.Garden is built and operated by IllumAlign LLC, a fully bootstrapped, founder-led company based in Greenville, South Carolina. There are no outside investors, so nobody is pushing us to charge you more over time. Read more on our Pricing page.

Add it to the Public Roadmap ! If it's a sensitive vulnerability or anything else you'd rather not post publicly, email [email protected].