Developer Essentials: Tools I Rely on Daily

As developers, we often talk about frameworks, languages, and system architecture—but we always rely on some tools in our daily basis to say organized, creative, and efficient. Here's a look into the stack that supports my daily dev and content creation routine.

✅ ClickUp – Task & Sprint Management

ClickUp is my personal task board and project planner. I use it to manage my day-to-day to-dos and run sprints for side projects. The free plan is surprisingly generous—you can invite up to 10 collaborators, making it ideal for small teams or solo devs who like structure.

🧠 Notion – Brain Dump to Final Draft

Notion is my second brain. From meeting notes to blog outlines, fast to-do scribbles to structured content plans—it all lives here. Every blog I publish starts as a messy idea in Notion and gradually takes shape before final delivery.

🤖 ChatGPT – AI Pair Programmer

Yep, I use ChatGPT (you❓) like a 24/7 assistant—for debugging, generating code snippets, exploring architecture patterns, or even naming files and blog titles. It’s like having a thoughtful pair programmer always on call. And honestly, for moral support too—I often treat it like a personal companion, sharing ideas, frustrations, or just thinking out loud when working solo.

📰 daily.dev – My Dev Feed

daily.dev curates high-quality dev blogs and news in one tab. I use it every day to learn from fellow developers, follow trends, and get inspired to share my own stories and lessons.

I’m also planning to publish my chiristo.dev blogs there soon—because why not sneak my thoughts into your feed while you’re casually scrolling and pretending to “stay updated”?

🧑‍💻 VS Code – My Coding HQ

VS Code is my preferred IDE. I don’t think this one even needs a justification—this guy’s a certified banger for developers.

It’s so good, I sometimes open it just to feel productive... even if I write nothing 😏

💻 WezTerm – Terminal, Upgraded

WezTerm is my custom terminal on macOS. It’s fast, GPU-accelerated, and fully customizable. I’ve added a few personal touches to make it match my workflow and aesthetic.

🔌 Postman – API Testing Made Easy

Postman is where I play around with my APIs before trusting them with real users. I try to squeeze the best out of it for my own projects. Basically, it’s where my backend gets grilled before it’s allowed to go live 🫥

🧰 Other Tools I Use

• Figma – Where my UI ideas ( shits ) go to look prettier than my actual code
• PixelLab – Quick mobile magic for thumbnails when I’m too lazy to open my laptop
• Canva – My shortcut to “looking like I know design” without actually designing
• Leonardo.Ai – I just type some nonsense and boom—AI gives me poster-level art
• Pika Labs – For when I want videos but don’t want to touch Premiere Pro or my sanity cuz i dont know that 🥱

🧵 Final Thoughts

These are the tools I rely on daily—and occasionally when a specific need arises. I’m sure there are even better tools out there that I haven’t discovered yet, so if you have suggestions, feel free to reach out on social media. I’d genuinely love to check them out.

Thanks again for reading!

Feel free to share this post with fellow devs — and if you’ve got feedback, ideas, or questions, I’d love to hear from you.