What am I using on macOS?

RaycastObsidianZedJetBrains IDEsLinearLM StudioOrbStackPixelmator Pro

Desktop Applications

Raycast

💵 Paid for professional use

💵 Free for personal use

What is it?

Your shortcut to everything.

Raycast, a Spotlight alternative on macOS, delivers powerful keyboard interactions with all the applications you use or want.

Why?

• Clipboard? Color Picker? Pandoc? UI for Homebrew/PyPI? — all mini programs in one place.
• Quick Actions for GitHub, Obsidian, Linear, Notion, Apple Mail/Notes/Calendar/Reminders? — all in one place.
• Chatbot from Google/OpenAI/OpenRouter/Anthropic/Ollama API? — all in one place.
• MCP (model context protocol), tool calling (for quick actions)? — all in one place.
• System control? — all in one place.
• Window layout? — no problem.

Raycast is just more powerful than any tool you've seen (only one requirement: you should be familiar with the keyboard). It really makes mac the first AI PC in the market.

Obsidian

💵 Paid for website publish

💵 Free for personal use

What is it?

A powerful knowledge base that works on top of a local folder of plain text Markdown files.

Why?

• Markdown - Uses plain text format that's future-proof and portable across any platform
• Local - All your notes stay on your device, giving you complete control and privacy
• Plugins community - Extensive ecosystem of community-built plugins to extend functionality, e.g., Excalidraw, Zotero, SmartComposer(LLMs), Copilot(LLMs), RemotelySave (S3 API)
• Knowledge Graph - Visual representation of connections between your notes and ideas

Zed

💵 Paid for senior AI functionality

💵 Free for personal use

What is it?

A high-performance (Rust), multiplayer, AI agent empowered code editor from the creators of Atom and Tree-sitter.

It did the right job as a code editor, use out of the box (multiple language, framework support), lightweight, fast, customizable.

Why?

• Open Source (Super active community) - Built transparently with active contributions and rapid feature development
• Super Fast - Optimized for speed with Rust-based architecture and GPU acceleration
• Lightweight - Minimal resource usage compared to other modern editors
• First-Class Agentic AI on your hand - Built-in AI assistant that can understand and modify your code contextually, agentically. Also delivered first-class experience of tool calling and MCP. You can use your API/Github Copilot for agentic coding without paying to Code Editor!
• Use out of the box - Works great immediately without extensive configuration or setup

JetBrains IDEs

💵 Paid for Professional/Commercial use

💵 Free for students/educators

What is it?

Professional integrated development environments (REAL "IDE") tailored for specific programming languages and frameworks.

Why?

• Powerful Dev Tools - Comprehensive suite of debugging, profiling, and analysis tools built-in.

Github Desktop? ❌. Docker Desktop? ❌. Navicat? ❌. Python/Maven/Cargo/npm Package Manager CLI? ❌. IntelliJ IDEA? ✅.

• Use out of the box - Comes pre-configured with everything needed for your target language
• Smartest Code Completion (if not vibe coding) - Advanced IntelliSense that understands your entire codebase context
• Real IDE (Integrated Development Environment) - Full-featured development environment, not just a text editor

Linear

💵 Free for personal use

What is it?

The issue tracking tool you'll enjoy using, built for modern software teams.

Why?

• Design (Good Looking) - Clean, minimal interface that focuses on productivity without visual clutter
• Integration (Github, Raycast, Slack, etc.) - Seamlessly connects with your existing development workflow and tools
• Intuitive - Natural user experience that doesn't require extensive training or documentation

LM Studio

💵 Free for personal use

What is it?

Discover, download, and run local LLMs with a user-friendly desktop application.

Why?

• Model community (Hugging Face, Staff Pick) - Access to curated collection of high-quality models from the community
• Latest MPS,MLX support for macOS - Optimized performance using Apple's Metal Performance Shaders and MLX framework
• Tool use, prompt management - Built-in tools for function calling and organizing your prompts effectively
• Elegant UI design - Beautiful, native macOS interface that makes working with AI models enjoyable

OrbStack

💵 Free for personal use

What is it?

Fast, light, simple Docker & Linux on macOS with native Apple Silicon support.

Why?

• Fast (er than Docker Desktop) - Significantly better performance and resource efficiency than Docker Desktop
• Native Virtual Machine (Linux) support - Run full Linux environments alongside Docker containers seamlessly
• Design (Build on SwiftUI) - Modern, native macOS interface that feels integrated with the system

Pixelmator Pro

💵 Paid

What is it?

Pro image editing software designed exclusively for Mac, combining power with simplicity.

Why?

• Design (Build on SwiftUI) - Native macOS interface that leverages the latest Apple design principles
• Apple Integration (Shortcuts, Quick Action, Automator, Apple Intelligence, etc.) - Deep integration with macOS ecosystem and automation tools
• Better performance (than Adobe) - Optimized for Apple Silicon with superior speed and efficiency
• Professional functionality - Advanced editing features that rival industry-standard tools
• One-time payment - No subscription required, own the software permanently
• Delivered by Apple.Inc (like Final Cut Pro, Logic Pro) - First-party quality and ongoing macOS compatibility guaranteed

Command Line Tools

Homebrew

💵 Free for personal use

What is it?

brew install everything.

Why?

• Simple package management - Install, update, and manage command-line tools and applications with simple commands

Have you ever tried brew install --cask qq (A Chinese chat platform)?

• Extensive catalog - Access to thousands of open-source tools and applications in one centralized repository
• Dependency management - Automatically handles software dependencies and version conflicts
• Community-driven - Maintained by the open-source community with regular updates and new packages

Starship

💵 Free for personal use

What is it?

The minimal, blazing-fast, and infinitely customizable prompt for any shell!

Why?

• Fast: it's fast – really really fast! 🚀
• Customizable: configure every aspect of your prompt.
• Universal: works on any shell, on any operating system.
• Intelligent: shows relevant information at a glance.
• Feature rich: support for all your favorite tools.
• Easy: quick to install – start using it in minutes.