I have a confession to make. I have not always been the first adopter of new tools in my own development practice. When I began my career, everything felt overwhelming. Senior developer wizards all around me were constantly recommending I make changes to my setup and technique. New tools to adapt to, new keyboard shortcuts to memorize, changes to my hardware. “Is it really worth the trouble?” I thought, “Will it really save me that much time in the long run, or is everyone just trying to show off their fancy tricks?” Well, a few years later I’m here to say that it absolutely is worth the trouble.
When you think about it, half of development isn’t actually writing code. It’s jumping between windows, running the same commands over and over, finding and opening that certain file (again), or searching for the thing you *swear* you just had open.
That’s where tooling comes in. Smart tools cut out the noise. They eliminate those tiny moments of friction that interrupt your flow and your focus. And while shaving off a few seconds here and there might not feel like much in the moment, it *absolutely* adds up. These micro-optimizations compound over time. The goal is to never be held back by the seconds it takes to move from one window or file to another, and instead move at the speed of your own thoughts. The faster we can change things in our codebase, the easier it becomes to explore new ideas take risks. This is how we learn and grow as developers.
Here are four tools that I use daily to accelerate my development.
Tool 1: zoxide – Ditch cd and Navigate Directories Like a Pro
If you’re still typing cd ~/some/long/path/to/a/project, I’ve got good news: zoxide exists, and it’s about to save you a ridiculous amount of time. Zoxide is a command line tool that helps you navigate to any directory in a snap. It’s basciallys cd on steroids. It works by remembering the directories you visit and letting you jump to them instantly using fuzzy find. Want to jump to a project folder deep in your file system? Just type z proj and you’re there.
No more memorizing paths. No more scrolling through endless folders. It just works. The best part? It gets smarter the more you use it. The more often you visit a directory, the more likely it is to show up first. That means your muscle memory gets tighter, your commands get shorter, and you spend less time navigating and more time building. It’s one of those tools you install once and never look back. Combine it with fzf or a terminal alias, and you’ll feel like you’re Han Solo warping through your file system at light speed.
Tool 2: Rectangle – Snap Windows, See What Matters
Dragging and resizing windows like it’s 2003 is a productivity killer. Why not repace those drags and clicks with easy to learn keyboard shortcuts? Rectangle is a dead-simple, free macOS app that lets you snap windows into place with keyboard shortcuts.
Half screen? Hit Ctrl + Option + Left (or Right). Maximize? Ctrl + Option + Enter. I personally love “Almost maximize” with Ctrl + Option + backslash, so I can still see some space around the centered window. Or you can toss a window to another monitor with Ctrl + Option + Cmd + Arrow key (just imagine pointing toward the monitor you want to send it to).
Why does this matter? Because when you’re switching between a terminal, browser (or three), IDE, and docs 100 times a day, every second counts. No more hunting for corners or resizing by hand—just snap and go. You can keep all your windows open and organized without your hands ever leaving the keyboard. It’s one of those tools you don’t think about after a week. The shortcuts are so intuitive, it just becomes part of how you move.
Tool 3: Raycast – The Launcher + Clipboard Manager + More!
Spotlight is fine. But once you try Raycast, it feels like going from rubbing sticks together to using a blowtorch.
At its core, Raycast is a supercharged launcher. All you do is hit a hotkey (mine is Cmd + Space) and you’re opening apps, switching windows, searching docs, jumping to folders, doing basic math calculations, all without touching your mouse.
It’s fast, keyboard-centric, and insanely customizable (if you haven’t started seeing a trend here, the goal is keeping your hands on the keyboard!) Raycast is one of those tools that doesn’t just save time – it completely changes how you interact with your computer. It basically allows you to use your keyboard for everything. One of my favorite features of Raycast is the clipboard manager that keeps track of days’ worth of copied text. Once you’ve experienced the power of being able to search for any item that you’ve copied using Cmd + v in recent memory, you will never want to go back to the days of having one item in your buffer at a time.
Tool 4: Vim Keybindings Everywhere – Edit at the Speed of Thought
The magic of Vim isn’t just the editor, it’s the mindset. Even if you are not using Vim as a text editor, you can appreciate its ethos of never taking your hands off the keyboard. Once you get used to navigating and editing files using just a few keys, every mouse movement feels like wasted energy. It takes some effort to learn (one of my favorite resources for understanding the most vital commands is my colleagues’ Spin post on the topic), but the benefits come when you’re no longer bouncing between your trackpad and keyboard or reaching for the mouse every time you want to move a line or a block code.
That’s why so many tools (like VS Code, IntelliJ, even terminals and note taking apps) have Vim mode plugins, and why I enable them wherever possible. Efficient text editing reduces the cognitive load of code manipulation, letting you focus on logic and architecture instead of mechanics. When navigation, refactoring, and selection become muscle memory, it minimizes context switching and accelerates iterative development.
If any of these tools are new to you, try adding just one to your workflow this week. You might be surprised how quickly small changes add up. Is there a tool you swear by that I didn’t mention? I’d love to hear about it! Let me know in the comments.