Tools I Use Every Day (June 2025 Edition)

As a developer and productivity geek, I’m always on the lookout for tools that actually make a difference. Not shiny distractions, not “used once during a hackathon” tools—just the solid ones I open every single day without even thinking about it.

This post is a snapshot of my current daily toolset—apps and platforms I use to build, write, collaborate, test, and sometimes even stay sane. From heavy hitters like GitHub and JetBrains Rider to underrated gems like LM Studio and Feedly, these tools shape how I work and learn.

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🚀 Code, Build, Ship

These are the tools I rely on every day to write code, navigate Git repos, and ship things that (hopefully) work.

🐙 GitHub

GitHub is the backbone of everything I work on. Whether it’s for solo side projects, enterprise customer migrations, or building demos, it’s the hub. I use Actions for CI/CD, Discussions to brainstorm ideas, and Projects to organize work like a dev Kanban nerd (for my other task, of course I use Notion)

🤖 GitHub Copilot

One of my favorite tools—hands down. I use Copilot not just for code completion but also in Chat mode and Agent mode. It’s like pair programming with a bot that doesn’t judge my messy logic. It speeds up my dev flow and this is the most important thing for me.

Tip: Ask Copilot Chat to explain regex or refactor a LINQ expressions. It's magical.

🧠 JetBrains Rider

When it comes to .NET development, Rider is my home base. Fast, stable, packed with refactoring tools, and incredibly smart about C# code. I’ve tried going back to Visual Studio a few times, but Rider always pulls me back in.

📝 Visual Studio Code

VS Code is my Swiss Army knife. I use it for:

• Writing Markdown (like this blog post)
• Quick script edits
• JSON/YAML configs
• PowerShell scripting
• Cloud automation like Bicep

Of course, the best implementation for GitHub Copilot is here, so, this is also why I use the most VS Code.

🌊 GitKraken

I love visual Git. GitKraken helps me:

• Manage branches without typing a single git command
• Handle rebase and merge conflicts visually
• Undo mistakes fast
• Manage GitFlow very fast, even if I am a big fan of a terminal

It’s especially useful when working across multiple projects or mentoring teammates through Git chaos.

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💬 Communication + Collaboration

Love it or hate it, modern development is a team sport—and that means messaging, calls, and more pings than lines of code some days.

💼 Microsoft Teams

It’s the standard in many corporate environments, so I use it for most of my client meetings and internal syncs. Calendar integration is solid, and the recording/transcript features are lifesavers.
Since a while I use it also with my personal account, for my private and side projects.

💬 Slack

Slack is where async magic happens. I use it mostly for internal team chatter, dev communities, and that one channel where someone posts memes during serious meetings. It's fast, searchable, and makes communication feel less formal and more natural.

🎮 Discord

If I had a say in it, Discord would be my default messaging app for work. It blends voice, chat, and channels beautifully. The UI is slick, the latency is low, and bots make it incredibly flexible. I hang out in several dev servers (I think I am in like 50 servers) and use it for casual team check-ins when I can.

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🧠 Thinking, Planning, and Learning

Staying productive isn’t just about writing code—it's about managing knowledge, learning continuously, and making space to think clearly.

📓 Notion

My second brain. I use Notion to:

• Plan blog posts and conference talks
• Track projects, ideas, and side hustles
• Store useful links, prompts, code snippets, and more

It’s where half of my thinking happens. If Notion ever goes down, I go into digital withdrawal.
I really cannot live without Notion anymore since few years now.

💬 ChatGPT (Pro)

I’m a paid ChatGPT user—and I absolutely get my money’s worth. I use it very often for brainstorming ideas, review my emails or documentation, help me for socials and sometimes to speed up my tasks at work (not code related)

📰 Feedly

My RSS reader of choice. It’s how I keep up with:

• Dev blogs
• AI research updates
• .NET and cloud news
• Design and UX posts (because I try to suck less at UI over time)

Feedly helps me avoid doomscrolling and gives me high-signal, low-distraction updates.

I created a Curated RSS Feed Bundle for Web Developers — a hand-picked OPML file of the best dev blogs and websites on the internet.
💡 Just download, import into your favorite RSS reader (like Feedly), and enjoy fresh insights every day.

👉 Grab it on Gumroad — stay sharp without the noise.

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🤖 AI Playground

AI isn’t just a buzzword in my workflow—it’s something I explore, tweak, and sometimes break for fun and learning.

🧪 LM Studio

LM Studio lets me run Small Language Models (SLMs) locally—yes, on my own machine, offline. Perfect for testing AI capabilities, comparing models, or just seeing how much performance you can squeeze out of a laptop. I’ve used it with C# code and even ran some LM fine-tuning experiments during late-night “what-if” sessions.

⚖️ Azure Local AI Foundry

This one is a bit more advanced. I use it to test local deployments of AI models in enterprise-like scenarios, especially when prepping demos or PoCs for customers. It’s basically my playground for building realistic, secure AI workflows that mimic production setups.

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🔧 Terminal & Utilities

This is the layer where real work gets done. The tools that live just a keyboard shortcut away—and often power everything else behind the scenes.

🖥️ Windows Terminal

Honestly? I love Windows Terminal. It’s beautiful, customizable, and makes working with PowerShell, Git Bash, and WSL a pleasure. I’ve themed it with Oh My Posh and use it for everything from Git operations to local server runs.

It’s one of the first things I install on any new machine.

🛏️ Postman

Still one of the best tools for testing and documenting APIs. I use it to:

• Test backend endpoints
• Save and organize requests for later
• Share collection configs with teammates or clients

Even with CLI tools or REST clients in code, Postman remains unmatched for exploring APIs fast.

🔐 NordPass

I’m not going to pretend I remember all my passwords or API keys. NordPass saves my sanity. Bonus: the autofill works better than I expected, and the cross-device sync is seamless.

🛡️ NordVPN

I travel. I work from coffee shops. I deal with enterprise firewalls. NordVPN ensures I stay safe and occasionally lets me pretend I’m browsing from another country when I need it. 😅

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🌐 Browsing & Dev Tools

Where the web meets development—and where I often juggle tabs like a circus act.

🌍 Microsoft Edge

Yes, I use Edge—and I like it. It’s fast, integrates beautifully with Microsoft 365, and the sidebar tools are actually useful. Plus, the DevTools are solid, especially when debugging layout issues or testing Progressive Web Apps (PWAs).

🦚 Firefox Developer Edition

This is my “let’s test something in a clean, developer-centric browser” tool. It’s lightweight, privacy-focused, and gives me a second pair of eyes when something doesn’t render right in Chromium. Also great for messing with experimental features or network throttling.

🌐 ngrok

Whenever I need to expose a local server to the web—whether for testing a webhook, sharing a quick demo, or connecting to an AI model running on my laptop—ngrok is my go-to. It’s reliable, easy to configure, and insanely useful for remote development.

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💸 What Does This Stack Cost Me?

Using the best tools often means mixing free, freemium, and paid options. Some tools are 100% free, while others are well worth the investment for the time and sanity they save.

Here’s a breakdown of what my current stack could cost you, depending on your plan choices (approximate prices as of 2025):

Note: Some tools (like Azure Local AI Foundry) are usage-based and can vary significantly depending on your workload.

All in all, this stack could cost anywhere from \$50/month to over \$100/month, depending on your usage and licensing tiers. For me, it’s a no-brainer—these tools are part of my workflow, my learning, and even my creative process.
It's also true that a lot of these tools are for free for me because of my awards (like Microsoft MVP and GitHub Star), but I will pay for them anyway.

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🧠 Tired of Copilot guessing your coding style?

I got you. Head over to copilotinstructions.xyz and grab some battle-tested copilot-instructions.md files for PowerShell, C#, Blazor, and more.
🤖 Turn Copilot from \"helpful-ish\" to \"heck yeah, that's exactly what I meant.\"

Fork it, tweak it, make it yours. Because Copilot deserves good instructions too.