Uses

Get to know me a bit better by checking out some of the tools, utilities and services I use to get things done.

Lars smiling

Published β€” 8 min read

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✨ Editor

I've used a ton of editors and IDE's and like trying new ones. My main criteria is that an editor needs to boot fast, stay fast, have sensible defaults and be configurable. I tweak themes or make my own whenever I try a new editor.

  • VS Code β†’ it's fast, configurable, extendable and used on a lot of cloud platforms. I like consistency.
  • One Dark Pro Darker β†’ theme that I've modified with my own colours to be more modern and legible.
  • ui-monospace β†’ my font of choice because it doesn't have silly ligatures, it renders fast and has exceptional legibility.

πŸ› οΈ Extensions

I delete extensions whenever I don't use them, or if they make VS Code slow. These are some of the ones I usually have installed.

  • Console Ninja β†’ kind of makes debugging enjoyable.
  • CodeSandbox β†’ lets you develop in sandboxes locally.
  • Eslint β†’ saves me from myself.
  • GitHub Copilot β†’ saves future me from the robots.
  • GitLens β†’ lowers mental overhead and causes less context switching.
  • MDX β†’ I use markdown as often as possible.
  • multi-command β†’ trigger multiple VSCode commands as one. I use this for my own custom commands, often with Settings Cycler further down.
  • Prettier β†’ tabs are more accessible and semicolons are visual noise. Come at me.
  • Prisma β†’ I like prisma as an ORM because it's modern, and they've got a great free tier.
  • Svelte for VS Code β†’ svelte is 🀌 and not used enough in production imo.
  • Settings Cycler β†’ helps me toggle between my own coding setups for focus/maintenance modes.
  • Stylelint β†’ lets me write maintainable CSS when I don't use Tailwind.
  • Tailwind CSS IntelliSense β†’ to avoid cramming my head full of class names. I already overflowed my brain with Bootstrap class names. Not doing that again.

πŸ‘¨β€πŸ’» Development

A non-comprehensive list of some of my development configurations, services, tools and utilities.

  • Antigen β†’ shell config and management for zsh.
  • ChatGPT β†’ for finding answers, debugging, mapping and extrapolating data, generating ideas, mockups and so much more.
  • Fig β†’ CLI tool creation, autocomplete and dotfile syncing.
  • Warp β†’ terminal that's fast and has tons of quality of life features.

πŸ’‘Browser

I use all the greenfield browsers in addition to Brave and Orion depending on what I'm doing. By default I develop in Chrome and use Safari for personal use – all the benefits of the Apple ecosystem finally won me over. These are just some extensions and features I use.

  • Accessibility Insights for Web β†’ essential accessibility tool for comprehensive auditing.
  • Axe β†’ for web accessibility testing.
  • DuckDuckGo Privacy Essentials β†’ a bit of privacy protection can't hurt, right? right?
  • Ghostery β†’ to try avoid ads as much as possible.
  • Grammarly β†’ grammar and spell checking tool that probably steals my data.
  • JSONVue β†’ prettified view of JSON payloads.
  • Multi-clock β†’ extension I made to keep track of time zones in the browser's new tab page.
  • Pocket β†’ for bookmarking content I never read.
  • React DevTools β†’ because I make bugs but also like finding them.
  • Safari Reading List β†’ for bookmarking content I actually read.
  • VisBug β†’ helpful browser design tools.
  • WAVE β†’ for web accessibility testing.
  • Web Developer β†’ essential frontend utilities.

πŸ“±Apps

These are just some of the desktop and mobile apps I use to stay productive.

  • Apple Reminders β†’ essential productivity booster that's miles faster than any other fancy third-party apps. Automated extensively with Apple Shortcuts.
  • Apple Shortcuts β†’ essential productivity booster that helps me automate my life. Used cross-platform.
  • Figma β†’ design and dev, also used in my freelance work. I still cling on to my design degree no matter how rusty I get.
  • GitHub Desktop β†’ it just makes it easier to make clean, small PR's, and saves me a ton of time if I ever have to cherry pick.
  • Hidden Bar β†’ manages my menu bar to hide fluff.
  • Later β†’ to help me quickly de-clutter my desktop for focus time.
  • Magnet β†’ snappy little window manager.
  • Obsidian β†’ essential note taking app powered by markdown. Used with iCloud to share siloed folders cross-device and with Github to back my content up.
  • Obsidian Theme Toggler β†’ An Obsidian extension I made to dynamically toggle the theme in individual Obsidian panels. I don't like apps without dark mode, but can only write long-form content on a white background. This extension solves that very niche problem.
  • One Thing β†’ for pinning my one most important goal in the menu bar.
  • Plash β†’ lets me use my own creative websites as macOS backgrounds.
  • Raycast β†’ essential productivity booster, think macOS spotlight on steroids.
  • Rocket β†’ because emojis.
  • Spark β†’ helps me get to inbox zero far quicker.
  • Spotify β†’ boss music intensifies.

πŸ–‡οΈ Office

This is my current home office setup. Minus my dog.

πŸ’» Gear

My hardware setup, along with some indispensable gear.

πŸŽ’ Everyday Carry

Just a few of the things I usually carry in my backpack.

β˜•οΈ Coffee

Coffee tools and preferences when making filter at home. Otherwise I go for a lil' oat flatty.

  • AeroPress β†’ brews amazing coffee and is easy to travel with when needed.
  • Fellow Prismo β†’ a reusable, etched filter for the AeroPress that reduces prep time for getting rid of paper filter taste.
  • Hario V60 Drip Decanter β†’ for those lazy weekend mornings or whenever I want a special cup.
  • Hario V60 Drip Kettle β†’ boils the water at exactly 95℃ and will keep it that way for a while every time I forget. Which is often.
  • Sunbeam CafΓ© Series β†’ we bought this grinder in uni and didn't eat for two weeks. We're keeping it until it dies.
  • Single O coffee beans β†’ Single origin coffee beans by imo the best roaster in Sydney. My partner works there. I'm jelly at her access to amazing coffee at all times.
  • Coffee scale - no brand, given to me by a nice barista who was fleeing the country.