# Tools # 🔧 Tools I Use 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)](/blog/2025/02/02/How-I-Use-AI-Early-2025/). ### 🖥 Hardware - 💻 Laptop: [MacBook Air (M2, 2022)](https://support.apple.com/en-us/111867/) - 🖥 Desktop: [Mac mini (M1, 2020)](https://support.apple.com/kb/SP823?locale=en_US) - 🖱 Mouse: [Anker Ergonomic Vertical USB Wired Mouse](https://www.amazon.com/Anker-Ergonomic-Optical-Vertical-Buttons/dp/B00FPAVUHC) - ⌨ Keyboard: [Kinesis Freestyle Pro](https://kinesis-ergo.com/shop/freestyle-pro/) (with Cherry MX Red switches) - 🎧 Headphones: - [Airpods Pro 2](https://www.apple.com/airpods-pro/) - For use while on-the-go, running, or doing work around the house. Superb noise canceling. - [Sony MDR-7506](https://pro.sony/ue_US/products/headphones/mdr-7506) - Workhorse headphones. Great for listening to music, or to use in music production. - If you own/buy these, do yourself a favor and buy a set of aftermarket [foam pads](https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07FSPF3YV). The stock ear cups are quite uncomfortable, in my experience. - [Sennheiser HD 6XX](https://drop.com/buy/massdrop-sennheiser-hd6xx) - Open-backed headphones for deliberately listening to music. - _DAC/AMP:_ JDS [Atom AMP+](https://jdslabs.com/product/atom-amp/) and [Atom DAC+](https://jdslabs.com/product/atom-dac-plus/) - I'm still a newbie audiophile, but these sound real good with my Sennheiser HX 6XX's. Superb clarity. - 🖊 Pens - Pentel EnerGel Needle Tip 0.3 - [Pilot G2 O7](http://pilotpen.us/categories/gel-ink-pens/g2/) - [Pilot Juice Up 0.4](https://www.amazon.com/Pilot-juice-Retractable-Ultra-LJP-20S4/dp/B06Y3XY1TP) - [Sakura Sigma Micron Black 03](https://sakuraofamerica.com/pen-archival) - 📓 Notebooks: - Daily Todos, Brainstorming, Ephemera: [Leuchtturm1917 A6 Hardcover Dotted Notebook](https://www.leuchtturm1917.us/notebook-pocket-a6-hardcover-185-numbered-pages-3-1-2-x-6-in.html) - Longer term notes: [Leuchtturm1917 A5 Hardcover Dotted Notebook](https://www.leuchtturm1917.us/notebooks/all-formats/medium-a5/) ### 👨‍💻 Development - [Claude Code](https://www.anthropic.com/claude-code) - My favorite in-terminal AI coding agent. - [Cursor](https://www.cursor.com/) - My go-to editor for most things. - [VSCode](https://code.visualstudio.com/) - 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](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=trongthanh.theme-boxythemekit) - Boxy Solarized Dark is my VSCode theme of choice. - [JSON Tools](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=eriklynd.json-tools) - Useful for pretty-formatting JSON. - [Paste URL](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=kukushi.pasteurl) - A simple extension for pasting URLs into Markdown documents. Automatically pulls the link's title, and formats it as `[title](url)`. - [Auto Close Tag](https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=formulahendry.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](https://github.com/bcongdon/dotvim). I've also been keeping [notes](/vim) on my vim learnings. ### ⌨ Terminal - [iTerm2](https://www.iterm2.com/) - 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](https://github.com/adobe-fonts/source-code-pro) Font - Super readable, and I like the aesthetic. - I use either the builtin _Solarized Dark_ color scheme, or _Solarized Dark High Contrast_ (found [here](https://iterm2colorschemes.com/)). - 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](https://github.com/robbyrussell/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](https://github.com/robbyrussell/oh-my-zsh/wiki/themes#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](https://github.com/junegunn/fzf) - "fzf" is a fast fuzzy file finder. Works great in vim, on the CLI, and for searching shell history. - [zoxide](https://github.com/ajeetdsouza/zoxide) - zoxide is super useful for jumping between frequently used directories. Integrates well with "fzf". - See also, the original ["z"](https://github.com/rupa/z) ### 📱 Services/Apps - [Overcast](https://overcast.fm/) - My preferred [podcast](/podcasts) player. - [Strava](https://www.strava.com/) - For tracking runs, hikes, and cycling. - [Runna](https://runna.com/) - For running training plans. - [Elevenreader](https://elevenreader.io/) - A great app for having articles read to you. - [Libby](https://libbyapp.com) - A slick app for renting ebooks and audiobooks from our local library. - Here's [what I've been reading](/books). - [YNAB](https://www.youneedabudget.com/) - For budgeting. - [Tailscale](https://tailscale.com/) - "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. - [BookPlayer](https://github.com/TortugaPower/BookPlayer) - An open source audiobook player for iOS. #### 🖥 Self-Hosted Services - [Miniflux](https://miniflux.app/) - An excellent minimalist RSS reader. - Here's a [curated list](/blogroll) of blogs I subscribe to. - [Podsync](https://github.com/mxpv/podsync) - Tool for creating Podcast Feeds (RSS) from a Youtube channel. Useful for listening to tech talks on-the-go. #### ☑️ Productivity - [Todoist](https://todoist.com/) - 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](https://taskwarrior.org/) - A simple, 100% local & offline, 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](/blog/2024/08/31/TaskWarrior/). - [Obsidian](https://obsidian.md) - Personal knowledge management tool, with `[[wikilink]]` support. - I wrote more about my usage of Obsidian [here](/blog/2021/01/12/My-Organization-Stack/#obsidian). - [Day One](https://dayoneapp.com/) - An excellent journaling app for Apple platforms (macOS, iOS). - I wrote more about my usage of Day One [here](/blog/2021/01/12/My-Organization-Stack/#dayone). - [Raycast](https://www.raycast.com/) - A customizable Spotlight replacement for macOS. - [AnyList](https://www.anylist.com/) - 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](https://getdrafts.com/) - 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](https://vimium.github.io/) - Vim keybindings for navigation and scrolling in Chrome. - [TamperMonkey](https://www.tampermonkey.net/) - User scripts for Chrome. - [DarkReader](https://darkreader.org/) - Automatic dark mode for all websites. (Works ~pretty well) - [Strict Workflow](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/strict-workflow/cgmnfnmlficgeijcalkgnnkigkefkbhd?hl=en) - A pomodoro timer that has the added benefit of blocking distracting sites while you're in "work mode" - [Privacy Badger](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/privacy-badger/pkehgijcmpdhfbdbbnkijodmdjhbjlgp) - Blocks tracking cookies and embeds. Created by the [EFF](https://www.eff.org/). - [Copy as Markdown](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/copy-as-markdown/fkeaekngjflipcockcnpobkpbbfbhmdn) - Simple utility to copy links as `[markdown](links)`. - [Distill Web Monitor](https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/distill-web-monitor/inlikjemeeknofckkjolnjbpehgadgge?hl=en) - A useful extension for getting notified when a webpage changes. ### 🛠 Utilities - [Rectangle](https://rectangleapp.com/) - A great window resizing/tiling utility app for macOS. - (RIP [Spectacle](https://www.spectacleapp.com/)) - [Raycast](https://www.raycast.com/) - My preferred Spotlight replacement. - [grip](https://github.com/joeyespo/grip) - Grip allows you to preview Github speeds up the process of writing Github READMEs. - [stats](https://github.com/exelban/stats) - macOS system monitor menu bar utility. - [codemod](https://github.com/facebook/codemod) - Straight-forward tool for performing large-scale find-and-replace refactors on code. - [fastmod](https://github.com/facebookincubator/fastmod) - A rewrite of `codemod` in Rust that's much faster. Great for very large codebases! ### Single Serving Websites - [Kill the Newsletter!](https://www.kill-the-newsletter.com/) - Converts email newsletters to RSS feeds. - [rewind.website](https://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](https://politepol.com/en/) - Creates RSS feeds from websites that don't publish feeds. ### 💽 Databases - [Sequel Pro](https://www.sequelpro.com/) - 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](https://eggerapps.at/postico/) - Postico is pretty much at feature-parity with Sequal Pro, but for PostgreSQL. --- (Updated )