My Toolstack

Hello Tech World!

I was thinking on what should be my first “real” post and here it is!

In this one I’ll share, and in a way document, the toolstack I’m using the most nowadays.

My Toolstack

VScode

You all know VScode! It’s our IDE (well, technically it’s a text editor. But nowadays it’s way more than just that!) and base for all our other tools fundamentally.

I use it for everything:

• Connect it to Chatgpt/Codex
• Create skills and prompts for my AI of choice
• Create posts on this blog
• Read logs
• Connect to databases
• Remotely connect and manage Linux machines
• Create automations with Terraform, Ansible and tools alike.

Basically anything can be done here. Especially with its multitude of Extensions you can configure and customize it to whatever you intend to do!

Here is a list of my current extensions:

To view all my extensions, click here

• alefragnani.project-manager
• amazonwebservices.aws-toolkit-vscode
• christian-kohler.path-intellisense
• codezombiech.gitignore
• compilenix.vscode-zonefile
• davidanson.vscode-markdownlint
• docker.docker
• donjayamanne.git-extension-pack
• donjayamanne.githistory
• eamodio.gitlens
• esbenp.prettier-vscode
• fabiospampinato.vscode-open-in-application
• george-alisson.html-preview-vscode
• ginfuru.ginfuru-vscode-jekyll-syntax
• github.copilot-chat
• github.remotehub
• github.vscode-github-actions
• github.vscode-pull-request-github
• golang.go
• hashicorp.hcl
• hashicorp.sentinel
• hashicorp.terraform
• inferrinizzard.prettier-sql-vscode
• k-r-o-s.jekyll-post-generator
• llvm-vs-code-extensions.lldb-dap
• mechatroner.rainbow-csv
• ms-azuretools.vscode-containers
• ms-azuretools.vscode-docker
• ms-kubernetes-tools.vscode-kubernetes-tools
• ms-python.debugpy
• ms-python.python
• ms-python.vscode-pylance
• ms-python.vscode-python-envs
• ms-toolsai.jupyter
• ms-toolsai.jupyter-keymap
• ms-toolsai.jupyter-renderers
• ms-toolsai.vscode-jupyter-cell-tags
• ms-toolsai.vscode-jupyter-slideshow
• ms-vscode-remote.remote-containers
• ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh
• ms-vscode-remote.remote-ssh-edit
• ms-vscode-remote.vscode-remote-extensionpack
• ms-vscode.azure-repos
• ms-vscode.live-server
• ms-vscode.remote-explorer
• ms-vscode.remote-repositories
• ms-vscode.remote-server
• oderwat.indent-rainbow
• openai.chatgpt
• pascalreitermann93.vscode-yaml-sort
• postman.postman-for-vscode
• redhat.ansible
• redhat.vscode-xml
• redhat.vscode-yaml
• sankooc.pcapviewer
• sleistner.vscode-fileutils
• swiftlang.swift-vscode
• vscode-infra.image-viewer
• william-voyek.vscode-nginx
• yy0931.save-as-root
• yzhang.markdown-all-in-one
• zainchen.json
• ziyasal.vscode-open-in-github

Full disclosure: I don’t really use all of them as sometimes I install some to check and forget.

But in the future I’ll create a post talking about my favorites.

For me this is a MUST

Chatgpt/Codex

Everybody saw this coming!

Nowadays if you are not using at least one LLM (like Claude/Chatgpt/Copilot/Gemini) you are lagging behind FAST!

Chatgpt for me it’s not necessarily the best but it’s a very well rounded engine.

I see a lot of developers flying towards Claude AI nowadays, which is something to keep and eye on, but as I already have an yearly pro subscription on this I’ll keep using it.

I use it for everything, from quick checks to full on planning new projects.

At a time I’m simply asking the best way to handle a quest in my favorite RPG and just after that I’m creating some nice tools and apps with which I wanna conquer the world!

The trick that will differentiate your AI from just being helpful and somewhat annoying is to create very well written prompts and to try to make it specialized for the task at hand.

For that, use as much as you can the skills and the specific prompts. And don’t forget to use MCPs!

It’s amazing and you need at least one. But you knew that :D

Github

Everybody and their mother in the tech world knows Github and git nowadays. It’s a staple and you must use it.

Specially with you are a full blown DevOps engineer or automator, this is your daily bread.

In fact, this very blog is hosted in GitHub and the posts are published via GitOps.

No excuses here, you NEED TO KNOW THIS! (I’ll help you with some posts in the future).

Cloudflare

I use Cloudflare mainly for my DNS domain and occasional tunnels.

Actually Cloudflare Tunnels are amazing.

They basically provide you with an external IP address which you tie to your DNS registry and a secure tunnel to your machine.

With that you can host a lot of different services securely and without the need of buying a static IP address.

Very handy!

Communication/Collaboration tools

At work this comes mainly to Slack and Microsoft Teams.

Slack is amazing in my books, simple easy to use and non-intrusive. Very nice tool that does the job and does it well.

MS Teams is ok I guess, it’s a needed burden but it doesn’t suck that much.

Final thoughts

This is a very succinct list, I did not add job specific things like ticketing system or knowledge base tools and I may come back to them on a different post but for now I wanted to share with you my core tools.

In the future we will discuss (a lot!) about them in detail, specially AI tools and their usage.

Stay tuned and go build something amazing!