My Top N Favorite Plugins and Tools for Developers
Tags: programming, dotnet, beginners, productivity
Published: 2022-05-23 14:37:49

---
title: My Top N Favorite Plugins and Tools for Developers
published: true
date: 2022-05-23 12:54:00 UTC
tags: programming, dotnet, beginners, productivity
canonical_url: https://zagosk.in/my-top-n-favorite-plugins-and-tools-for-developers
---

Software engineers are like children we love to play with toys. Fancy IDE themes, Quake-style terminals, dozens of plugins for everything its a lot of fun to play with all these lovely things, and it feels especially good when these tools do something useful. Today Im going to share a list of my favorite software that I use and recommend.

No long descriptions, just a list of the best tools for developers. Get ready do download things 🍿

## 1. [JetBrains](https://www.jetbrains.com) IDEs

![JetBrains](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1653144195605/hnhxjSMAL.png)

JetBrains is building the best IDEs on this planet. Period. Long time ago [Resharper](https://www.jetbrains.com/resharper/) changed the world of .NET development once and for all. It was slow and greedy for memory, but it was a game changer. These days I mostly use [Rider](https://www.jetbrains.com/rider/), [DataGrip](https://www.jetbrains.com/datagrip/) and sometimes [GoLand](https://www.jetbrains.com/go/). Try and buy JetBrains products if you haven't done already (\*they don't pay me, on the contrary, I pay them for my license).

## 2. [Warp](https://www.warp.dev) terminal (macOS)

I used to use [Hyper](https://hyper.is) with a bunch of plugins, but recently switched to Warp terminal. It's fast, offers lots of features out of the box, looks awesome and its AI Command Search is fantastic (at first I underestimated it thinking it was just a marketing ploy, but my assumption turned out to be wrong, it's really cool).

![Warp](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1653146199210/f0zK27OWE.png)

## 3. [Fig](https://fig.io) autocomplete (macOS)

If you don't use Warp, then take a look at Fig an awesome autocomplete for your favorite terminal. It's much better than terminal autocomplete plugins I've seen so far.

![Fig](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1653146782366/8Zb4TTqK3.png)

## 4. [Lens](https://k8slens.dev) (UI for Kubernetes)

> Lens Desktop is the only application you need to take control of your Kubernetes clusters. It's built on open source and free.

![Lens](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1653158530899/ag3yepJj0.png)

## 5. Plugins time🎉

My favorite plugins for JetBrains IDEs and Resharper (some of them are also available for Visual Studio / Visual Studio Code):

### 5.1 [Heap Allocations Viewer](https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/9223-heap-allocations-viewer)

> Highlights local object allocations, boxing, delegates and closure creations points.

A very useful and handy plugin to help you see, understand and, possibly, minimize heap allocations in your code.

![Heap Allocations Viewer](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1653159902574/kGAYStk_s.png)

### 5.2 [NSubstitute Complete](https://github.com/Socolin/NSubstituteComplete)

If you use [NSubstitute](https://nsubstitute.github.io) (the best mocking .NET framework), then you have to install this small yet useful plugin right now. It kindly generates mocks and `Arg.Is` / `Arg.Any`.

![NSubstitute Complete](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1653219736801/w2q0D52NY.gif)

### 5.3 [NUKE Support](https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/10803-nuke-support)

This plugin makes Rider / Resharper more [NUKE](https://nuke.build) friendly by adding icons, live templates and runner features to your IDE.

### 5.4 [CognitiveComplexity](https://github.com/matkoch/resharper-cognitivecomplexity)

This plugin will help you not to get carried away too much.

> Implements live calculation of the Cognitive Complexity metric, which was proposed by G. Ann Campbell in Cognitive Complexity - [A new way of measuring understandability](https://www.sonarsource.com/docs/CognitiveComplexity.pdf) (c) SonarSource S.A. 2016-2018, Switzerland.

![CognitiveComplexity](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1653161792233/sPGmyDO27.gif)

![image.png](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1653205602836/59uk0Pxcj.png)

### 5.5 [.ignore](https://github.com/JetBrains/idea-gitignore)

If you're a Git user, just install this one and keep reading.

### 5.6 [Material Theme UI](https://material-theme.com)

The most popular set of themes for your favorite IDE.

![Material Theme UI](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1653162674709/2KeE5rMtM.png)

### 5.7 [Better Comments](https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/10850-better-comments)

Check out these comments. Aren't they beautiful?

![Better Comments](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1653162955163/vugCbngGL.png)

### 5.8 [Key Promoter X](https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/9792-key-promoter-x)

Very annoying plugin that will teach you some useful hotkeys unless you remove it first.

![Key Promoter X](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1653163197709/F9VtxmDCp.png)

### 5.9 [GraphQL](https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/8097-graphql)

If you work with GraphQL, then you'll like this one. Autocomplete, code highlight and query runner for GraphQL.

### 5.10 [Rainbow Brackets](https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/10080-rainbow-brackets)

For those who loves brackets...

![Rainbow Brackets](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1653218092616/uY0L1MpIU.png)

### 5.11 [Structured Logging](https://github.com/olsh/resharper-structured-logging)

For everyone who does logging (sounds like for everyone).

![Structured Logging](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1653164344280/NTz6earDd.png)

### 5.12 [Nyan Progress Bar](https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/8575-nyan-progress-bar)

And to top it off... the most useful plugin ever cute progress bar 🙄

![Nyan Progress Bar](https://cdn.hashnode.com/res/hashnode/image/upload/v1653164562569/bRcFOE9bP.png)

Alright, we've had a quick look at almost all plugins I use (except a few themes in addition to Material Theme UI), and it's time to wrap it up. I hope you found something useful (or at least [entertaining](https://plugins.jetbrains.com/plugin/8575-nyan-progress-bar)). And feel free to share your favorite software in the comments section below 😉

Cheers!