Favorite Software Applications

A personal, non-exhaustive list of software that stood out in recent use, productivity, creation, and tools that feel well-designed. (Inspired by sourcetms; updated for 2025-2026 context. Your mileage will vary.)

Writing and notes

  • Obsidian, Local-first markdown, backlinks, and graph. Good for long-term knowledge bases and research.
  • Notion, Flexible docs and databases. Strong for teams and shared wikis; templates and integrations are plentiful.

Development

  • Cursor, AI-native coding with strong codebase awareness. Fast iteration and agent-style workflows.
  • Raycast, Launcher and automation on macOS. Extensions and scripts replace a lot of context-switching.

Design and reference

  • Figma, Standard for UI design and handoff. Collaboration and components scale well.
  • Pinterest / Cosmos / Mobbin, For saving and discovering UI and design patterns. Taste-building and reference.

Communication and scheduling

  • Cal.com, Open-source scheduling. Self-host or cloud; fits a "own your stack" mindset.
  • Telegram, Fast, multi-device messaging. Good for groups and low-friction coordination.

Browser and research

  • Brave, Privacy-focused browser with solid defaults. Less noise from ads and trackers.
  • Perplexity, AI search that cites sources. Useful for quick research and comparison.

Misc

  • Screen Studio, Polished screen recordings for demos and tutorials.
  • Warp, Modern terminal with good UX and AI assist. Makes CLI work less painful.

What makes these "favorites" is a mix of reliability, clarity of purpose, and either a great default experience or room to tailor. Omissions are many, this is a snapshot. For a more tool-heavy list, see Stack.