What I use. Curated, not comprehensive.

Daily driver for long-form thinking, code, and writing.

• LLM
• Daily Driver

Second opinion and image-heavy tasks.

• LLM

Fast multi-modal answers tied into Google services.

• LLM
• Google

Pair-programming agent in the terminal — does most of the heavy lifting on builds like this site.

• Coding Agent

Browser relay that lets AI agents click, read, and act on pages on your behalf — the backbone for tool-use and agentic automations.

• Agent
• Browser
• Tool Use

No-account VPN — buy with cash, generate an account number, no email required.

• VPN
• No-log

Polished consumer VPN with broad device support — what most clients want when they want a VPN.

• VPN
• Consumer

Cross-device password manager from Nord — easy to bundle with NordVPN for clients who want one login for everything.

• Password Manager

Virtual card numbers per merchant — kills recurring-charge surprises.

• Cards
• Privacy

Default browser. Built-in ad and tracker blocking, sane defaults.

• Browser

DNS, CDN, and WAF in front of nearly every site I touch — fast, generous free tier, hard to beat for security at the edge.

• DNS
• CDN
• WAF

Where most of the domain registrations live, including this one.

• Domains
• Registrar

Zero-config mesh VPN built on WireGuard — wires every device into one private network without port-forwarding gymnastics.

• Mesh VPN
• WireGuard

Travel and home router with built-in WireGuard — the whole network rides through your VPN of choice. The right way to do work-from-anywhere.

• Router
• Hardware
• WFA

Default for small Linux servers — predictable pricing, simple console, this site runs on a DO droplet.

• VPS
• Linux

Best price-to-performance for EU-based projects and bigger boxes.

• VPS
• Dedicated

Specifically for Gemini API access, BigQuery, and Workspace integrations.

• Cloud
• AI APIs

When clients are a Microsoft shop and need Entra/365 integration.

• Cloud
• Microsoft

Content-first website framework. Ships near-zero JavaScript by default.

• Framework

Utility-first CSS — fast to build, easy to hand off.

• CSS

Web server in front of every site I run.

• Server

Default database for anything that needs to remember things.

• Database

Source of truth for every repo I work in.

• Git
• CI

Drop-in auth for client apps — saves weeks vs. rolling your own.

• Auth
• SaaS

When the client is a Microsoft shop and needs SSO into 365.

• SSO
• Enterprise

Default 2FA app for clients living in 365 — push approvals, passwordless sign-in, recovery built in.

• 2FA
• TOTP

Simple, offline TOTP codes — what I install when a client just wants the basic six-digit codes and nothing else.

• 2FA
• TOTP

Default payments processor. Clean APIs, sane fees, real reporting.

• Payments

Mobile in-app purchases without rolling your own subscription engine.

• Mobile IAP

Transactional and broadcast email with a developer-friendly API.

• Email API

Personal and project mailboxes I run my day out of.

• Mail

When clients live in 365 — calendar, mail, and shared inboxes without forcing them to switch.

• Mail
• Microsoft

Where most enterprise and federal clients meet — meetings, chat, and shared files in one window.

• Chat
• Video

Client agreements and statements of work.

• E-Sign

Self-hosted remote desktop. Free, encrypted, no third-party in the middle.

• Remote
• Self-Hosted

Battle-tested VNC client when I need a no-frills connection.

• VNC

When the client just wants a normal screen share with audio.

• Video

Daily-driver editor. Strong extension ecosystem, first-class Git, fast on big repos.

• IDE

Snappy, low-friction editor for quick edits, scratch files, and giant log dives.

• Editor

Multi-database GUI — one app for Postgres, MySQL, SQLite.

• DB GUI

API testing and documentation without the bloat.

• API

Programmatic web scraping that respects rate limits and robots.txt.

• Scraping

Architecture diagrams that come out clean and version in git.

• Diagrams

Local-first markdown notes. Every client engagement gets a vault.

• Notes
• Markdown

Fast cropped screenshots for runbooks and bug reports.

• Screenshots

When a PDF needs to be marked up, signed, or stitched.

• PDF