My Dev Workflow: 2025
Not the fanciest setup out there, but it gets the job done and keeps me in the zone. I like to keep things minimal, fast, and super tailored to how I like to work — ADHD brain approved 😅
Workflow & Philosophy
I’m a minimal guy when it comes to workflow. Got diagnosed with ADHD recently 😭 so I try to keep distractions to an absolute minimum. It's only been a month since I started using a monitor for the past 5 years (yeah I started programming in 2020), I’ve lived the true laptop life, coding straight off the built-in screen.
My current primary devices are:
- Personal: MacBook Pro 14" (M3 Pro)
- Work: MacBook Pro 16" (M4 Pro)
Still using the mac’s keyboard and trackpad, no external mouse or mechanical keyboard. Yeah yeah, I know its a crime in the dev world, but it works for me 🙂
Window Management
I hate digging through menus to open apps. So I use Raycast as my launcher and set up hotkeys for my most-used apps:
- ⌥ + 1 → Chrome (I know… still using Chrome… maybe I hate my life 😂)
- ⌥ + 2 → iTerm2 (Haven’t tried Ghostty yet, don’t flame me)
- ⌥ + 3 → Zed (my go-to editor)
- ⌥ + 4 → Slack
- ⌥ + 5 → Excalidraw
- ⌥ + 0 → Outlook
- ⌥ + 8 → TablePlus
- ⌥ + 9 → Notion
- ⌥ + = → Spotify
- ⌥ + ] → VPN
For snapping windows, I use Loop — it’s buttery smooth. Pressing ⌃ + ⌘ + Arrow Keys to toss windows around feels so intuitive. Switching between apps is just muscle memory now. And yep, Raycast handles all my Spotlight-style app launches too (e.g., Discord when I rarely need it).
Code Editor & Extensions
I switched to Zed about 9 months ago and haven’t looked back. The built-in Vim mode is chef’s kiss — way better than what I had on VSCode.
- Theme: One Dark Pro Monokai Darker
- Font: JetBrains Mono (13pt)
- Tab size: 4
- AI Assistant: Disabled (but occasionally turned on to explore autocomplete cursor features — still getting used to it)
- I’ve mapped a ton of shortcuts — it feels like a setup I’ve handcrafted exactly to my taste.
Zed is sleek, fast, and clean. Love it.
For my AI stuff, I use Claude mostly but recently I have been loving Chat GPT. I am thinking of switching to Theo’s T3 Chat since it has all the models and its so much cheaper.
Terminal
- Terminal App: iTerm2
- Shell: zsh
- Theme: Minimal (no powerlevel10k, just simple oh-my-zsh)
- Transparency: 5% with a black background
- Session Management: Tmux all the way
I avoid using Zed’s terminal — prefer doing all terminal-related things in a separate terminal window. Helps keep things organized.
Note Taking
- Digital: Notion is my go-to for everything blogs, notes etc
- Analog: A trusty notebook + pen combo for when I’m solving LeetCode or AtCoder problems. I like sketching my thoughts.
Lately, I’ve been using Excalidraw more often too, especially for visualizing stuff I might need to explain in online meetings. Great tool for intuitive diagramming.
Database & API GUIs
For API testing:
- Insomnia is my goto GUI
- Swagger UI (thank you work)
For databases:
- TablePlus for personal projects.
- SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS) for work stuff
I can use curl... but why suffer when you’ve got nice GUIs?
Music
As a pianist, music is my life. I use Spotify and have a playlist for every mood.
When it’s deep focus time:
- I throw on film scores — Oppenheimer, The Social Network, and Interstellar are on repeat.
- Or I go full Skrillex — especially his 🔥 UMF 2025 set, which is straight-up god-tier.
Final Thoughts
My setup isn’t fancy. It’s fast, focused, and built for flow. I don’t chase trends or aesthetics. I just want tools that get out of the way and let me build, learn, and vibe.
Whether you're running three monitors with split mechanical keyboards, or just rocking your laptop like me it’s all about what works for you.
Here’s to staying curious, keeping it simple, and always leveling up 🫡