Tools I use

The hardware, software, and everyday tools I use to build projects, organise ideas, and make things. This is a living record of my setup, with a few things I’ve made myself along the way.

Last updated: September 2026.

At my desk

MacBook Pro — M1 Pro and M4 Pro

I still use my M1 Pro MacBook Pro, and I now also have a MacBook Pro with M4 Pro. Both are part of my current setup.

Apple keyboard and Logitech MX Master 3S

An Apple keyboard and MX Master 3S are the keyboard and mouse in my main desk setup.

Two monitors and a DIY riser

I use an electriQ monitor alongside a smaller 19-inch monitor. The monitor riser is something I made myself.

Everyday tools

Raycast

One of the tools I use most on my Mac. Clipboard history, built-in window management, and Quicklinks help me move quickly between tasks.

Shottr

Still my tool for taking screenshots.

Hidden Bar

Part of my everyday Mac setup for keeping the menu bar organised.

Mole

I use Mole to help keep my Mac clean and remove unnecessary bloat.

Vivaldi

The browser I continue to use day to day.

Amplenote

Where I keep notes and collect ideas.

Cal.com

My scheduling tool.

Writing code and working together

Visual Studio Code and IntelliJ

Both are still part of my development setup. IntelliJ is the JetBrains IDE I currently use.

DBeaver

I switched from DataGrip to DBeaver for database work because DataGrip is a paid tool.

cmux and Oh My Zsh

cmux is my terminal of choice. I use it with Oh My Zsh to customise the shell, including its themes.

GitHub Desktop and Slack

I use GitHub Desktop to speed up my Git workflow, and Slack for communication.

Hosting and running projects

Coolify

I use Coolify heavily to spin up services and manage deployments for code I’m developing. It’s a central part of how I run my projects.

Hetzner

My current self-hosted setup runs on one Hetzner machine.

Ghost

The publishing platform behind this website and blog.

Uptime Kuma

I use it to monitor my sites and keep an eye on their availability.

Data and automation

These are the tools I use for personal projects, from trying out a data flow to storing and analysing the results.

Apache NiFi

I use NiFi to prototype data flows.

ClickHouse

Where I store analytical data for personal projects.

DuckDB

A tool I reach for when I need to analyse data quickly.

PostgreSQL

Also part of my personal-project toolkit. PostgreSQL is a general-purpose relational database; ClickHouse has a different focus on analytical workloads.

n8n

I use n8n to build automations for my personal projects.

Making and documenting

A pocket camera and CapCut

I bought a DJI Osmo Pocket 4 before a family trip to Scotland to record little moments. I brought the clips into CapCut and stitched them together into a home video, without much editing.

Read: Making a home video again →

A typewriter and Dirty Little Zine

For a gift to a friend, we used Dirty Little Zine to lay out old group photos and wrote a separate letter on a typewriter. Choosing better paper was part of making the gift feel personal.

Read: A small zine and a typewritten letter →

Tools I’ve used, but aren’t in active rotation

Cyberduck and Postman: I haven’t used either recently, although I still consider them useful tools.

NocoDB and Directus: I still see value in them, but I don’t currently have a need for either.

DataGrip, PyCharm, and Rider: These were in my earlier tools list. I’ve moved to DBeaver for database work and haven’t used PyCharm or Rider recently.