Boost Your 2022 Development Workflow: Top Tools Every Engineer Should Try

2022 is more than halfway through, and the pandemic has permanently changed how developers work. To adapt to the new normal, engineers need fast, collaborative tools that simplify remote development.

GitLive

GitLive adds a tab inside the IDE that shows teammates, their online status, the branches they are working on, and even uncommitted changes, all updated in real time. It treats any non‑stale branch as active, lets managers inspect file diffs, and view related issues or pull requests.

The flagship feature is automatic merge‑conflict detection: changes from teammates appear in the editor’s status bar (added, deleted, modified, or conflicted), allowing developers to see the source branch and pick changes directly into their files.

GitLive is especially useful for large or open‑source teams because it works across forks and keeps data fresh directly from Git without manual input.

Wallaby.js

Wallaby is an integrated JavaScript continuous‑testing tool created by the team behind Quokka and Dingo. It runs tests instantly as developers type and displays results directly beside the code, even for unsaved files.

In large projects, Wallaby lets developers focus on a specific test set, dramatically increasing productivity. Notable features include a time‑travel debugger with edit‑and‑continue, a value explorer, and an output inspector for runtime values.

The documentation is comprehensive, providing a quick‑start overview that helps users adopt the product immediately.

GitPod

Developers often waste time configuring local development environments. GitPod automates this process by launching a fresh, cloud‑based development environment for each task, eliminating pain points such as project bootstrapping, context switching, and broken dependencies.

Abandoning local setups can greatly increase team productivity. GitPod is open‑core; self‑hosting requires a paid plan, but the free tier is generous enough for anyone to try.

Retool

Retool is an internal‑application builder that speeds up the creation of custom UIs with drag‑and‑drop components. All components are exposed as plain JavaScript objects, and developers can add custom React components out of the box.

Retool connects to virtually any data source via REST or GraphQL APIs, and its growing library of native integrations makes linking databases and services straightforward.

FireHydrant

FireHydrant is an incident‑response platform that helps teams record system events, integrate with existing tools, and collect alerts for handling incidents.

It automates workflows such as creating new Slack channels and updating status pages, provides a service catalog, and supports post‑mortem reviews to improve reliability.

These developer tools can significantly enhance productivity and reliability in the post‑pandemic work environment.