Software I use, gadgets I love, and other things I recommend.

I get asked a lot about the things I use to build software, stay productive, or buy to fool myself into thinking I’m being productive when I’m really just procrastinating. Here’s a big list of all of my favorite stuff.

Workstation

  • M4 MacBook Pro

    The perfect balance of power and portability. The performance of it is just insane.

Development tools

  • VS Code

    I don’t care what anyone says, VS Code is the best code editor.

  • Warp

    Great terminal replacement for macOS. Written in Rust, so it’s fast and has a lot of great features.

  • TablePlus

    Great software for working with databases. Has saved me from building about a thousand admin interfaces for my various projects over the years.

  • Postman

    The best way to test APIs. I use it every day.

  • MongoDB Compass

    Great GUI for working with MongoDB. I use it all the time. Aggregations are a breeze.

  • Brave

    My browser of choice. I love the privacy features and the built-in ad blocker. Chromium-based, so it’s fast.

Design

  • Figma

    The best design tool out there. I use it for everything from wireframes to high-fidelity mockups.

  • Excalidraw

    Great for quick wireframes or diagrams. I use it all the time to sketch out ideas.

Productivity

  • GitHub Copilot

    The AI pair programmer, which makes me a 10x developer.

  • Perplexity

    Great AI search engine for quickly finding things.

  • Apple Notes

    I’ve tried every note-taking app under the sun and I always come back to Apple Notes. It’s just the best.

  • Look Away

    A simple app that reminds you to look away from your screen every 20 minutes. Great for saving your eyes.