// Uses

Tools of the trade.

Updated · 2026-05-07

The hardware, software, and services I actually use. Updated when something changes. No affiliate links — I don't run any.

Hardware

  • Laptop: 14" MacBook Pro, M-series, 32GB RAM. Replaced a 16" Intel that ran my office at 90°F.
  • Display: A single 27" 4K. I tried two monitors. I have a stronger neck for one.
  • Keyboard: Tactile mechanical, hot-swappable. The specific switches change every few months because I am that kind of person.
  • Headphones: Sony WH-1000XM5 for calls and travel. Wired IEMs for actual listening.
  • Phone: iPhone, on the previous year's model. I do not pre-order phones.

Editor & shell

  • Editor: Cursor for most things, with the occasional drop into vim for muscle memory.
  • Shell: zsh + starship. Tmux when I'm in incident-mode.
  • Terminal: Ghostty.
  • Dotfiles: Boring, intentionally. The fanciest thing in there is a function called oncall that opens three specific tabs.

Productivity

  • Notes: Obsidian, plain markdown, synced through iCloud. Backed up to a private GitHub repo on a cron.
  • Tasks: Things 3. I've tried everything else. I always come back.
  • Calendar: Google Calendar with one extra calendar called "focus" that blocks Mondays from 9–12.
  • Reading: Reeder for RSS, Readwise for archive, paper books for everything that matters.

Cloud / dev

  • Cloud: I have lived in AWS so long I have opinions about IAM. This site is on Cloudflare Pages because Astro is happy there.
  • Hosting: Cloudflare Pages for static + Cloudflare Functions for the chat endpoint.
  • DNS: Cloudflare.
  • CI: GitHub Actions, kept boring on purpose.

AI tooling

  • Daily driver: A rotating mix. I'm trying to keep my comparison fresh.
  • Code review: A pre-review pass on PRs (see the blog post).
  • Writing: I draft in plain text, paste into an LLM for one round of "what's missing," then ignore most of the suggestions.

Security & learning

  • Skills practice: TryHackMe, weekly-ish.
  • Password manager: 1Password, family plan.
  • 2FA: Hardware keys for everything that supports them, otherwise an authenticator app. SMS 2FA is not a security mechanism.
  • VPN: Tailscale for personal infra. Commercial VPNs only when traveling.