Uses

This is a living list of the tools I use.

None of this is meant to be advice. Tools are personal. These are just the ones that currently fit how I like to work.

Computer

I use Linux as my main operating system.

Right now that mostly means Arch Linux, Wayland, Niri, and a lot of terminal windows.

I like computers that feel quiet, fast, and mine. I don't need my setup to look impressive. I need it to stay out of the way long enough for me to think.

Some people relax by organizing their bookshelves. I apparently relax by adjusting window manager config.

Editor

I use Zed for a lot of day-to-day coding.

I also keep terminal editors around because some habits are hard to kill, and because editing a file over SSH should not require a small ceremony.

Languages

Most of my personal projects tend to involve:

• Rust
• Python
• JavaScript when the browser is the target

Rust is the language I reach for when I want something small, fast, and sturdy.

AI

I do use AI tools, but I try to be careful about what I use them for.

They're useful for exploring ideas, checking assumptions, debugging, generating examples, and getting unstuck. They are much less useful when I let them decide what I think.

For writing, I use AI more like a conversation partner than a ghostwriter. I care a lot about voice, taste, structure, and whether something actually sounds like me. If a piece of writing feels polished but hollow, I don't consider that an improvement.

For code, I use AI the way I would use a very fast but occasionally overconfident intern: helpful, worth listening to, and absolutely not trusted without review.

I think the useful version of AI is not replacing thought. It's making it easier to stay in motion while thinking.

Writing

This site is written in Markdown.

I like Markdown because it is boring in a useful way. It is readable as plain text, easy to version, easy to move, and not especially interested in becoming a platform.

The writing lives in Git.

That makes me happy in a way I will not try too hard to justify.

Website

This site is built with Zola.

It is mostly:

• Markdown
• custom templates
• one CSS file
• static HTML
• RSS
• no database
• no required JavaScript

The main site is meant to be simple. The experiments can go elsewhere.

Infrastructure

For this site:

• the domain is registered through Porkbun
• DNS is managed by Cloudflare
• hosting is done through Cloudflare Pages
• changes are deployed from Git

The goal is boring infrastructure.

Write Markdown. Commit. Push. Let the site rebuild. Move on.

A personal website should not require a control plane.

Preferences

The tools change, but the preferences are pretty stable.

I like:

• plain text
• local-first software
• stable URLs
• fast pages
• boring infrastructure
• tools that work offline
• software that can be understood by one person
• computers that belong to the people using them

I don't think every tool needs to be minimal. But I do think every tool should justify the complexity it brings.