/uses

Tools I use

My current setup, what changed in the last few years, and why. I update this page when I swap something worth mentioning.

Last updated: April 2026

01Editor and IDE

JetBrains Rider: Primary IDE for .NET / C#. Correct refactors, first-class debugger, built-in profiler. Rider + ReSharper delete half of my manual refactor work.
Visual Studio (when needed): Still open for Windows-only projects, IIS debugger, and some SDK wizards. Not daily, but ready when I need it.
VS Code: Editor for TypeScript, MDX, Markdown, and everything non-.NET. With GitHub Copilot + ESLint + Prettier + Tailwind CSS IntelliSense extensions.
Claude Code (CLI) + Codex: AI-assisted development is part of my flow — I use it for refactors, test generation, architectural review, and doc drafts. Not a crutch; a multiplier.

02System and terminal

macOS: Daily driver for years. Unix under the hood + commercial apps I need (Figma, Keynote, communication). Docker Desktop well-tuned.
zsh + oh-my-zsh: Custom prompt, inline git status, per-session history. Short aliases for git, docker, and npm.
iTerm2: Terminal. Split panes, per-project profiles, hotkey window always available.
Homebrew: Manages everything (node, dotnet, gh, jq, k9s, postgres-client). A documented Brewfile gets a new laptop ready in 30 minutes.

03Runtime and stack

.NET 9: Core of my backend stack for 7+ years. ASP.NET Core, Entity Framework Core, Serilog. Fast, typed, predictable in production.
Node.js (LTS): For frontend tooling, scripts, and Next.js projects. Via fnm for multi-version. npm by default; no yarn/pnpm without a specific reason.
PostgreSQL 16: Default relational DB. Migrations via EF Core or drizzle-kit. For local dev, Docker Compose with a named volume.
Redis: Distributed cache and rate limiting. Used carefully — if it's not measured, it's wishful thinking.

04Quality and observability

Serilog: Structured logs. Any log without enough context to investigate an incident is a wasted log.
New Relic / Application Insights: APM. Distributed tracing + infrastructure metrics. The cost pays for itself on the first incident where you find the bottleneck in minutes.
xUnit + FluentAssertions: Tests in .NET. Focus on testing contract and behavior, not lines of code.
Playwright: E2E when it makes sense. Critical-path regression on payment and auth flows.

05Productivity

Raycast: Replaced Spotlight and Alfred. Snippets, clipboard history, hotkey window for any app.
Linear: Work management. Fast, opinionated, doesn't become a bureaucratic form.
Notion: Personal docs and technical notes. Not a product source of truth; it's my notebook.
Arc Browser: Primary browser — vertical tabs, workspaces split for work/personal, boosts to tweak specific sites.

off-screen

I also train jiu-jitsu (blue belt), play guitar, play tennis as an honest beginner, have two cats, and an NFC biochip in my hand. Photography when time allows — photos at @rwinterlens.