Developer Toolkit

Curated list of development tools and services, prioritizing free or low-cost options. Covers domains, development, deployment, monitoring, content, marketing, and local machine setup for solo developers and small teams.

📑 Table of Contents

• 🌐 Domain Services
• 🛠️ Core Development Services
• 🚀 Deployment & Monitoring
• 💻 Developer Productivity Tools
• 📊 Content & Design
• 📈 Marketing & Analytics
• 🖥️ Local Environment Setup
• 🔧 Other Utilities
• 📝 Notes
• 📜 License

🌐 Domain Services

Domain Price Comparison

• TLD List - Compare domain prices across registrars.

Domain Purchase

• Spaceship - Transparent pricing, beginner-friendly.
• Sav - Affordable, high-value domains.
• Regery - User-friendly, supports multiple extensions.
• Namecheap - Free Whois privacy, budget-friendly.

🛠️ Core Development Services

Databases

• 🟡 Supabase - Open-source PostgreSQL with authentication and real-time features.
• 🟡 Turso - Lightweight SQLite for edge computing.
• 🟡 Neon - Serverless PostgreSQL, highly scalable.

Caching

• 🟡 Upstash - Serverless Redis and Kafka for lightweight projects.

Messaging

• 🟡 CloudAMQP - Managed RabbitMQ, free tier with limited resources for message queues.

Authentication

• 🟡 Supabase - Integrated, easy-to-use authentication.
• 🟡 Clerk - Modern auth with rich UI components.
• 🟡 Auth0 - Robust, supports 7,000 active users.

Storage

• 🟢 Cloudflare R2

🚀 Deployment & Monitoring

Deployment Platforms

• 🟢 Cloudflare - Global CDN with edge computing, supports static sites and serverless functions.
• 🟢 Vercel - Top choice for frontend, seamless integration.
• 🟢 Render - Supports static sites and backend services.
• 🟢 Netlify - Ideal for JAMstack projects.

Error Monitoring

• 🟢 Sentry - Real-time error tracking with ample event quota.

Log Services

• 🟢 Axiom - Efficient log analysis for startups.

User Behavior Analytics

• 🟢 Clarity - Free heatmaps and behavior analytics.
• 🟡 Mixpanel - In-depth event tracking, supports 100K monthly users.

💻 Developer Productivity Tools

Code Management

• 🟢 GitHub
• 🟢 GitLab

Code Editors

• 🟢 VS Code - The open source AI code editor.
• 🟢 Google Colab - Free Jupyter Notebook.

AI Assistance

• ChatGPT - General-purpose AI for Q&A and code.
• Claude - Conversational AI for complex tasks.
• Deepseek - Efficient code generation.
• Copilot - AI-powered code completion.
• Tabnine - Privacy-friendly code completion.

📊 Content & Design

CMS

• 🟢 Sanity - Modern headless CMS, highly flexible.
• 🟢 Keystatic - Lightweight CMS for static sites.
• 🟢 Strapi - Open-source headless CMS, self-hosted.

Design Tools

• 🟢 Figma - Leading collaborative design tool.

Note-Taking Tools

• 🟢 Obsidian - Local-first, bi-directional linking.
• 🟢 Notion - All-in-one notes and collaboration.
• 🟢 Lark - Team collaboration and docs.
• 🟢 Logseq - Open-source notes with bi-directional linking.

📈 Marketing & Analytics

Email Services

• 🟢 Resend - Simple email API for developers.
• 🟢 Cloudflare Email Routing - Free email forwarding.
• 🟡 SendGrid - 100 free emails/month for automation.

Web Analytics

• 🟢 Google Analytics - Comprehensive website analytics.
• 🟢 Openpanel - Lightweight analytics tool.
• 🟢 PostHog - Open-source analytics platform.
• 🟡 Plausible - Privacy-friendly, lightweight analytics.

SEO Tools

• 🟢 Google Trends - Keyword trend analysis.
• Ahrefs - Professional SEO and competitor analysis.
• SEMrush - Comprehensive SEO and marketing insights.
• 🟢 Ubersuggest - Free keyword research tool.

🖥️ Local Environment Setup

Software lineup and system setup notes for macOS and Windows, useful when migrating to a new device or reinstalling.

General Apps

• WeChat
• Telegram
• Chrome - Primary browser.
• Raycast - Launcher and productivity hub.
• Warp - Primary terminal emulator with AI-assisted commands.
• VS Code - Primary IDE.
• Cursor - Gradually replacing VS Code.
• JetBrains Toolbox
  • IntelliJ IDEA - Mainly for backend code.
• Docker Desktop - Containers and image management.
• DBeaver - Database client.
• Postman - API debugging and testing.
• Snipaste - Screenshot and pin-to-screen tool.

macOS

• Homebrew - Package manager (brew install).
  • smartmontools - Disk health diagnostics.
  • tig - Friendlier git history viewer.
  • trash - Safer alternative to rm -rf.
  • tree - Display directory tree.
• Surge - Network management.
• CleanMyMac - System cleanup.
• App Cleaner & Uninstaller - Application uninstaller.
• IINA - Video player.
• Downie - Video downloader.
• Keka - Archive utility.
• iStat Menus - System monitoring.
• 1Password - Password manager.

Windows

• WSL2 - Linux subsystem for Windows.
  • Ubuntu - Ubuntu 24.04 LTS.
• v2rayN - Network proxy client.
• TortoiseGit - Windows shell interface for Git.
• Fiddler Everywhere - HTTP traffic capture.
• macOS-cursor - Mouse cursor theme.
• PotPlayer - Video player.

Development Environment

• Git
• Node.js - npm install -g [pkg]
  • nvm
  • nvm-windows
  • pnpm - Drop-in replacement for npm.
  • serve - Static file serving and directory listing.
• Python
• Go
• Rust
  • Visual Studio C++ Build Tools - Required to compile C/C++ code on Windows.
• Java
  • JDK
  • Maven

Misc

• Wallpaper: wallhaven

🔧 Other Utilities

Task Management

• 🟢 Notion - Flexible task and project management.
• 🟢 Lark - Team collaboration and tasks.
• 🟢 ClickUp - Feature-rich with strong free plan.

Payment Services

• 🟢 Stripe - Global payment solution.
• 🟡 Paddle - Ideal for SaaS, handles global taxes.

📝 Notes

• Free-First Focus: Prioritizes tools with free tiers or credits for budget-conscious developers.
• Regular Updates: Free policies may change; check limits (e.g., Cloudflare R2, Supabase) periodically.
• Suggestions: Tailor tools to project scale (solo, small team, enterprise) or tech stack (frontend, backend, full-stack).
• Badge Compatibility: Uses 🟢 for fully free tools and 🟡 for free credit/trial to ensure Markdown compatibility.

📜 License

MIT License © 2025-PRESENT wudi