Toolbox

A curated collection of tools that have earned a spot in my daily workflow, organized by category.

Development

Terminal

  • Windows Terminal — The best terminal on Windows. Win+R then wt to launch; wt -d . to open in the current directory
    • Spot the difference: PS prefix = PowerShell, no prefix = CMD
    • Tip: Tab autocompletes paths in the terminal
  • Tabby — Open-source terminal with great aesthetics. Built-in SSH, global hotkey Ctrl+Space (recommended theme: Atom)

VS Code Extensions

Git:

  • GitLens — Inline blame annotations — see who changed each line and when
  • Git Graph — Visual branch and commit history in the sidebar
  • Git History — View commit history and diffs for individual files or lines

Productivity:

  • Code Runner — One-click code execution for virtually every language
  • Todo Tree — Regex-powered TODO highlighting and aggregation
  • Bookmarks — Bookmark code lines to jump between multiple positions quickly
  • Live Server — Local dev server with hot reload for frontend debugging

API & Database:

  • Thunder Client — Lightweight API testing, a solid Postman alternative
  • MySQL — Database management directly inside VS Code

Formatters:

  • Prettier — Universal formatter (HTML / JS / TS / Markdown / CSS, etc.)
  • Black Formatter — Python code formatter

Other:

  • Comment Translate — Hover to translate code comments
  • Markdown Preview Enhanced — Live Markdown preview (Ctrl+K V)

Themes:

  • GitHub Theme — My personal favorite
  • vscode-dark-islands — Excellent layout and color scheme, pairs beautifully with GitHub Theme
    • ⚠️ Warning: installing this theme removes all extensions. Check the issues tab first

Writing & Docs

  • Typora — Clean, elegant Markdown editor
  • Yuque — Online document knowledge base

Network Analysis

  • Postman — API debugging and testing
  • Wireshark — Network packet analysis

Database & Servers

  • DBeaver — Free, open-source database client
  • Navicat — Faster and more polished than DBeaver, but paid
  • FinalShell — Remote server management, some advanced features require a license

System Utilities

Files & Disk

  • Everything — Lightning-fast file name search
  • Listary — Like Everything, plus filtering by type (images, videos, etc.)
  • WizTree — Disk space analyzer — instantly see what’s eating your storage

Screenshots

  • Snipaste — F1 to capture, F3 to pin the screenshot to your screen — those two hotkeys are gold
  • PixPin — Snipaste on steroids: adds screen recording and GIF capture
  • DingTalk — Built-in screenshot Shift+Ctrl+ with text extraction

Other

  • uTools — Plugin-based universal toolbox: install only what you need
  • Geek — Clean uninstaller that removes leftover files

Productivity

Translation

  • Immersive Translate — Best web translation plugin, desktop experience is outstanding
  • Language Reactor — Bilingual subtitles on YouTube, great for language learning
  • Youdao Translate - Screenshot translation via hotkey, surprisingly handy

Input Method

  • Sogou Pinyin
    • Recommended skins: 鹿角灯 (Deerhorn Lamp), 黑白小狗 (B&W Puppy)
    • Recommended font color: rgb(150, 75, 75)
    • Recommended font: 金桥简老宋

Daily

  • TickTick — Cross-platform to-do list and task manager
  • f.lux — Auto-adjusts screen color temperature by time of day — your eyes will thank you

Browser & Network

Ad Blocking

  • AdGuard — Chrome ad blocking extension
  • uBlock Origin Lite — Lightweight YouTube ad blocker

Network Acceleration

  • ikuuu
  • Flowercloud

Disposable Email

Media & Mobile

Video & Screen Mirroring

  • VLC — Open-source universal media player
  • Escrcpy — Mirror your Android screen to PC
    • Blurry screen? Try this: 
      # 1. Get your phone's resolution
adb shell wm size
# 2. Use your resolution (2670 is my phone's — substitute yours)
scrcpy --max-size=2670 --video-bit-rate=16M --max-fps=60
# 3. Turn off phone screen + boost quality
scrcpy -S -m 2670 --video-bit-rate=12M

Wallpaper

iOS

  • TestFlight — Apple’s official beta testing platform. Apps last 3 months with auto-renewal; no signing required
  • i4Tools — Device info viewer, file transfer, app management

Resources