I Built A Suite Of 50 Tools For My Former Employer On My Own Free Time, Gave It Away For Free For Years, And Now They Want It Back. Should I Ask For Compensation, And How?

Location: New York

Long post but I want to give full context.

I used to work as an editor for a large legal/publishing corporation. Starting around 2020, I built a suite of ~50 mini tools on my own free time — we're talking late nights, lost sleep, a genuine passion project. The tools were also useful for my own work as an editor, but I built and maintained everything entirely on my own time, on my own equipment.

The tools helped editors across multiple US jurisdictions do their jobs faster and more accurately. Just as one example: one part of the suite helps create amendment notes. There are at least 50,000 of those needed every year. Before my tools, each note took about 15 minutes. My tools cut that down to around 7 minutes each. That's one tool out of fifty.

I let the company use everything for free the entire time. I even gave them the full source code before I left in 2023. I have no idea what they did with it — they didn't seem to use it. After I left, the tools stayed up on my personal website untouched for a couple of years. Last week I took them down.

Now my former employer has reached out saying they can't access the tools anymore.

I'm willing to restore access and continue maintaining/updating the tools as a freelance/contractor arrangement. However, I am NOT interested in returning as a full-time employee. I want to keep this strictly as an independent, compensated engagement on my own terms.

I also want to be clear that I'm not bitter or out for blood here. If they come back with a fair compensation offer, great. If they decide to just use the source code I already gave them for free and build on it themselves, I'm honestly fine with that too. I gave it freely and I meant it. I just don't want to keep hosting and maintaining something for a large corporation at my own expense with nothing in return.

1. Do I have the right to ask for compensation now, even though I gave it away for free before?
2. Since I built it on my own time and equipment, do I own the IP — or could they claim it?
3. How would you approach the negotiation if you were in my position?
4. Is there any risk in asking for payment, legally or otherwise?
5. How do I actually bring up compensation without it being awkward? What do I say, and how do I frame it professionally? Should I propose a licensing fee, a retainer, hourly rate, or a one-time buyout?
6. What's a reasonable way to price something like this — tools that save a company potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars a year in labor?

I'm not looking to be greedy, but I sacrificed a lot to build this, I no longer work for them, and I have zero obligation to keep subsidizing a large corporation for free. I just don't know how to start that conversation. Any advice appreciated.