Here is a list of the tools and MCPs I rely on to help me design, prototype, and ship products.

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Tools

Claude Code

Daily driver for coding & knowledge work.

• Model: Mostly the AlphaSense default, Sonnet 5. Rarely swap it.
• Planning: I hardly ever use plan mode anymore — it's much more natural than it used to be.
• Harness: A rich library of Claude Skills. A favorite is 'make-it-live' for repo + deployment. Minimal config, mostly tmux and optimizing where the agent gets slow.
• Chief of Staff: An OS (compass) that acts as my chief of staff, helping me manage agents.
• Use Cases: Working in prod, debugging, end-to-end shipping.

Notion AI

Continues to grow in importance as a central AI tool.

• Model: Rarely select a model.
• Usage: Meeting notes, skills, and the network of context across Slack, Linear, etc.
• Sub Agents: Used frequently.

ChatGPT (codex?)

I reach for the ChatGPT desktop app a lot, despite being a huge terminal nerd.

• Model: More variance here — Astra / Sol, plus tuning the reasoning level.
• Primary Usage: The best experience for annotating designs. Sometimes prefer visual design in Codex.
• Custom Tools: Extremely easy to open websites and spin up custom tools for the design task at hand.

Herdr

As a heavy Vim/tmux user, I've been reaching for Herdr more to manage agents.

• Multiplexing is the key use case, and Herdr makes it easier.
• Nice keybindings and notifications.
• Want to explore making it scriptable for custom environments & evals.

Cursor

Still rely on Cursor agents and the IDE for deeper code review or exploration, but this happens less and less.

• Model: The Composer / Grok models are very nice.
• Hate switching between the IDE and Agents views.

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MCPs

Here are the MCPs I use across Agents.

• Browserbase: Cloud browser automation.
• Context7: Up-to-date docs for libraries and frameworks.
• Figma: Design-to-code and code-to-design workflows.
• GitHub: Repository access, PRs, and code management.
• GitLab: MRs, pipelines, issues, and repository management.
• Gmail: Email access and management.
• Google Calendar: Calendar access and scheduling.
• Google Drive: File storage and document access.
• Linear: Issue tracking and project management.
• Notion: Workspace and database access.
• Playwright: Browser automation for testing and screenshots.
• Puppeteer: Headless browser for screenshots and interactions.
• Sentry: Error monitoring and debugging.
• Slack: Team communication and channel access.
• Supabase: Database and backend services.
• Unified Computer Use: Screen control and computer automation.
• Vercel: Deployment and hosting management.

Skills

Alongside custom skills here are a few externals I use frequently. Symlinked into all three agents.

• emil-design-eng: Emil Kowalski's design engineering philosophy. Component design, UI polish, and the invisible details.
• better-typography: From Jakub Krehel's better-* interface suite. Type scale, spacing, variable fonts, wrapping and truncation.
• web-animation-design: The motion half of Emil's course. Easing, timing, springs, and accessibility for animation.
• herdr: Lets an agent inspect and control Herdr panes, tabs, and workspaces from inside a managed session.
• find-skills: Searches the open skills ecosystem when I want a capability I don't have yet.