Ask HN: What dev tools do you rely on that nobody talks about?

9•crcsmnky•2h ago

Curious to find those hidden gems that boost productivity or make dev work more efficient. Mired in my own processes and need a change/shift. I'm hoping there's still some non-AI stuff out there that's delightful to use (in a nerdy sense).

Comments

rep_movsd•2h ago

gitk and git gui

verdverm•2h ago

CUE and Dagger, though they are talked about by more than nobody

strict9•2h ago

I've been using ack for a very long time, maybe 15 years.

It's like grep but faster and easier to use. I still use it all the time, even in the era of Claude.

https://beyondgrep.com/

fragmede•1h ago

and then ag (silver surfer) and then rg (ripgrep).

kentich•1h ago

A VS Code/Visual Studio extension for creating mind maps with nodes linked to code called Code Mind Map.

markus_zhang•1h ago

Tilix + shell scripts to create a Tilix session, open windows inside Tilix and run commands, so that I can immediately create a session to debug say Linux kernel development -- 3 windows, one for gdb, one for compiling and running, and one for minicom.

I'm sure Tmux can do it, but I really hate the Ctrl+B thing. Alt + Arrow keys are way more intuitive.

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Comments

Ask HN: Who is hiring? (April 2026)

Ask HN: Books on Unit Testing and TDD?

Ask HN: Client took over development by vibe coding. What to do?

BetterDB – open-source Redis/Valkey migration across clouds and self-hosted

Ask HN: Distributed data centers in our basements

Ask HN: What dev tools do you rely on that nobody talks about?

Are tech companies even hiring?

Tell HN: Chrome says "suspicious download" when trying to download yt-dlp

Ask HN: Academic study on AI's impact on software development – want to join?

LinkedIn uses 2.4 GB RAM across two tabs

LinkedIn uses 65GB of RAM with 7 tabs opened

EPropelled Electric Propulsion Motors and Controllers for Uncrewed Vehicles

Non-US founders residential address problem with Brex, Mercury?

Tell HN: Zed is sunsetting text threads

Ask HN: Who wants to be hired? (April 2026)

Ask HN: Does anyone else notice that gas runs out faster than usual

Ask HN: What was it like in the era of BBS before the internet?

Ask HN: Who needs contributors? (March 2026)

Are you team MCP or team CLI?

Nexus – Agent-native ops platform for ecommerce MCP, self-registration, no demos

Ask HN: Is there any founder building non AI startup in 2026?

Proof-engine A mathematical rendering engine for Rust

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Ask HN: Best stack for building a tiny game with an 11-year-old?

With Mythos will we reach coding singularity?

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Ask HN: Is it actually possible to run multiple coding sessions in parallel?

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