The hardware and software I rely on day to day. Most of it has been part of my setup for years.
My main machine, provided by Laravel.
My couch and travel machine. Light, silent, and capable enough for a session away from the desk.
The original 2022 model. Laptop runs in clamshell, one 5K screen at the desk.
An old second-hand unit in the closet somewhere, running GitHub Actions as a self-hosted runner.
Touch ID at the desk is useful.
No mouse. Gestures are baked into how I navigate macOS.
I switched from a Universal Audio interface. UA still requires lowering security on Apple Silicon Macs for their software to work, they're still not ready. The PreSonus just works.
Studio speakers, also for everyday listening at the desk.
My voice mic for videocasts and recordings. Used an Audio-Technica AT2050 before that, but it's better suited to music recording instead of spoken voice.
Studio arm that holds whichever mic I'm using.
Videoconferencing and music on the way.
I love this one. Groups every process per project: Claude Code, Codex, dev server, queue workers, Vite. Switch projects and the right stack spins up in a single window. Auto-restart when something dies. No more juggling nine terminal tabs.
My primary editor. Default Dark+ theme, vscode-great-icons, Sublime keybindings out of muscle memory. For Laravel and PHP I lean on Intelephense, the official Laravel extension, PHP Namespace Resolver, Better PHPUnit, and Laravel Pint on save. Frontend side: Tailwind CSS IntelliSense and Vue Volar.
About 90% of my AI-assisted coding happens here. I lean on ui.sh, impeccable.style, counselors, Laravel Boost, plus a stack of my own custom commands and skills. For browser automation: agent-browser and playwright-mcp.
The other 10%.
PHP, Node, and database services in one app.
I prefer staging hunks and reviewing diffs in a UI over the CLI.
For PRs, issues, and everything else from the terminal.
MySQL client.
Redis client.
API client, formerly Paw. I've used it for years.
For screen recording and putting videocasts together.
For audio editing and mixing. Bought every version since Logic Studio 8, which shipped on 7 or 8 DVDs! Feels at home.
Image editor. Native Mac app, no subscription.
Network monitor for incoming and outgoing connections. Good to see what app talks to which host and block anything I don't want.
Window management with keyboard shortcuts.
I still rip my CDs and have built up a huge personal library over the years. Something about owning the actual files that streaming will never replace for me. Also bootlegs.
Still going strong after all these years.
For everything that isn't in my local library.