My workstation setup and tools I use.

Over the past years, I've experimented with various text editors and IDEs. Notepad++ served as my go-to editor for a significant period, offering reliability and efficiency during its era. However, as technology evolved, I transitioned to Sublime Text, attracted by its advanced features and sleek interface. Yet, with time, Sublime Text's development seemed to stagnate, prompting me to explore alternatives. That's when I discovered Visual Studio Code (VSCode). Its growing popularity and active development community intrigued me, leading me to make the switch. Since then, VSCode has become an indispensable tool in my workflow, offering a perfect blend of performance, versatility, and an extensive ecosystem of extensions. Its intuitive interface, powerful features, and constant updates have significantly enhanced my coding experience and productivity.

Laragon stands out as an all-encompassing local development environment tailored for PHP projects, including Laravel applications. Its versatility and comprehensive feature set make it an indispensable tool in my development workflow. Laragon provides seamless integration with both Apache and Nginx web servers, along with essential components like NodeJS, Redis, Memcached, MySQL, PostgreSQL, MongoDB, and even Python. While I haven't explored its Python capabilities extensively, Laragon's support for this language adds another layer of versatility to its functionality. This extensive support ensures compatibility with a wide range of development scenarios, making it an ideal choice for building and testing Laravel applications. Laragon's user-friendly interface and rapid setup process enable me to establish a robust local development environment effortlessly, empowering me to focus on coding without worrying about complex configurations.

We're all familiar with Git, the glorious backbone of version control and collaboration in our coding endeavors. But let me shine a spotlight on Github and why it's an absolute game-changer for us developers. It's not just a place to stash our code; it's a virtual playground where collaboration thrives, ideas flourish, and projects come to life.

Ray is a versatile debugging tool that has become one of my favorites. Its utility extends beyond PHP/Laravel debugging to various other environments, including JavaScript frameworks, Node.js, and even Go. While Ray is a paid product, I believe it's well worth the investment. Fortunately, I was able to secure it at a discounted price with a lifetime plan, adding even more value to its usefulness in my development workflow.

TablePlus is a paid database management tool that has become indispensable to my workflow. Despite being a paid product, I consider it a worthwhile investment due to its robust features and user-friendly interface. While I've explored alternative options in search of more cost-effective solutions, I consistently find myself returning to TablePlus for its unmatched simplicity and ease of use. Although it offers a free plan with limited features, I value the comprehensive capabilities provided by the paid version. Despite occasional searches for alternatives, TablePlus continues to impress me with its sleek design and seamless functionality, making it an essential component of my development toolkit.

Mailtrap serves as a vital tool in my development process, particularly for testing email functionality in my applications. With its intuitive interface and robust features, Mailtrap allows me to simulate email sending and receiving in a controlled environment, ensuring that everything works as expected before deploying to production. While Mailtrap offers both free and paid plans, I've found the free plan to be sufficient for my needs. This plan provides ample functionality for testing and debugging email-related issues, making it an invaluable asset in my toolkit.

MailTemp is a personal web application project I developed to generate disposable email addresses. Originally conceived for privacy and security purposes, MailTemp provides users with a convenient way to avoid spam by creating temporary email addresses for questionable activities. However, its utility extends beyond privacy concerns, as MailTemp can also be utilized for development testing purposes. Developers can use MailTemp to verify that their application's mail service is configured correctly by sending test emails to disposable addresses. With MailTemp, users can ensure the integrity of their email functionality while maintaining privacy and security.

As a developer, I can't stress enough how essential this tool has become for easy server management. With Cleavr, you get everything you need - from provisioning to deployment, monitoring to backups, they've got you covered! It's like the Swiss Army knife of server management tools. I've been using Laravel Forge for 3 years, and it's great, no doubt. But Cleavr, I fell in-love at first trial, it takes things to a whole new level. Not only does it offer more features, but it does so at a fraction of the cost! They even gave me a sweet discount, making it even more exciting so I made the switch instantly.

Affinity Designer is a recent discovery of mine and I immediately purchased due to its one-time payment for lifetime access, making it a far more cost-effective option compared to Adobe's subscription model. As a developer who occasionally does design work, Affinity Designer meets my needs without the ongoing financial commitment associated with Adobe products. Its robust feature set, including vector design, layout, and photo editing tools, makes it a sufficient and budget-friendly choice for a wide range of design projects. The software's user-friendly interface, reliable performance, and supportive community further reinforce its position as an attractive alternative to Adobe products.