Work setup
Tools I reach for as a one-person SaaS, grouped by whether I'm designing, engineering, growing the business, or running it. Each entry has to earn its place.
Designing
- Figma figma.com
- The only design tool I haven't tried to leave. Auto-layout finally clicked around v2; the rest has been incremental.
- Paper paper.design
- Where rough ideas go before they earn a Figma file. A fast, freeform canvas for thinking a layout out loud.
- Pixelmator Pro pixelmator.com/pro
- The bitmap editor I'd recommend over Photoshop for anyone not doing print. Native, fast, one-time price.
- CleanShot X cleanshot.com
- Replaced the macOS screenshot app the day I installed it. The annotated-screenshot workflow has paid for itself many times over.
- Sip sipapp.io
- Colour picker that remembers what I picked. The history alone justifies it; the OKLCH support is the bonus.
- Raycast raycast.com
- The only launcher I'd pay for. The extension API has me writing one-off productivity scripts in an evening.
Engineering
- Claude Code claude.com/code
- The agent loop that actually ships. I run it inside Cursor and from the terminal.
- Cursor cursor.com
- Default editor, and the best harness going for working with agents. The chat panel earned its keep; tab-completion is the part I'd miss most.
- GitHub github.com
- Where the code lives. Actions for CI, Pages for marketing-side experiments, Issues for solo project management.
- Linear linear.app
- How the team keeps every project moving. The discipline of writing the ticket before the code is the value; the speed is what makes everyone actually do it.
- iTerm iterm2.com
- Terminal with split panes that survive a restart. zsh + a small set of aliases on top.
- Portless github.com/vercel-labs/portless
- Named local URLs (https://sam.localhost) instead of port-juggling. A Vercel Labs tool, and the kind of small fix you don't realise you needed.
- Vercel vercel.com
- Where most of what I ship runs. Preview deploys are the unfair advantage; the docs are the second one.
Growth
- SERP Lens serplens.com
- What I'm building. I dogfood it on the things I work on, including this site.
- Resend resend.com
- Transactional email that doesn't fight me. React Email + Resend is the closest 'just works' has felt for SMTP in years.
Operations
- Apple Passwords
- Passwords and passkeys, synced across every Apple device for free. The native option finally got good enough to stop paying for a password manager.
- Uplock uplock.app
- Everything that isn't a password: IDs, cards, recovery codes, insurance docs. End-to-end encrypted through iCloud, no account to create.
- Notion notion.so
- Knowledge base, lightweight CRM, place where half-formed ideas go. Not the prettiest tool I use; the most-used.
- Fantastical flexibits.com/fantastical
- Calendar that respects my time. Natural-language event entry is the one feature every other calendar app should copy.
- FreeAgent freeagent.com
- UK accounting that an HMRC-compliant solo founder can actually run themselves. Self-Assessment in a few clicks each year.
- Stripe stripe.com
- Billing, subscriptions, invoices for the SaaS. The tax engine alone is worth the percentage.
