10 Developer Tools I Couldn’t Work Without (That Hardly Anyone Talks About)
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When you say “developer tools,” people picture the same greatest-hits lineup VS Code, GitHub, maybe Postman if you’re feeling like living dangerously. And fair enough, they’re essential. But honestly? Once you start coding every day, you realize your sanity depends just as much on the other tools. The ones that don’t get conference talks, the ones nobody tweets about, but without them, my day feels like wading through glue.
So, here’s my slightly-chaotic, no-particular-order list of underrated tools that quietly keep me moving.
1. Raycast – Basically My Mac’s Teleporter
If Spotlight is the family sedan, Raycast is the motorbike faster, sleeker, and slightly more fun to drive. I open apps, search the web, run scripts, dig through my clipboard history, even approve GitHub PRs, all without leaving the keyboard.
I don’t think people realize how much time they spend moving a mouse around like they’re shooing flies. Raycast cuts that nonsense down to almost zero.
2. Insomnia – The API Tester I Actually Enjoy Using
Postman’s fine until it feels like it’s wearing a three-piece suit just to pour you a cup of coffee. Insomnia is lighter, cleaner, and great for REST and GraphQL without all the ceremony.
Typical day: I’m wiring up an endpoint, testing requests, saving them for later, grabbing auto-generated snippets for fetch or axios. Job done, no drama.
3. Notion – My Brain’s Off-Site Storage
Notion’s supposedly for writers and “aesthetic productivity” folks. Sure. But I’ve turned mine into a little Developer HQ:
Code snippets I reuse
API keys I’d rather not lose (encrypted, of course)
Project ideas I may or may not start
A tracker for courses I’ll definitely finish this time
It’s less “second brain” and more “place I dump everything so I can stop thinking about it.”
4. Figma – Because Napkin Sketches Age Poorly
I can’t draw to save my life, and yet sometimes I need to plan a UI. Figma spares me from whatever illegible chicken scratches I’d otherwise produce.
Also, the plugins instant placeholder data, icon sets, color palettes basically cheat codes for looking like you know what you’re doing.
5. TLDR Pages – Commands Without the Wall of Text
I do not have the mental energy to read man pages when all I want is “what’s the syntax again?”
Example:
tldr tar
tar -xvf file.tar # Extract file.tar
tar -czvf archive.tar.gz folder # Create compressed archive
Two lines. Done. Bless.
6. Excalidraw – When I Need to Think in Pictures
Sometimes an idea is just… stuck in my head until I draw it out. Excalidraw’s this ridiculously simple online whiteboard that feels like a pen and paper except I can share it instantly.
API flow? Database relationships? Random doodles during a meeting? All fair game.
7. Responsively App – Testing Responsiveness Without Losing My Mind
Before this, I was resizing my browser window over and over like a lab rat pressing the same button. Responsively shows multiple device views at once. Feels like magic the first time you use it.
8. Cronhub – Cron Jobs Without Guesswork
A cron job failing silently is the stuff of nightmares. Cronhub lets me schedule, monitor, and get alerts before things go sideways.
It’s not glamorous but neither is waking up to find your background tasks died three days ago.
9. Shottr – Screenshots, Minus the Overhead
This little Mac app is the fastest way I’ve found to grab, annotate, and paste screenshots straight into chat or email.
No menus, no opening a heavy editor, just snap and done.
10. Wakatime – The Honest Mirror
I’m not always ready to see how much time I spend on certain projects, but Wakatime doesn’t care about my feelings. It quietly logs my coding hours, what languages I touch, and where my focus actually goes.
Sometimes the results are motivating. Sometimes… less so.
Closing Thought
Efficiency isn’t just having the right framework or the newest laptop. It’s about surrounding yourself with the tiny helpers that smooth out the rough edges of your day.
Pick two from this list and slip them into your workflow for a week. Odds are, you’ll keep them. Or they’ll keep you.
