These are the tools that I use everyday to write code and do fun stuff on the
internet. This is not necessarily an endorsement of these tools, but this is
what works well for me.
Note: None of the links on this page are affiliate links.
See also:
How I Use AI (in Early 2025).
🖥 Hardware
👨💻 Development
- Cursor - My go-to editor for most things.
- Claude Code - My favorite
in-terminal AI coding agent.
- VSCode - Prior to Cursor, I used VSCode
for ~everything. I still use it on occasion. I’m not a power user of it, but
I think it has one of the better ecosystems of editor plugins of current
GUI-based editors.
- Boxy Theme Kit -
Boxy Solarized Dark is my VSCode theme of choice.
- JSON Tools -
Useful for pretty-formatting JSON.
- Paste URL -
A simple extension for pasting URLs into Markdown documents.
Automatically pulls the link’s title, and formats it as
[title](url).
- Auto Close Tag -
Automatically adds closing HTML tags.
- vim - When I’m not using VSCode/Cursor, I’m using vim.
- You can find my vim config here.
I’ve also been keeping notes on my vim learnings.
⌨ Terminal
- iTerm2 - Much more customizable than
Terminal.app. Has better theming support, and a bunch of other functionality
that I don’t really use.
- Source Code Pro Light
Font - Super readable, and I like the aesthetic.
- I use either the builtin Solarized Dark color scheme, or Solarized
Dark High Contrast (found here).
- I highly recommend using the “Natural Text Editing” key presets, so you
can use the normal macOS text navigation movements in iTerm. (Can be
enabled with “Preferences -> Profiles -> Keys -> Key Mappings -> Presets
-> Natural Text Editing”)
- oh-my-zsh - I’m not a hardcore
ZSH user, but
oh-my-zsh is really awesome. This shell gives you tons of
productivity wins: git status in the prompt, super great auto-completion and
history searching. Seriously, it’s worth a try. I was skeptical of leaving
bash, but it’s really been worth the switch.
- agnoster
theme - Agnoster is a great theme for zsh. I’ve been told it’s a ’newb'
theme by a more experienced user of zsh, but I really like it. It’s a
bit flashy, but that’s what makes it fun.
- fzf - “fzf” is a fast fuzzy file finder.
Works great in vim, on the CLI, and for searching shell history.
- zoxide - zoxide is super useful for
jumping between frequently used directories. Integrates well with “fzf”.
- See also, the original “z”
📱 Services/Apps
- Tailscale - “Zero config VPN.” Makes it trivial to
setup a personal VPN between various networks. I use it to connect to my
home network when on-the-go.
- Overcast - My preferred podcast player.
- Strava - For tracking runs, hikes, and cycling.
- Runna - For running training plans.
- Elevenreader - A great app for having articles
read to you.
- Libby - A slick app for renting ebooks and
audiobooks from our local library.
- YNAB - For budgeting.
- BookPlayer - An open source
audiobook player for iOS.
🖥 Self-Hosted Services
- Miniflux - An excellent minimalist RSS reader.
- Node-RED - Automation platform, similar to IFTTT.
Has a large community plugin ecosystem.
- Podsync - Tool for creating Podcast Feeds
(RSS) from a Youtube channel. Useful for listening to tech talks on-the-go.
☑️ Productivity
- Todoist - Todoist is my favorite todo application.
It suits my needs very well: it’s cross platform, has an open API, supports
complex repeated tasks (i.e. “repeat every third Sunday of the month”), and
has a pleasing design aesthetic. I pay for Todoist premium, and it’s one of
the few services that I feel delighted when my yearly subscription renews.
- Taskwarrior - A simple, 100% local, open-source
task manager tool that lives in the CLI. This is what I use for tracking
tasks at work.
- I wrote more about my usage of Taskwarrior
here.
- Obsidian - Personal knowledge management tool, with
[[wikilink]] support.
- I wrote more about my usage of Obsidian
here.
- Day One - An excellent journaling app for Apple
platforms (macOS, iOS).
- I wrote more about my usage of Day One
here.
- Raycast - A customizable Spotlight replacement
for macOS.
- AnyList - My app-of-choice for making grocery
lists. It keeps a history of items you’ve purchased in the past, supports
list sharing, and has power-user features like associating items with a
particular store.
- Drafts - I use Drafts as a medium-persistency
notes app (similar to iOS’s default Notes.app). It syncs consistently
between macOS and iOS, supports Markdown formatting, and has a ton of
power-user features like tagging, scripting, filters, customizable tool
palettes, and Shortcuts integration.
🌐 Chrome Extensions
- Vimium - Vim keybindings for navigation and
scrolling in Chrome.
- TamperMonkey - User scripts for Chrome.
- DarkReader - Automatic dark mode for all
websites. (Works ~pretty well)
- Strict Workflow -
A pomodoro timer that has the added benefit of blocking distracting sites
while you’re in “work mode”
- Privacy Badger -
Blocks tracking cookies and embeds. Created by the
EFF.
- Copy as Markdown -
Simple utility to copy links as
[markdown](links).
- Distill Web Monitor -
A useful extension for getting notified when a webpage changes.
🛠 Utilities
- Rectangle - A great window resizing/tiling
utility app for macOS.
- Raycast - My preferred Spotlight replacement.
- grip - Grip allows you to preview Github
speeds up the process of writing Github READMEs.
- stats - macOS system monitor menu bar
utility.
- codemod - Straight-forward tool for
performing large-scale find-and-replace refactors on code.
- fastmod - A rewrite of
codemod in Rust that’s much faster. Great for very large codebases!
Single Serving Websites
- Kill the Newsletter! - Converts
email newsletters to RSS feeds.
- rewind.website (a.k.a. “Cast Rewinder”) - Allows
you to listen to podcasts “from the beginning” by rehosting an RSS feed that
emits olds episodes on a schedule.
- PolitePol - Creates RSS feeds from websites
that don’t publish feeds.
💽 Databases
- Sequel Pro - Sequel Pro is a great GUI
interface for MySQL. It allows you to create and modify tables, query
tables, edit and create rows, everything you’d need to bootstrap a database
setup. Two thumbs up. 👍👍
- Postico - Postico is pretty much at
feature-parity with Sequal Pro, but for PostgreSQL.
(Updated August 3, 2025
)