Productivity Tools I Use
Tags: tooling, productivity
Published: 2022-03-29 20:47:12

Here is a short list of some great tools I've discovered over the past year.

## macOS Only

### Free Apps

* [Raycast](https://raycast.com/) - Workflows, snippets, macOS spotlight on steroids. I previously used [Alfred](https://www.alfredapp.com/), another excellent Spotlight alternative. There are [plans to create a version for Linux and Windows](https://www.raycast.com/faq#is-raycast-available-on-windows-or-linux), but they want to get it right on macOS first.

![Raycast Search](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/rrrls5ct9ld8ezq47tl0.png)
 
* [Dato](https://sindresorhus.com/dato) - A better date app for macOS. I also love that you can have clocks for different timezones. I have a UTC clock which is super helpful when working on a remote team with colleagues all over the planet.

![Dato Calendar App](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/0upcfu8ujartdzhy2tw1.png)

* [Fig](https://fig.io/) - VSCode style autocomplete in your terminal. It's more than that, but this is one of the first big things they've released.

![Fig autocomplete in action](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/avp5xo335g46nqi3bmot.png)

### Paid Apps

* [Bartender](https://www.macbartender.com/) - For managing your menu bar. I used to use [Vanilla](https://matthewpalmer.net/vanilla/), but with the notch in newer MacBook Pros, Bartender made the menubar more usable when dealing with lots of menubar icons.
* [Webcam Settings](https://apps.apple.com/us/app/webcam-settings/id533696630) - Helps me prevent my Logitech webcam from losing focus. I also use it for zooming in on my webcam.

![Webcam Settings App Advanced Settings screen](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/icjqvz75vduidpdgjq7g.png)
 

* [CleanMyMac X](https://macpaw.com/cleanmymac) - All I can say about CleanMyMac X is it has so many great tools for keeping your Mac running in tip-top shape.

![CleanMyMac X main screen](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/n8c10p80b897e6npwm86.png)
 

* [Cleanshot X](https://cleanshot.com/) - For better screenshots and screen recordings. I've found this super useful, and the UX is great. And to top it off, there is a great editor to modify your images.

![Cleanshot X image editor](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/zok86bqim1grwy4hur1x.png)

## OS Agnostic

* [Starship](https://starship.rs/) - A customizable cross shell prompt. I love the extra info out of the box it provides for the shell prompt.

![Starship shell prompt in action](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/9w2uut5vy2kvaavazjg0.png)
 
* [mcfly](https://github.com/cantino/mcfly) - An enhance search for your shell history. Super charged <kbd>CTRL</kbd> + <kbd>R</kbd>!

![mcfly shell history search in action](https://dev-to-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/articles/fvjdht5vlmrj2xqcchs5.png)

Check out my [uses page](https://iamdeveloper.com/uses) if you want to see everything in my toolbox.

Photo by <a href="https://unsplash.com/@dancristianp?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Dan-Cristian Pădureț</a> on <a href="https://unsplash.com/s/photos/tools?utm_source=unsplash&utm_medium=referral&utm_content=creditCopyText">Unsplash</a>