A living document of the tools and systems I use for academic work, writing, and maintaining this site. Inspired by uses.tech.
Writing and thinking
Obsidian — Where all my thinking happens. Notes, drafts, course materials, research — everything lives here as interconnected markdown files. The linking and graph view help me see connections I’d otherwise miss.
Claude Code — My primary AI collaborator for research, writing, and development. I use it as a thinking partner rather than a content generator — for testing arguments, exploring ideas, building this site, and working through problems. This site was largely built in conversation with Claude Code.
Gemini CLI and Qwen CLI — Alternative AI tools I use alongside Claude for different perspectives and capabilities.
Zed — A fast, modern code editor I sometimes use for quick edits and exploring code.
Markdown — All content is written in plain markdown. No lock-in, version-controllable, portable forever.
Research and reading
Vivaldi — My primary browser. Highly customisable with good tab management and built-in features. I keep Firefox and Chrome as alternatives, and occasionally experiment with Brave.
Ecosia — Search engine that plants trees. Good enough for most searches, and I like supporting the model.
Reader by Readwise — Where I read almost everything. Articles, newsletters, PDFs, EPUBs. All highlights and annotations automatically export to Obsidian, keeping everything connected.
Zotero — Reference management. Free, open source, and works well with Obsidian via plugins.
Gemini Deep Research and ChatGPT Deep Research — For research discovery and initial literature exploration before diving into primary sources.
This site
Quartz — A static site generator designed for publishing digital gardens. Transforms my Obsidian vault into this website with graph view, backlinks, and full-text search.
GitHub — Version control and hosting via GitHub Pages. The entire site is open source.
Giscus — Comments powered by GitHub Discussions. No separate account needed if you have GitHub.
Umami — Privacy-focused analytics. No cookies, no personal data, just anonymous page view counts.
Kit — Newsletter management (formerly ConvertKit).
Hardware
ASUS ZenBook 13” — Primary machine running AerynOS with the GNOME desktop. Linux for the flexibility and control.
Google Pixel 6 — Phone for quick capture, reading, and staying connected.
Principles
A few principles guide my tool choices:
- Plain text where possible — Markdown, not proprietary formats
- Own your data — Self-hosted or exportable, never locked in
- Fewer tools, deeper use — Master a few rather than dabble in many
- AI as partner, not replacement — Augment thinking, don’t outsource it
- Community-built software — Prefer tools built by people working together in the open
This page is updated as my setup evolves. Last updated: February 2026