The tools and systems I use for academic work, writing, and maintaining this site, updated as they change. The idea comes from uses.tech.
Writing and thinking
Obsidian. Where my thinking and writing happen. Notes, drafts, teaching materials, and research all live here as linked markdown files, and the links and graph view show me connections I’d otherwise miss.
Claude Code. My primary AI collaborator for research, writing, and development. I use it as a thinking partner as well as a content generator, for testing arguments, exploring ideas, building this site, and working through problems. Most of this site is developed through conversation with Claude Code, and Writing with AI describes how that works.
Zed. A fast, modern code editor I sometimes use for quick edits and writing with AI.
Markdown. Everything I write is plain markdown, which can be version-controlled, moved anywhere, and opened in any editor.
Research and reading
Zen. My main browser since I switched from Vivaldi a few months ago. It’s Firefox-based, minimal, and opinionated in ways I like.
Ecosia. A search engine that plants trees. It’s good enough for almost all my searches, and I like supporting the model.
Reader by Readwise. Where I read almost everything: RSS feeds, articles, newsletters, PDFs, and EPUBs. Highlights and annotations export to Obsidian automatically, so they sit alongside my notes.
Zotero. Reference management. It’s free, open source, and works well with Obsidian through plugins.
Gemini Deep Research and ChatGPT Deep Research. For research discovery and initial literature exploration before diving into primary sources.
Snip\d. A podcast client with AI features. I’m on the free tier, which gives me those features for two episodes a week, and it exports snips to Obsidian.
This site
Quartz. A static site generator designed for publishing digital gardens. It turns my markdown files into this website, with a graph view, backlinks, and full-text search.
GitHub. Version control, and free hosting through GitHub Pages. The whole site is open source.
Giscus. Comments on the site, powered by GitHub Discussions, so anyone with a GitHub account can comment without signing up for anything else.
Umami. Privacy-focused analytics that count anonymous page views without cookies or personal data.
Kit. Newsletter management (formerly ConvertKit).
Hardware
ASUS Zenbook 15. My main machine, running Omarchy, an Arch Linux setup built around the Hyprland window manager. I use Linux for the flexibility and control.
Google Pixel 6. It’s starting to feel old but still does everything I need, which is mostly photos, podcasts, reading, and keeping in touch with a few people (no social media apps).
Principles
The principles behind these choices:
- Plain text where possible. Markdown, not proprietary formats.
- Own my data. Self-hosted or exportable, never locked in.
- Fewer tools, deeper use. Master a few rather than dabble in many.
- AI as partner. Augment thinking, don’t outsource it.
- Open source software. Prefer tools built by people working together in the open.
This page is updated as my setup evolves. Last updated: October 2026.