What are the 5 tools you simply couldn't do your work without?
This could be related to your industry, or even a side project you're working on.
Here are my 5 (I couldn't function without them):
Grammarly – proofreading my texts, not just posts, but also client communication
ChatGPT / Claude – mostly brainstorming, help with copy, and summarising
Figma – I can put the basic graphics together quickly.
Translator – sounds incredibly old-school, but English is not my mother tongue
Gmail – and not only for communication, but also for storing ideas and sending myself email reminders for posts
[and soon one more that I am working on – SafeLimit – prevents me from being banned on LinkedIn, so I will not lose my account.]
What are your five?
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As an independent developer currently refactoring my backend and trying to launch internationally, here is my absolute survival stack:
VS Code / AI Coding Agents (Claude Code / Cline): Absolute life-saver. Just helped me aggressively refactor a monolithic 1,500-line node server down to a clean 400 lines in two days.
Vercel: For instant, hassle-free frontend hosting.
Cherry Studio: Best multi-model platform to manage my API keys (SiliconFlow, Anthropic, Google).
Midjourney / DALL-E: For drafting quick logos and promotional visual assets without a designer.
GitHub: Because losing code is not an option."
@changx9609 do you also use this for monetising your tools?
Cursor / AI tools – absolute lifesaver for speeding up custom code and styling.
@yevhen_designer It seems that most of us admire just AI in general :D
Mine would probably be:
VS Code – where most of my day happens.
GitHub – for managing code, reviews, and keeping projects organized.
ChatGPT – mainly for brainstorming solutions and speeding up research.
Postman – saves me a ton of time when working with APIs.
Notion – my second brain for notes, ideas, and project planning.
Funny how the "essential tools" list keeps changing every couple of years. A decade ago, half of these didn't even exist.
@quin2uple I also use Postman, but I do not completely get it because it seems to be more developer thing :D
For building Qualtix, my 5 are:
1. ChatGPT - product thinking, copy, SEO structure, and debugging direction
2. VS Code - daily development
3. Railway - deployment and backend hosting
4. Lemon Squeezy - payments and subscriptions
5. Loom - product walkthroughs and launch demos
@gil_levy Wasn't lemon squeeze acquireted by Stripe?
@zhen_han I am considering it too, but I am convenient with Claude more now :D
@busmark_w_nika I was a heavy claude code user until end April this year. Codex mac app + GPT 5.5 was a game changer for me. It magically reduced a lot of back and forth for my coding tasks.
As a creative marketer, my daily survival kit is
Slack to talk
Gmail / Notion to track
LinkedIn Sales Nav to hunt
Gemini to think, and
Sivi to design creatives
@meenakshi_sivi is Sales Navigator so good? I had it, and I couldn't find any value for me :D
@busmark_w_nika Hey Nika! honestly, it depends on the role and target audience.
As iam into B2B outbound prospecting, it's an absolute lifesaver because the advanced filters let you pinpoint decision-makers, intent signals, funding rounds, or department growth before approaching. Especially bypassing outside 1st/2nd-degree networks.
if your ideal clients aren't active on LinkedIn, it’s definitely not worth the price tag.
@vlasoffchess Sure, but I rather went with Claude :)
Hi,
I try to stay away from subscriptions. So, Deadline Docket I like or Days Until: Countdown … helps me to visually see a list of deadlines/follow ups counting down…
Deadline Docket
Days Until: Countdown
Private Voice Notes (helpful foldering off the bat)
“File Photos in Real Time”
Two Lists: For You & For Them (this one I like as a separate list for my self-care/to-dos and everyone else’s)
@ilovegandalf Is it any solution you created for yourself?
My current five would be:
ChatGPT / Claude — brainstorming, writing, coding help, and turning messy thoughts into something usable
VS Code / Cursor — where most of the actual building happens
Figma — quick UI thinking, mockups, and visual alignment
Notion — notes, product ideas, specs, and keeping projects from becoming chaos
Gmail / Calendar — boring but impossible to replace for communication, reminders, and keeping commitments visible
Funny how the “boring” tools usually end up being the most critical ones.
@vlasoffchess Love all of them. It is similar to my tech stack actually!
1. Claude Code: most of the dev work happens here
2. Figma: design and the screenshots that feed everything else
3. Cloudflare: site hosting, workers, analytics
4. Obsidian: second brain and project notes
5. SlimSnap.ai: the screenshot-to-JSON tool I built and use daily for Claude Code (bias warning, but actually in my top 5).
@bickov More people mentioned Obsidian. Is it really good like that?
@busmark_w_nika Depends how you think about notes. It clicked for me because everything is plain markdown files that just live on my disk. No account, works offline.
What actually makes it useful is linking notes together. My whole SlimSnap launch sits in one vault: roadmap, every customer question from launch week, a running log of what I posted where. They link so I stop re-deriving the same decisions every week.
One catch. It's only as good as the habit. Empty vault if you don't write things down. But if you already take notes, it's the best home I've found for them.