[legal] ~/the-forge

The Forge

Tools, hardware, and software I use every day to develop, test, debug, and learn.

I'm not chasing a perfect stack. I want tools that cut friction and let me focus on building.

Development

Editor

Zed

My main editor. I use it for PHP, JavaScript, TypeScript, Python, Markdown, configs, and code in general.

Terminal

Ghostty

My daily terminal. Fast, minimalist, and GPU-accelerated.

Zsh + Oh My Zsh

My shell environment for navigation, aliases, Git, and CLI tools.

Zellij

Terminal multiplexer for long-running processes, dev servers, logs, and multiple shells.

Stack

Backend

PHP + Laravel

My main backend stack. Most of my web apps use Laravel as a base.

Filament

For admin panels, internal tools, dashboards, and back offices.

Livewire

For interactive interfaces without turning every component into a separate JavaScript app.

Frontend

JavaScript / TypeScript

For client-side behavior when HTML + Livewire aren't enough.

Vite

Build tool for assets and frontend in Laravel projects.

Data

MySQL

My main relational DB for Laravel projects.

AWS RDS

Managed MySQL for production workloads.

Infrastructure

Containers

Docker

Local development, service isolation, and reproducible environments.

Cloud

AWS

Production infrastructure, DB, containers, storage, and deployment.

Cloudflare

DNS, tunnels, networking, and secure access to local services.

AI Development

Local LLMs

Ollama

Local runtime for running LLMs without always depending on cloud APIs.

I use it for code generation, debugging, exploration, documentation, and agent workflows.

Coding agents

I use AI agents as development tools, not as a replacement for engineering judgment.

Typical workflow:

Idea
  ↓
Agent
  ↓
Code
  ↓
Tests
  ↓
Review
  ↓
Ship

Hardware

Main workstation

My main machine for development:

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 5800X
GPU: GALAX GeForce RTX 4060 EX 8GB GDDR6
RAM: 64 GB DDR4 3200 MHz
Motherboard: ASUS TUF Gaming B450M-Plus II
OS: Pop!_OS 24.04 LTS

The RTX 4060 also lets me run LLMs locally and experiment with AI-assisted development.

Monitors

Samsung 32" — 60 Hz
Samsung Odyssey 27" — 165 Hz

Two monitors → code, terminal, browser, logs, and docs always visible.

Operating system

Pop!_OS

My main operating system.

Linux gives me a production-close dev environment and full control over terminal, containers, networking, and local services.

Workflow

Pop!_OS
├── Ghostty
│   └── Zsh
│       └── Zellij
│
├── Zed
│   ├── Laravel
│   ├── PHP
│   ├── JavaScript / TypeScript
│   └── Python
│
├── Docker
│   ├── MySQL
│   └── Application services
│
├── Ollama
│   └── Local LLMs
│
└── Git
    └── GitHub

Philosophy

Tools should cut friction, not create it.

I prefer simple, reliable infrastructure, open tools when they make sense, local environments I understand, and a stack I can debug end to end.

The stack changes. The goal doesn't:

Build useful things, understand how they work, and ship them to production.