What I use every day.
Stack, apps, environment. Everything running on my machine from Guadeloupe to create content, automate and build. Ranked by real frequency of use (not by marketing), with what I pay, what works and what annoys me.
- Active tools30out of 50+ tested
- Monthly cost~€163paid ones · the rest is OSS/free
- Main stackMac · AndroidmacOS · KDE Connect
- Last updatedOctober 18quarterly · ~4× a year
The four tools I cannot work without.
Take one away and my day grinds to a halt. Tested by going without it for 14 days.
Claude
My main thinking assistant. Architecture, writing, code analysis, brainstorming. Sonnet for 95% of cases.
AI · Chat€18/monthClaude Code
The agent that understands my whole codebase. No more copy-pasting code into a chat.
AI · CLI~€20/monthIntelliJ IDEA
My main IDE. Smart refactoring, inspections, advanced debugging. Nothing beats it for serious work.
IDE · Dev~€21/monthArc
One Space per project, Boosts to customize sites, auto-archived tabs. My browsing is finally organized.
Browser · MacFree
Every day
Launched when the machine starts, open at 8am, closed at 7pm. If one breaks, my day is broken.
- iTermTerminal · Mac
My daily terminal on macOS. Splits, sessions, profiles, always open in the background.
4.6Daily · always onFree · OSS - TickTickTasks · Cross-platform
Capture, sort, organize. My inbox-zero system for tasks. Built-in Pomodoro for focus sessions.
4.5Daily · morningFreemium · €2.8/month - Spark MailMail · Mac + iOS
Email organized by priority. Smart replies, scheduled sending, snooze. Inbox zero in under 15 min a day.
4.5Daily · 15 minFreemium - PasteClipboard · Mac
My clipboard manager. Find any text, code or link copied weeks ago in 2 seconds.
4.6Daily · always on~€1.25/month - KDE ConnectSync · Mac + Android
My Mac and my Android in sync. Notifications, shared clipboard, file transfer with no cable.
4.3Daily · always onFree · OSS - ThawMenu bar · Mac
My menu bar is finally clean. Hides the useless icons, organizes what is left. Active fork of Ice.
4.5Daily · always onFree · OSS - NoizioAmbient sound · Mac
A sound backdrop to get into flow. Rain + coffee shop + fireplace, mixed to fit the session.
4.3Daily · focus~€5 one-time - SpotifyMusic · Cross-platform
Focus playlists, tech podcasts, background sound. Annual plan, open as soon as I open the Mac.
4.5Daily · always on~€11/month (annual)
Every week
Not every day, but at least once per cycle. Tools that open sessions of 1 to 4 hours.
- StripePayments · Dashboard
Billing, subscriptions, payment links. Clear dashboard, flawless API, automatic tax.
4.8Weekly · billingFree · 1.4% + €0.25 - n8nAutomation · Self-host
My self-hosted automations. More flexible than Zapier, cheaper at scale. Workflows running around the clock.
4.6Weekly · workflowsSelf-host · ~€5/month - CraftDocs · Mac + iOS
Project documentation, meeting notes, specs. More pleasant than Notion for pure writing.
4.6Weekly · docsFreemium - GitHubCode · Web
My repos, code review, Issues, Actions CI/CD. The central hub for all my personal and client code.
4.7Weekly · codeFree · personal - PerplexityAI search · Web
Web search with cited sources. For tech monitoring and fact-checking, not for complex reasoning.
4.6Weekly · monitoringFreemium - CleanShot XCapture · Mac
Scrolling captures, annotations, GIFs, OCR. Replaces 4 tools with one. Essential for documenting.
4.9Weekly · often€29 one-time
Depending on the project
Drawn when needed. Often for a sprint, sometimes for months.
- DockerContainers · Dev
100% reproducible environments. `docker compose up` and the whole stack is ready in 30 seconds.
4.8Per projectFree · personal - AppwriteBaaS · Open Source
My open source BaaS. Auth, database, storage, functions with no vendor lock-in and no surprise bill at scale.
4.5Per projectSelf-host · free - FirebaseBaaS · Google
For mobile projects that need real time. Firestore + Auth are the best on the market in this category.
4.4Per project · mobileFreemium · usage - CoolifyDeployment · Self-host
Self-hosted deployment on a VPS. The Vercel equivalent at a fraction of the cost. Automatic SSL included.
4.7Per project · prodSelf-host · free - Tailwind CSSUtility CSS · Lib
Styling without leaving the JSX. Minimal bundle, implicit design system. My CSS has never been this maintainable.
4.8Per projectOpen source - HostingerVPS · Hosting
My VPS to host the portfolio, Listmonk and Coolify. Good value for money from Guadeloupe.
4.2Per project · prodFrom €5
Once in a while
Pulled out once a month, or for a specific task. Too specialized for daily use, too useful to skip.
- Claude DesignAI design · Web
To prototype UI components in natural language when I need to move fast without Figma.
4.5~4× / monthIncluded in Pro - MediumPublishing · Monitoring · Web
Read quality tech news and publish articles with organic distribution. Annual Member plan.
4~5× / month~€5/month (annual) - NextcloudStorage · Self-host
Self-hosted file storage on a VPS. My data stays with me, never at Google or Apple.
4.4~5× / monthSelf-host · free - OBS StudioVideo · Mac
Recording SaaS demos, tutorials, screencasts. Preconfigured scenes for each type of content.
4.7~6× / monthOpen source - Adobe Creative CloudCreative suite · Mac
Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere, After Effects. For product visuals, marketing assets and video editing.
4.2~4× / monthAnnual - SetappApp bundle · Mac
About thirty quality Mac apps for one subscription. Avoids repeated individual micro-purchases.
4.4~3× / month~€10/month (annual)
What it really costs, every month.
An honest breakdown, line by line. No hidden affiliations: when there is one, it is marked. This stack saves me ~40h a week, so the trade-off is easy.
| Tool | Category | Amount |
|---|---|---|
| Claude ProAI | €18.00 | |
| IntelliJ IDEADev | €21.00 | |
| Adobe Creative CloudDesign | annual | |
| SpotifyProd | ~€11/month | |
| SetappProd | ~€10/month | |
| Medium MemberMonitoring | ~€5/month | |
| Hostinger VPSInfra | ~€7/month | |
| TickTick PremiumProd | €2.80 | |
| Paste PremiumProd | €1.25 | |
| CleanShot XDesign | €29 (one-time) | |
| The rest · OSS / freeMisc | €0.00 | |
| Total / month | €163 |
What I dropped.
The honest history. They are often excellent tools, just not for my current flow.
- ChatGPTShallower reasoning on complex tasks. Claude nuances and says when it does not know, ChatGPT confabulates.Replaced by Claude
- GitHub CopilotGood for line-by-line autocompletion, but it does not think. As soon as you need the whole project context (refactoring, multi-file audit, architecture), Claude Code takes over.Replaced by Claude Code
- VS CodeExcellent editor, but IntelliJ + Claude Code give a refactoring and an understanding of the repo that has no equal.Replaced by IntelliJ IDEA + Claude Code
- CursorTested in early 2024 for the built-in AI. Fast and fluid, but the VS Code UI behind it does not hold up against JetBrains on deep refactoring and the Flutter plugin. Claude Code makes the AI-first editor unnecessary.Replaced by IntelliJ IDEA + Claude Code
- Google DriveData hosted at Google. Self-hosted Nextcloud gives the same comfort with zero external dependency.Replaced by Nextcloud
- ZapierGood to get started, but past 20 zaps the cost climbs fast. Self-hosted n8n is more flexible and almost free.Replaced by n8n
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