Software I use, gadgets I love, and other things I recommend.

I get asked a lot about the things I use to build software, stay productive, or just enjoy using on a daily basis. Here's a big list of all of my favorite stuff.

Development tools

  • PhpStorm

    My go-to IDE — big fan of PhpStorm paired with the Laravel Idea plugin. Intelligent code completion, deep framework support, and powerful refactoring make it indispensable for my daily workflow.

  • Laravel Herd

    The fastest way to get a Laravel development environment up and running on macOS. One-click PHP, Nginx, and DNS — no Docker, no Homebrew, just works.

  • TablePlus

    A modern, native database management tool. Clean interface for working with MySQL, PostgreSQL, and SQLite databases across all my projects.

  • Claude Code

    The AI coding companion that actually gets it. From scaffolding full features to debugging tricky issues — Claude Code is in my terminal daily. Early adopter, no regrets. This very website was built with it.

Frameworks & Tech

  • Laravel

    The PHP framework for web artisans. I've been building with Laravel since its early days and it continues to be my framework of choice for any serious PHP project.

  • Statamic

    A beautifully crafted CMS built on Laravel. This very website is built with Statamic. Its flat-file approach and powerful templating make content management a joy.

  • Tailwind CSS

    Utility-first CSS framework that completely changed how I approach styling. Fast, consistent, and makes responsive design effortless.

  • Filament

    A beautiful admin panel and form builder for Laravel. Perfect for rapidly building back-office tools and CRUD interfaces without reinventing the wheel.

  • Laravel Nova

    Laravel's official admin panel. Clean, powerful, and deeply integrated with Eloquent. My go-to for building administration dashboards on client projects.

  • Inertia.js

    The bridge between Laravel and modern frontend frameworks. I use Inertia with both React and Vue to build single-page apps without the complexity of a separate API.

  • Pest

    Big fan of Nuno Maduro's work. Pest makes testing in PHP elegant and enjoyable — expressive syntax, powerful expectations, and built for the Laravel ecosystem.

Productivity

  • Raycast

    A blazingly fast, totally extendable launcher for macOS. I use it for everything from switching apps to running scripts and searching documentation.

  • GitHub & GitLab

    GitHub for open source projects and personal work, GitLab for client and company projects. Both for version control, CI/CD pipelines, and project management.

Workstation

  • MacBook Pro 14-inch (2024)

    Apple M4 Max, 36 GB RAM. This machine handles everything I throw at it — multiple PhpStorm projects, Docker containers, browser tabs, and builds without breaking a sweat.