Recommended Development Tools in Linux, MacOS, and Windows

Updated Nov 09, 2025 - I updated my preferred development tools.

I use Linux, MacOS, and Windows, and I like all three operating systems (I don't mind Windows 10, but I am not interesting in switching to Windows 11). There might be a tool I like more in one than the others, but I can write code and spin up environments regardless of which OS I’m using. In this article I have put together a list of my recommended development tools.

My personal Macbook Pro is an Intel-based model, but it still works well as a development computer.

My personal computer is a desktop with system drives for both Linux and Windows 10. I have steadily been moving away from Windows, and recently switched my Linux distro from Manjaro to CachyOS with KDE Plasma (CachyOS is an Arch-derivative rolling release distro).

Development Tools

Package Manager

• paru
  • Linux
  • This is only available for Arch and Arch-derivative distros.
  • paru wraps the built-in pacman. I use it to install Linux software.
  • I used to use yay but CachyOS came with paru, and I prefer how it shows PKGBUILD diffs.
• homebrew
  • MacOS
• I don’t use a package manager on Windows.

Terminal

• Ghostty
  • Linux
• iTerm
  • MacOS
• Windows Terminal
  • Windows

IDE

• Visual Studio
  • Windows
  • I like to use Visual Studio in Windows for .NET projects , but I think that for .NET Core API projects Visual Studio Code works very well. I do not use Visual Studio for JavaScript projects.
  • I also don’t use Visual Studio on MacOS unless I am working with Xamarin. It is not the same product under the hood as the original Visual Studio on Windows and I use Visual Studio Code instead.

Code Editor

• Visual Studio Code
  • Linux
  • MacOS
  • Windows
  • I listed my recommended extensions here.

Git Client

• GitKraken
  • Linux
  • MacOS
  • Windows
  • I like using Git GUI clients because I have a very visual memory. GitKraken helps me commit only final and not debug code. I also like to use it to commit specific lines which helps me do atomic commits.

Database Tools

• DBeaver
  • Linux
  • MacOS
  • Windows
  • I most frequently use Postgres and MSSQL. DBeaver does not work as well for non-relational databases.
• SQL Server Management Studio (SSMS)
  • Windows

HTTP

• Yaak
  • Linux
  • MacOS
  • Windows
  • I used to use Postman but I have not enjoyed their recent changes.

Notes

• Obsidian
  • Linux
  • MacOS
  • Windows
  • I still prefer aspects of Boost Note more, but it is no longer maintained and I lost patience with the bugs.

Sync

• Dropbox
  • Linux
  • MacOS
  • Windows
  • Dropbox support for Linux is not great so I might be trading this for a different service, but I haven't found a satisfactory replacement yet.

If I find any other recommended development tools, I will add them here.