Update 2026: there is a new version of this list, see Software and Tools I Use Every Day: 2026 Edition.
Working as a developer I use a lot of tools and software every day. This is an incomplete list showcasing which ones work best for me.
As my main operating system is Linux, my focus is mostly on Open Source Software, but it's not limited to it. More important is that the software does it's job the best way possible. Leave a comment if you have any feedback or ideas for new software projects to try out.
Development
Pycharm Pro
For Python still the best IDE (imho), though I do a lot of stuff in Jupyter Lab (Notebook).
Jetbrains Web- or PhpStorm
For most web development projects I still prefer WebStorm or PhpStorm for development over Visual Studio Code. The code support and completion is imho better and supports more complex use cases. Vetur for example is nice, but PhpStorm works better out of the box. Same goes for React development, Intellij sense works like a breeze. VS Code though is faster and more lightweight and extensions are better.
Visual Code
My default editor for small stuff and fast editing of something. It's an awesome and flexible editor.
vim
How could you life in Linux without vim and a tons of plugins. Check my dotfiles for the vimrc.
Geany
Simple Text Editor i like using as Notepad++ replacement.. Most times I use vim though.
Website Creation (Content Management)
Mame Builder
I use Mame, a drag & drop website builder, to create mostly static websites in minutes. With my own templates it's faster then with any other solution i used before. I can deploy a new website in a minute. As Mame generates plain HTML websites, they don't require any maintenance or updates and are secure by default. I may be a little biased though, as Mame is written by me, but ;)
Grav CMS
Before I wrote Mame most builds i build in 2020 were based on it. Grav is a Open Source flat-file CMS, requiring no database. You create markdown (like this article) to generate fast websites. It requires no database, just PHP on the server side. It's great for check-in content to GitHub and makes a lot of things right.
Joomla
If I require a full-blown CMS with user management, ACL and all the other things you need to built communites or enterprise websites. The code quality is (imho) better then in WordPress and in opposite to Drupal creating sites is faster. I have been a Joomla Volunteer and Board member for years, so probably I am probably a bit biased too.
Linux Distributions
Desktop
Gentoo
Gentoo has been my default Linux distribution on my main rig for some years. Love the flexiblity and options to adjust everything to your own needs. You can find my portage, kernel and other Gentoo configurations in my dot files.
Arch Linux
Arch was my default Linux distro for a long time. Still using it on some notebooks regulary.
Fedora (Silverblue)
I like the idea of Fedora Silverblue and have been using it for testing quite often in 2020.
Server
Arch Linux
Yes, I really like running arch on servers as docker host.
Debian / Ubuntu
Base Image for many of my docker images. Easy and reliable, a bit too huge, so often using Alpine.
Alpine
Base Image for most of my docker images. Lighweight, bit overhead creating images, but still worth.
Window Manager
bspwm
My default window manager since over a year. BSPWM is a an advanced tiling display manager, like i3 or awesome. You need sxhkd to configure keyboard shortcuts. You can find my config for bspwm and sxhkd in the dotfiles. I prefer it over i3-gaps because it's more flexible and has an auto-positioning feature, which works very well. Sadly still on X11 / xorg, there are some projects trying to port it to wayland, but progress is slow. As I still use software, which runs (better) on xorg, this is not a too big issue for me. Using sway (i3 fork for wayland) as main Wayland window manager.
i3-gaps
Used i3-gaps for years as default window-manager. In opposite to bspwm it does not need to be configured before the first run. It's still one of the best tiling window managers out there.
sway
Basically i3-gaps and some extras for wayland. Wouldn't there be some software that runs better on xorg (like OBS, Pycharm, Webstorm..), I would have switched to sway ages ago.
Status Bars
Bumblebee Status
My default status bar for i3 and sway. A lighweight, nice looking status bar written in Python you can easily extend yourself. Even wrote some modules for it.
Polybar
Currently in bspwm my default status bar. Flexible, but a bit on the heavy side with tons of plugins.
Application Launcher
Rofi
Have been using Rofi with my own template for ages now. Mostly as application launcher, even though Rofi offers other features too. Works fine on Wayland too.
Terminal
Alacritty
Very fast and lightweight terminal emulator with live configuration editing. My default terminal 95% of the time. My alacritty.yml can be found in the dotfiles.
(U)RXVT
Lightweight terminal written in perl, has some issues with charsets (make sure to use the unicode version). You can easy extend it and style it with a .Xresources config. Has been my default terminal for years, but got replaced with Alacritty.
ST - Simple Terminal
st is a very lighweight and simple terminal, where you need to recompile for applying new settings. I like the attitude of suckless.org, focusing on simplicity and clean software.
Browser
Chromium
Next to Firefox my default browser. Fast and Open Source. As i mostly have more than a hundred tabs open all the time (and never reboot my system) it's more stable then Firefox with the same amount.
Firefox Developer
If it would be a bit more stable (even over longer periods) with a ton of tabs, this would be my default browser.
Vivaldi
Have been using Vivaldi since the start. It's a neat alternative to Chromium, but sometimes a bit too bloated.
Databases
When I can choose I prefer MongoDB as Database for most new projects nowadays. It's a no sql database and has a document based approach instead of relations. Creating complex apps is faster and performance scaling easier.
Task Management and Note taking
Empoche
My default app for managing my tasks and todo-lists and to plan my time. Empoche is also very useful to track the time I spent on dfiferent apps. May be a bit biased here, as Empoche is written by me. It's free and works on all operating systems, including Linux. Make sure to give feedback as it's currently in Beta.
Jupyter Notebook
I use Jupyter Notebook with JupyterHub not only for fast data science, but also to create small helpers and larger notes. And ofc for data visualization with pandas and pyplot.
Music
Spotify
Just to support that Spotify has a Linux App (which I actually don't use but still). I like the new podcasts and daily drive.