Essential Productivity Tools Every Developer Should Use

Every day developers use a variety of tools to build products or complete tasks. This article shares a selection of popular daily tools to improve productivity.

What Is a Workflow?

A workflow is a series of events or tasks that process data, describing the progression from start to finish or from raw input to a finished product. For example, writing an article involves outlining, drafting, revising, and publishing.

Developers also use tools to accelerate task completion, and sharing useful tools can benefit the community.

Productivity Tools

The following tools are grouped by category to highlight those useful for coding, documentation, and deployment.

Coding Tools

GitKraken

GitKraken is a GitHub client with an intuitive UI/UX that works like a command line for those who prefer graphical interfaces.

Insomnia

Insomnia is a powerful HTTP and GraphQL tool supporting GraphQL, SVG preview, AWS authentication, and more, available on macOS, Linux, and Windows.

Visual Studio Code

VS Code is a continuously improving code editor that the author finds indispensable.

Dash

Dash provides offline access to over 200 API documentation sets for developers on macOS; Windows users can use Zeal.

SourceTree

SourceTree offers a GUI for Git, providing an alternative to command-line usage.

Postico

Postico is a user-friendly PostgreSQL client for managing databases.

Hyper

Hyper is a highly customizable terminal often used as the default for coding.

Creation Tools

Notion

Notion is a versatile tool for coding, planning, and collaboration.

Dropbox Paper

Dropbox Paper is a great writing tool supporting Markdown.

BEAR

Bear is a flexible app for note‑taking, writing, and to‑do lists.

Caret

Caret is a markdown editor with dark mode, available on macOS, Windows, and Linux.

Deployment Tools

Netlify

Netlify automates code deployment for high‑performance, maintainable websites and web apps.

GitHub Pages

GitHub Pages offers free static site hosting directly from a Git repository.

Zapier

Zapier automates workflows across apps, such as posting new articles to Twitter.

Miscellaneous Tools

Rocket

Rocket provides a convenient Slack emoji picker for macOS.

NUMI

NUMI is a powerful calculator app for macOS that also handles unit conversions.

Taskade

Taskade is a versatile tool for to‑do lists, weekly planning, and real‑time collaboration.

RecordIt

RecordIt captures screen videos and GIFs for quick demos.

Aware

Aware tracks computer usage time, helping users monitor work sessions.

Conclusion

Hope these tools make your work easier and more efficient. Feel free to share any better tools you use in the comments.