AC Series Recommended Software and Utilities

The best method of owning, managing, having, using, ...whatever, an OpenWRT based router it to have the OpenWRT OS stored on some type of USB Flash drive, mSATA, NVME, NGFF, or other type of external drive / SSD etc.

...but, that still means the router is running code from the build in "Disk Drive", AKA NAND to start things off. So an interesting question comes up: If the external drive fails, what should be installed on the NAND 'Drive'. Well, to start with, anything that is necessary for the "Overlay Functionality" (look it up on the OpenWRT site). Beyond that? Anything (configuration / software) that allows the router to still provide internet access (albeit in a reduced fashion), plus any useful tools that allows one to fix whatever is wrong with the external drive.

Here's the list;