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."
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@changx9609 do you also use this for monetising your tools?
Cursor / AI tools – absolute lifesaver for speeding up custom code and styling.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@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.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@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
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@gil_levy Wasn't lemon squeeze acquireted by Stripe?
Vokal
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@zhen_han I am considering it too, but I am convenient with Claude more now :D
Vokal
@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.
TrackerJam
My must have list would probably include a notes app too. Random ideas appear at the worst times and I need somewhere to save them.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@maklyen_may Notes never disappoint! :)
A friend of mine uses Notion for almost everything from planning to storing ideas so I can see why these tools become essential.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@nikita_jain18 It is a good thing to have inside one software, so it is not distributed and messed across 10 :D
Serand
Nice discussion topic. It is always intresting to see how different workflow depend on completely different tool stacks.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@maali_baali Thank you! :) Do you have your favourite stack too? :)
Bababot
Interesting that you mentioned Gmail for reminders. A lot of people use it in ways beyond just sending emails.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@aarav_pittman Another thing I use are Apple reminders too :)
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
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@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.