Boost Your Productivity: Tools and Plugins I Use 24/7
From Mac Apps to Terminal Tricks: How I Stay Productive
Alright, I might have lied to you. It’s not 24/7 — more like 9 to 5 in weekdays, to be honest. 😅
As a Data Engineer I don’t need to be super productive but it helps to reduce my stress. With the right tools and setup I can finish tasks with minimal stress and acceptable speed. Over the time I’ve found a set of tools and plugins which have become part of my daily workflow. These tools save my time and keep me organized and focused so I can do any task easily.
In this post I’ll share the apps and tools I use on my Mac and how I set up my terminal to make life easier. Whether you’re a beginner looking to boost your productivity or an intermediate developer looking for new tips I hope you’ll find something useful here. Let’s get into the productivity toolkit that offers efficiency and stress-free workflow.
“Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort.” ~Paul J. Meyer
Mac Apps & Tools
These tools help me manage tasks, keep everything organized and streamline my workflow. Here are the apps and tools I use daily.
CotEditor (Free)
Coming from Windows, CotEditor is my go-to text editor on Mac, much like Notepad++ on Windows. It’s lightweight, fast, and supports multiple programming languages. I use it for quick edits, inspecting small log files, and even for some lite coding tasks.
- Why I use it: Simple, fast, and supports multiple languages.
Rectangle (Freemium)
Rectangle is a must have window management tool that lets me snap windows into predefined sizes and positions using keyboard shortcuts. I use the pro version, trust me it’s worth it.
- Why I use it: Window management, customizable shortcuts.
Shottr (Freemium)
A powerful screenshot tool that helps me capture and annotate screenshots easily.
- Why I use it: Fast, easy to use, built-in annotation tools.
AltTab (Free)
AltTab brings the Windows Alt+Tab window switching to Mac. I can switch between open applications with a simple shortcut without bringing all the windows to the front (e.g. when opening multiple windows of Chrome).
- Why I use it: Faster application switching, familiar workflow from Windows. Quickly toggling between open applications windows.
Maccy (Free)
clipboard manager that stores and organizes my clipboard. I can retrieve and reuse copied items.
- Why I use it: Keeps clipboard history, easy to get past items (duh!).
MiddleClick (Free)
MiddleClick gives me middle click on my Mac trackpad so I can quickly close tabs and open links in new tabs.
- Why I use it: Trackpad functionality, faster browsing.
Bartender (Paid/Free Trial)
This tool helps me manage my menu bar icons so my desktop stays clean and I can find the tools I need. And keeps my menu bar icons away from the notch :D.
- Why I use it: Keeps menu bar organized, hides unused icons.
1Password (Paid)
1Password is a password manager that stores and auto-fills my passwords so I never forget a password and can get to my accounts fast.
- Why I use it: Secure password storage, easy access to passwords.
JetBrains (Paid)
and lastly, I use JetBrainse as my main IDE for many of my projects. It has a suite of IDEs (IntelliJ IDEA, PyCharm, WebStorm) that have smart code completion, analysis and refactoring tools.
- Why I use it: Powerful development environment, supports multiple languages.
My Terminal
As a developer your terminal is probably like your second home. It’s where you run commands, manage your environment and interact with various systems. A well configured terminal setup can boost your productivity and reduce stress. I use iTerm2 on my mac and zsh as my shell.
Oh-my-zsh
A big part of my setup is Oh-My-Zsh, a framework for managing zsh configurations. I enabled several essential plugins to it, here are some of them.
- dirhistory: Tracks directory history for quicker navigation.
- docker: Simplifies Docker commands and management.
- aliases: Custom shortcuts for frequently used commands.
- gcloud: Integrates Google Cloud commands for seamless cloud management.
- kubectl: Enhances Kubernetes management with shortcuts and autocompletion.
You can find all of the plugins here:
eza
Don’t get me wrong, the good old ls is sometime good enough, but eza takes it to the next level. eza is a modern replacement for ls with a focus on user experience. It enhances the terminal experience by providing a more detailed and colorful output, making it easier to read and understand directory listings.
With features like file type indicators, Git status integration, and improved performance, eza makes navigation and file management in the terminal a breeze. It’s a small change that has a big impact on efficiency, allowing me to quickly find and manage files with ease.
fzf
Finding files, directories or command history can be a pain, but fzf makes it easy. fzf is a command-line fuzzy finder that changes the way you search and select files, command history and more.
Instead of typing out paths or scrolling through long lists fzf lets you filter and find what you need in a few keystrokes. Its interactive search is a game changer, speeds up tasks like finding files, running commands and navigating directories.
Bonus
You can also write your own custom fzf scripts to make your life easier. For example, I wrote a custom SSH fzf completion script for all the VMs in my company, so I don’t have to remember the IP or hostname of any VM. This has saved me hours and hours and reduced the hassle of managing multiple connections.
If you’re interested in doing something similar, check out this article:
Wrapping Up
So, there you have it — my go-to tools and plugins that keep me productive and (mostly) stress-free as a developer. These tools help me get things done efficiently and with minimal hassle.
Try them out and let me know. Or leave a comment with your own tools and tips. I’m always up for discovering new ways to boost my productivity. ✌🏼
