/uses
What I reach for.
Editor, languages, stack, cloud, AI workflow, hardware, fonts. The toolkit of a senior backend engineer in 2026 — what I actually use, with the trade-offs in plain language. Updated as the workflow evolves.
/editor
Editor
Where the actual writing happens.
- VS Codeprimary daily driver — Java + TypeScript + Markdown all in one place
- Cursorfor AI-pair-programming on bigger refactors
- IntelliJ IDEAfor serious Java work — Spring + Gradle inspections are unmatched
- Vim keybindings everywhereswitched in 2021, never going back
/languages-i-reach-for
Languages I reach for
- Java 17 / 21most of my production work
- TypeScriptfor everything web; never plain JS
- Bashautomation glue, deployment scripts, ops one-offs
- SQLPostgreSQL dialect; I write queries before ORMs
/backend-stack
Backend stack
- Spring Boot 3default for enterprise weight
- NestJSdefault for Node — structure beats raw Express any day
- PostgreSQLsystem of record
- Rediscache, rate limit, session, job queue — Swiss army knife
- Resilience4jcircuit breakers + retries + bulkheads in three lines of config
/cloud-&-ops
Cloud & ops
- AWSS3, EC2, ECR, Lambda, RDS, Secrets Manager, CloudWatch
- Dockerevery service ships in a container
- GitHub Actions / Jenkinsdepends on the org; both work
- Grafana + Prometheusthe dashboard goes up before the first incident
- ELKstructured logs, request-id propagation, searchable
/ai-workflow
AI workflow
Force-multiplier, not job title.
- Claudefor thinking through architecture and writing prose like this page
- Cursor + Claude in IDEfor in-context refactoring
- GitHub Copilotfor autocomplete; honestly use it for less than I expected
- Geminifor cross-checking; second opinion is cheap
/terminal
Terminal
- Warptrying it; jury's still out
- iTerm2 + Oh-My-Zshthe boring choice that just works
- fzffuzzy file/history search; can't live without it now
- tmuxfor long-running ssh sessions; less than I used to
- lazygitfor anything more complex than a commit
/hardware
Hardware
- MacBook Pro (M-series)primary workstation
- External 4K displaycode on the laptop, browser/terminal on the big screen
- Mechanical keyboardtactile switches; speed isn't the point, feel is
/fonts-on-this-site
Fonts on this site
Every choice on this page is intentional.
- Frauncesdisplay headlines; variable axes give serif character without rigidity
- InterUI body; readable at every size, every weight
- JetBrains Monocode, captions, metrics — engineer-default for a reason
/reading
Reading
What I keep open in tabs.
- Hacker Newsfiltered through habit
- lobste.rsfor engineer-curated signal
- Specific authors I followMarc Brooker, Dan Luu, Hillel Wayne, Patrick Collison