DUMB BUT USEFUL THINGS
A few months ago I set up a minimal Raylib environment that mimiced the control structures found in the demo. I could use this to rapidly prototype effects, without having to much about with the entire demo framework + code. Then the process of getting it integrated was little more than a copy-paste job (well, mostly). If necessary, I could then continue fine-tuning it, but this was seldom needed.
I've worked on extremely large and complex projects before, but this is a totally different animal, and it speaks to its own necessities. I've learned quite a bit over the last year, and I'm looking forward to using the additional skills in future projects.
Rob clued me in to Kodelife, which is a shader development/debugging tool in the same vein as ShaderToy (i.e. live development). It has a Windows build and runs totally offline, and is worth a glance if you work with shaders on the regular. The next big (and positively awful) thing I'll probably tackle is shader debugging. I have zero ability to do that right now, outside of running simulations in the aforementioned tools. It's a shite situation, but this is the 666 foot hole we've collectively dug for ourselves, and now we're stuck at the bottom and soaking in the sludge.