Tom Cruise said, “I feel the need... the need for speed.” Me too! I started using MacBook in 2014 when I got my first MacBook, which was the first MacBook with a retina screen. Originally, I was a windows user, I had a difficult time getting familiar with macOS. I even didn’t like to use mac because it was so weird. However, after several years of getting familiar with Mac, now, I don’t want to switch back to windows because I have found these powerful apps that can speed up your workflow.

1. Raycast

https://www.raycast.com

This is my best Mac app ever! Have you heard about Alfred? Raycast is Alfred’s alternative, and it is FREE! I can’t live without this app. The main idea of Raycast is to substitute Mac spotlight, but Raycast has so many extensions that could help our productivity.

The wonderful feature here is there are alias and hotkey that we can set up in each extension.

Clipboard History

My hotkey : Cmd + Shift + V

We can access all the things that we copy (cmd + c). It’s not only text but also pictures!

Snippets

My hotkey: Control + S

Saving any text that you might use many times. I save my email, address, driver’s license id, Credit Card testing, and anything that I cannot remember.

This is a game-changer as a developer. In my case, I’m working with a payment application, and I need to insert a credit card repeatedly. Using this snippets extension will speed up my workflow.

In order, to paste the snippet automatically, you must set it up in the extension settings.

Window Management

One reason that I don’t like mac because I can’t make the applications to be half on the screen like in windows. I really hate that, but I found one application, which is called Spectacle . I still want to put it here because it helped me a lot. I also know paid apps for window management such as Magnet and Rectangle.

If you are already familiar with those shortcuts, we can just set up the preset here.

Let me show you how I use my window management in my ultra-wide monitor.

I’m using Spectacle hotkey preset. These are the main hotkey that I use in my daily basis:

• Full Screen Cmd + Opt + F
• Center Cmd + Opt + C
• Reasonable Size Cmd + Opt + R
• Left Half Cmd + Opt + ←
• Right Half Cmd + Opt + →
• Move to another Monitor Cmd + Ctrl + Opt + → or Cmd + Opt + Ctrl + ←
• Left third Ctrl + Opt + D
• Center third Ctrl + Opt + F
• Right third Ctrl + Opt + G
• Left two third Ctrl + Opt + E
• Center two third Ctrl + Opt + R
• Right two third Ctrl + Opt + T

Quicklinks

This is another powerful extension that you can be faster one step ahead when you want to go to a website. For example Google or YouTube, you can just find Quicklinks and type your search argument there.

If you are questioning what is raynaldo.me Quicklinks is, here is the answer. My brother, Thedorus Clarence created a Next.js project called notiolink, so we can create short links in notion. If you are interested, you can install it by yourself. I will give some demo videos below.

My shortcut is Ctrl + R

Jira

Active sprint hotkey: Ctrl + J

Lastly, I also want to show the Jira extension because it’s handy to use Jira without opening the browser. We can read the ticket, update the ticket status, assign the ticket to someone, and open the ticket by using Raycast.

There are a lot of extensions because Raycast has a store for it, I will not show everything. You can check other extensions here. Several extensions that I used:

• Search Recent Project VSCodes
• Github
• Bitwarden Vault
• Slack Status

2. CleanShot X

https://cleanshot.com/

CleanShot X is a screenshot application with a lot of features. This is a paid application, but I recommend it. I am not the type of person that spends money on an application. However, I don’t regret buying this powerful application. It’s so helpful to communicate with others if we need to share a screenshot, GIF, or video.

I will not explain all CleanShot X’s features in detail because you can see them on the website, but I want to share the cool features:

The Editor

The screenshot editor is very cool! We will get a lot of features for editing.

Record GIF and Video

All my videos and GIFs screen recordings are using CleanShot X. You can record your voice, computer sound, and your video. Also, we can highlight our clicks and show our keystrokes. It’s so configurable and convenient for recording your screens.

Of course, you can also trim the video and mute your video afterward.

Scrolling Capture

I hate when I need to take a long screenshot. I usually need to separate to be two screenshots, but CleanShot X did a great job here. Scrolling capture gives me the flexibility to take a long screenshot.

Capture Text (OCR)

This is a feature that I have never expected because I thought CleanShot X is only taking a screenshot and screen video. However, they give us access to copy a text with OCR. Thank you, CleanShot X! I love this feature.

My CleanShot X KeyStrokes

1. Capture full screen Cmd + Shitf + 3
2. Capture some area Cmd + Shift + 4
3. Record Screen (GIF or Video) Cmd + Shift + 5
4. Scrolling Capture Cmd + Shift + 2
5. Capture Text (OCR) Cmd + Shift + C
6. Restore closed file Cmd + Shift + E

Go to their website here to learn more about other cool CleanShot X features.

3. Logi Options

This is a free application, but you must buy a Logitech mouse with a programmable buttons feature. I’m using M590 because I got another 5 buttons excluding left-click and right-click. However, I checked in the Logitech store it’s said Sold Out Temporarily, but you can buy M585 for the substitution. The only difference M585 doesn’t have a silent click feature.

Why do I love this application?

We can program the buttons differently for a specific application.

I mainly use the feature for Visual Studio Code and my browsers (Firefox and Chrome).

My Logi Options Setup

Visual Studio Code

• Scroll Left - Keystroke Cmd + B → Open side bar
• Scroll Right - Keystroke Ctrl + ` → Open terminal
• Side Front - Keystroke - Shift + Ctrl + - → Forward to the next line of code
• Side Back - Keystroke - Ctrl + - → Back to the previous line of code

Firefox

• Scroll Left - Keystroke Opt + Cmd + I → Open web developer tools
• Scroll Right - Keystroke Shift + Opt + C → Toggle CSS Debug
• Side Front - Zoom using scroll wheel
• Side Back - Keystroke - Opt + Cmd + M Responsive Design Mode

Google Chrome

• Scroll Left - Keystroke Opt + Cmd + I → Open web developer tools
• Scroll Right - Keystroke Shift + Opt + C → Toggle CSS Debug
• Side Front - Zoom using scroll wheel
• Side Back - Keystroke - Shift + Cmd + M Responsive Design Mode after opening web dev tools.

4. f.lux

https://justgetflux.com/

If you have a concern with your eyes health, this is a recommended application for it. F.lux will adapt the screen color temperature at a certain time. Therefore, your laptop screen will be changed to warm color at night. Staying in front of your laptop until late might impact your night's rest.

This is what my screen looks like at night.

5. Dozer

https://github.com/Mortennn/Dozer

Did you feel annoying with many applications icon in your top bar? Dozer could help you to hide them.

6. iTerm2

https://iterm2.com/

Natural Text Editing

The most favorite about iTerm2 is that I can set key mappings to natural text editing. It means that we can use Cmd + ← or Cmd + → for moving our cursor to the end of the beginning of the character, and also Opt + ← or Opt + → for moving our cursor per word. It makes me so flexible to type in the terminal.

Follow these steps to set the natural text editing in iTerm2:

1. Open iTerm2 Preferences
2. Go to Profiles
3. Go to Keys
4. Go to Key Mappings
5. Change the Presets to Natural Text Editing

Window Arrangement

It is so lazy if we need to go to the same directory when we open the terminal for the first time. However, We can open our saved window arrangement in iTerm2. Shortcut for default window arrangement Cmd + Shift + R

How to save the window arrangement is here.

7. Gitify

https://www.gitify.io/

Lastly, my favorite Mac app is Gitify. It gives you a sound if you get a notification from your Github. You can realize quickly if your colleagues leave some comments in your pull request.

Conclusion

Hopefully, these applications could boost your productivity and help you finish your tasks efficiently. Please leave me a comment about which application you love, or maybe do you have any other app suggestions. Thank you for reading.