Xinjiang Shao
Hardware, software, tools

Uses

Hardware, software, and tools I use daily for software engineering and productivity. Inspired by uses.tech.

Categories
6
Things I use
26
01

Workstation

4 items

  • MacBook Pro 12" (M1, 2020)

    Primary development machine. The M1 chip was a game-changer — still fast and capable enough for daily development, Docker, and multitasking.

  • Samsung Ultrawide Display

    Ultrawide monitor for maximum screen real estate. Editor on one side, browser and terminal on the other — no window switching needed.

  • HHKB Professional 2

    The legendary Topre switch keyboard. Compact 60% layout with a Unix-friendly key arrangement that keeps your hands on the home row.

  • Logitech Mouse

    Reliable and comfortable for long coding sessions. Gets the job done without fuss.

02

Development Tools

7 items

  • VS Code

    Primary editor. Heavily customized with Vim keybindings, GitHub Copilot, and a minimal UI. The integrated terminal is where I live.

    code.visualstudio.com

  • Claude Code

    AI-powered CLI for complex coding tasks. Excellent for refactoring, code review, and exploring unfamiliar codebases.

    claude.ai

  • GitHub Copilot

    AI pair programmer that lives in my editor. Great for boilerplate, tests, and translating intent into code.

    github.com

  • Gemini Pro

    Google's most capable AI model. Strong at multimodal reasoning, long-context tasks, and code generation across languages.

    gemini.google.com

  • iTerm2 + zsh

    Terminal of choice with Oh My Zsh, Starship prompt, and a handful of aliases that save hours every week.

    iterm2.com

  • Docker Desktop

    For local development environments, running databases, and ensuring parity with production.

    docker.com

  • Postman

    API development and testing. Shared collections make onboarding new team members painless.

    postman.com
03

Languages & Frameworks

4 items

  • TypeScript + React + Next.js

    My primary stack. TypeScript for safety, React for UI, Next.js for the full-stack framework. This site is built with it.

  • Node.js

    Backend APIs, build tooling, and scripting. The ecosystem is unmatched for web development.

  • Python + FastAPI

    For data pipelines, ML tooling, and quick API prototypes. FastAPI makes Python feel modern.

  • Java + Spring

    Enterprise-grade backend services. Still the most battle-tested ecosystem for large-scale systems.

04

Cloud & Infrastructure

5 items

  • Google Cloud Platform

    Primary cloud provider. Cloud Run, Pub/Sub, Firestore, and Cloud Functions power most of my projects.

    cloud.google.com

  • AWS

    S3, CloudFront, Lambda. Used extensively in previous roles and still the go-to for certain workloads.

    aws.amazon.com

  • Vercel

    Deploying Next.js apps with zero config. Preview deployments per PR changed my review workflow.

    vercel.com

  • Cloudflare

    DNS, CDN, and DDoS protection. The free tier is absurdly generous.

    cloudflare.com

  • GitHub Actions

    CI/CD for everything. Linting, testing, building, deploying — all triggered on push.

    github.com
05

Productivity & Design

4 items

  • Notion

    Second brain for notes, docs, and project planning. The database views are powerful for tracking anything.

    notion.so

  • Figma

    UI design and prototyping. Essential for collaborating with designers and creating quick mockups.

    figma.com

  • Raycast

    Spotlight replacement on steroids. Clipboard history, snippets, window management, and custom scripts.

    raycast.com

  • 1Password

    Password management for personal and team credentials. The CLI integration is great for secrets in scripts.

    1password.com
06

Monitoring & Observability

2 items

  • Sentry

    Error tracking and performance monitoring. Source maps make debugging production issues straightforward.

    sentry.io

  • Grafana + Prometheus

    Dashboards and alerting for infrastructure and application metrics.

    grafana.com

Want the full picture?

Check out my Technology Radar for a comprehensive, interactive view of every technology I use, trial, or assess.

View Radar