things I use
I receive a lot of questions on stream about my setup and what I use. Here's a (probably very incomplete) list to make it easier to share.
hardware
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Chair: Ikaria Design Soul Seat
Chair: Ikaria Design Soul Seat
More Chair: Ikaria Design Soul Seat details →I prefer to sit cross-legged when working. This weird chair has noticeably improved my posture and the strength in my back, and I love the flexibility it gives me to move around and switch positions throughout the day.
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Keyboard: Mistel Barocco MD770 RGB BT w/ Cherry MX Brown Switches
Keyboard: Mistel Barocco MD770 RGB BT w/ Cherry MX Brown Switches
More Keyboard: Mistel Barocco MD770 RGB BT w/ Cherry MX Brown Switches details →I got into mechanical keyboards in summer 2020. My first purchase was the Keychron K2 RGB with Gateron Blue Switches. After hearing great things about the postural benefits of a split keyboard, I tried out an ortholinear split keyboard (borrowed from a friend). That made my brain hurt a little too much, so I moved to the Mistel Barocco.
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Machine: MacBook Pro
Machine: MacBook Pro
My main machine is a Macbook Pro 16", Apple M1 Pro chip with 32GB RAM and 1TB of Flash Storage.
productivity
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Spectacle
Spectacle
More Spectacle details →I've used Spectacle for years — it's one of the first apps I install on a new machine. It's unobtrusive, easy to use, and easy to configure.
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Trello
Trello
More Trello details →I use Trello to keep track of streaming and content ideas, and other life projects such as house renovations and meal planning.
software
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axe DevTools
axe DevTools
More axe DevTools details →Axe dev tools is great for improving your knowledge of accessibility. Install the plugin, open then dev tools panel, navigate to the axe tab, and use it to understand how to improve accessibility on your websites.
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Brave Browser
Brave Browser
More Brave Browser details →Brave is my current cross-device browser of choice. It claims to be three times faster than Chrome, have better privacy by default than Firefox, and use 35% less battery on mobile. Brave uses Chromium under the hood, so the dev tools are familiar.
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Contentful
Contentful
More Contentful details →I manage most of the content on this website using Contentful — a headless CMS that delivers your data in JSON.
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f.lux
f.lux
More f.lux details →f.lux is an essential application for me — it's one of the first things I install on a new machine. I have pretty sensitive eyes and f.lux ensures that I am shielded from too much blue light throughout the day and late at night.
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Figma
Figma
More Figma details →Figma is a collaborative interface design tool you can use in the browser. I use this primarily to work with designers to collaborate on ideas and assets.
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GitHub CLI
GitHub CLI
More GitHub CLI details →If you host your git repositories on GitHub, this is a great tool to manage your code without having to leave the command line. Create repositories, pull requests, issues and more in the terminal where you are already working with git and your code. It's a great productivity booster!
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gitmoji
gitmoji
More gitmoji details →✨⚡️ If you like emojis and you use git, you'll love gitmoji. Install gitmoji on your machine (I used
brew install gitmoji
), rungitmoji --init
in a git repository, and on each commit, gitmoji will prompt you to choose a category, which will prefix the commit message with an emoji. ⚡️✨ -
Homebrew
Homebrew
More Homebrew details →Wherever possible I install software and packages using Homebrew. With Homebrew, it's easy to keep everything up to date on the command line with
brew upgrade
, or see a list of everything you have installed withbrew list
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iTerm2
iTerm2
More iTerm2 details →My terminal of choice is iTerm2. I use a minimally configured Zsh setup, which includes some colour customisations, git branch display and some helpful aliases.
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lolcat
lolcat
More lolcat details →I use lolcat for a bit of fun in my terminal — it looks great on stream! Pipe things through lolcat and watch the rainbow appear.
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Miro
Miro
More Miro details →I started using Miro in 2020 as a replacement for physical whiteboards when the world started working remotely. Whilst it's not a perfect replacement for the real thing, if you want cloud-collaborative software that's capable of visualising ideas and concepts in a digital space, or if you just want to stick a load of post-it notes somewhere, Miro is fantastic.
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npx license
npx license
More npx license details →I use
npx license
to add licenses to my GitHub repositories from the command line without having to install any additional packages. -
Visual Studio Code
Visual Studio Code
More Visual Studio Code details →My current IDE of choice is Visual Studio Code. It's free, built on open source, and runs everywhere.
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Wave Accessibility Evaluation Tool
Wave Accessibility Evaluation Tool
More Wave Accessibility Evaluation Tool details →Wave has has helped incredibly in improving my knowledge of semantic HTML, page structure and aria labels. Install the plugin, activate the extension, and use it to understand how to improve accessibility on your websites.
streaming
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Elgato Collapsible Green Screen
Elgato Collapsible Green Screen
More Elgato Collapsible Green Screen details →I love how easy this green screen is to pull out and fold away. Another bonus is that it's always wrinkle free. The only downside is that it's a trickier to chroma key in OBS than the standard chrome key green screens.
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Elgato HD60 S Capture Card 1080p
Elgato HD60 S Capture Card 1080p
More Elgato HD60 S Capture Card 1080p details →I code on a MacBook Pro and live stream from a custom PC that runs Windows. I use the Elgato Capture card to send the output of my main monitor (which is plugged in to my MacBook Pro) to my streaming PC. The screen capture is added as a source in OBS, and this is how you see me coding whilst I stream.
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Elgato Key Light Air (x2)
Elgato Key Light Air (x2)
More Elgato Key Light Air (x2) details →I use two WiFi-controlled Elgato Key Light Airs whilst streaming. As well as providing great broadcast quality lighting, they're also great as desk lamps when set at a low intensity if you're working in low light at night.
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Elgato Ring Light
Elgato Ring Light
More Elgato Ring Light details →At the centre of my lighting setup is a WiFi-controlled Elgato ring light. I mount my streaming webcam at the centre of the light.
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Elgato Stream Deck
Elgato Stream Deck
More Elgato Stream Deck details →This Elgato stream deck is connected to my coding machine. I use it to trigger some quick actions such as opening GitHub, Twitter, and my Twitch dashboard.
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Elgato Stream Deck XL
Elgato Stream Deck XL
More Elgato Stream Deck XL details →The Elgato Stream Deck XL has been instrumental in improving the production of my streams on Twitch. I use it to control everything! It's definitely a big investment, so if you're just starting out, I would recommend giving the Elgato Stream Deck Mini a try.
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Elgato Wave 1 USB Condenser Mic
Elgato Wave 1 USB Condenser Mic
The Elgato Wave 1 doubles as an audio interface, and the WaveLink software allows me to control any number of audio channels and their levels, and feed them into OBS as one audio input.
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Logitech Streamcam 1080p HD 60fps
Logitech Streamcam 1080p HD 60fps
More Logitech Streamcam 1080p HD 60fps details →This is the webcam I use whilst streaming. It's USB C and pretty reliable!
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Neewer Portable Photography Lighting Kit
Neewer Portable Photography Lighting Kit
I use these lights to illuminate the bottom of my green screen to get a more even chroma key in OBS.
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OBS
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Pretzel
Pretzel
More Pretzel details →I use Pretzel to play music whilst I'm live streaming to avoid DMCA issues. It comes with a great selection of music, Twitch chat integration, and can be optimised for YouTube and Twitch.
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Rode PSA 1 Swivel Mount
Rode PSA 1 Swivel Mount
I use this in combination with the Elgato Wave 1 USB mic, which is held by an Elgato shock mount.
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Streaming PC (custom build)
Streaming PC (custom build)
For streaming I use a custom PC build running on Windows. Notable specs: i7 6700k, 32GB RAM, 970 Evo 500GB SSD, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980, Fractal Node 804 case.