My Development Setup in 2026

Here’s what I use day-to-day and why each tool stuck around.

Editor — LazyVim

I use Neovim with LazyVim as my editor. It gives you a fully configured Neovim out of the box — LSP, autocompletion, file explorer, fuzzy finder, git integration — without spending weeks writing your own config from scratch.

What I like about LazyVim is that it’s opinionated enough to be productive immediately, but everything is overridable. I’ve tweaked keybindings, swapped a few plugins, and added language-specific configs, but the core setup just works. VS Code is great too — I just happen to prefer this workflow.

Terminal — Ghostty

Ghostty replaced everything else for me — iTerm2, Alacritty, all of it. Built by Mitchell Hashimoto (HashiCorp co-founder), it uses Metal on macOS for GPU-accelerated rendering and feels like a native Apple app because it actually uses AppKit.

It starts instantly, renders fast, and doesn’t get in the way. The config is a single file, no JSON or YAML — just key-value pairs. Ligatures work out of the box, splits and tabs feel native. It’s the terminal I wanted iTerm2 to be.

AI — Claude Code

Claude Code is my go-to AI coding tool. It runs in the terminal, understands project context, and can read, write, and edit files directly. I use it for everything from scaffolding new features to debugging tricky issues.

What I like most is that it works inside my existing workflow — no separate app, no browser tab. Just another tool in the terminal alongside everything else.

Navigation — zoxide

zoxide replaces cd. It learns which directories you visit most and lets you jump to them with partial names. Instead of typing cd ~/projects/client/app/src, I just type z src and it figures out which one I mean.

Small tool, big time saver. Once you use it for a week, you can’t go back to regular cd.

Git — lazygit

lazygit is a terminal UI for git. Staging hunks, interactive rebasing, managing branches, resolving conflicts — all from a keyboard-driven interface without memorizing git flags. I use it for everything.

Docker — OrbStack

OrbStack replaced Docker Desktop on my Mac. It starts in about 2 seconds (Docker Desktop takes 20–30), uses significantly less memory and battery, and is a native Swift app that doesn’t feel like it’s fighting macOS.

It’s a drop-in replacement — same Docker commands, same docker-compose files, everything just works. The only difference is your fans stay quiet and your battery lasts longer.

SSH — Termius

Termius is my SSH client. It syncs hosts, keys, and credentials across devices — desktop and mobile. When I need to SSH into a server from my phone, it’s there. The snippet feature is handy for commands I run often on remote machines.

For quick SSH sessions I still use the terminal directly, but for managing multiple servers with saved configs, Termius keeps things organized.