8 Essential Developer Tools to Make You More Productive on Mac
Learn about 8 essential developer tools for Mac that help Laravel and Magento developers stay productive: window management, local PHP, databases, screenshots and more.
Numi app
Numi is a calculator app for Mac. For me Numi is a better alternative to the default calculator app on Mac with additional features that will help developers that are working with clients in different timezones and currencies to do a quick calculation. It supports a lot of functions and operators, variables and constants.
The app is free but if you want unlimited notes and iCloud sync you need to pay $19,99 + VAT.
Grammarly
Grammarly is my favorite tool for writing. It is not just a great tool for developers but also for everyone who need to write a lot of documents. It is a great alternative to the default spell checker on Mac.
The alternative for Grammarly is Hemingway Editor.
Rectangle
Rectangle is a free, open-source window manager for macOS. You move and resize windows with keyboard shortcuts or by dragging them to screen edges, which is a big win when you juggle an editor, a terminal, a browser and a database client at the same time. It is the app I use instead of Spectacle, which is no longer maintained.
Alfred
Alfred app is a great tool and alternative to the default Spotlight app on Mac. It supports a lot of features:
- search for files
- find apps & files
- calculate
- search the web
- system commands
- clipboard history
- 1password integration
- etc.
Laravel Herd
Laravel Herd is a native macOS app that gives you a complete local PHP environment: PHP, a web server and Node, without Docker or manual configuration. Sites are served on .test domains and you can switch PHP versions per project, which is handy when you move between Laravel and Magento / Adobe Commerce projects that need different versions.
TablePlus
TablePlus is a fast, native database GUI client. It supports MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, SQLite, Redis and more, so one app covers the databases you touch in Laravel and Magento work. It's what I open when I need to inspect data or run a quick query.
CleanShot X (Paid app)
Cleanshot X is for me the best snipping tool on Mac. It's way better than the default snipping tool on Mac. What I like is that it can record as gif directly, showing things like clicks or even keystrokes. It has many nice features for taking screenshots too.
It’s paid, but it was one of the best apps I’ve ever purchased.
Loom
Loom is a great tool for recording your screen. It's a great alternative to the default QuickTime app on Mac. It's a great collaboration tool between developers and project managers or just a casual users who need to quickly record their screen and be able to simply upload it in cloud and share the URL link.