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

  • 14” MacBook Pro, M1 Max, 64GB RAM (2021)

    I was using an Intel-based 16” MacBook Pro prior to this and the difference is night and day. I’ve never heard the fans turn on a single time, even under the incredibly heavy loads I put it through like running npm install lol.

  • Apple Pro Display XDR (Nano Glass)

    The only display on the market if you want something HiDPI and bigger than 27”. When you’re working at planetary scale, every pixel you can get counts. I have the Nano Glass, and wish I would have gone with the standard glossy.

  • Herman Miller Aeron Chair

    If I’m going to slouch in the worst ergonomic position imaginable all day, I might as well do it in an expensive chair.

Development tools

  • Cursor

    Recently started using cursor as my IDE, which brings in the power of GPT right to the development process. Gamechanger.

  • iTerm2

    I’m honestly not even sure what features I get with this that aren’t just part of the macOS Terminal but it’s what I use.

  • Tinkerwell

    Enjoy coding and debugging in an editor designed for fast feedback and quick iterations. It's like a shell for your application – but with multi-line editing, code completion, and more.

  • TablePlus

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

Design

  • Figma

    We started using Figma as just a design tool but now it’s become our virtual whiteboard for the entire company. Never would have expected the collaboration features to be the real hook.

Productivity

  • 1Password

    I can't stress enough how important it is to securely store your credentials.

  • Spark

    It is the email app that I ended up not hating the most, and trust me I've been through dozens of different email clients.