Category
Tools we use daily: setups, tricks and battle-tested automations.
Vector is the Datadog observability agent, written in Rust with its own transformation language VRL. Typically 30-100 MB memory, handling logs, metrics, and traces from dozens of sources. The right choice when pipelines are too complex for Fluent Bit and a modern alternative to Logstash.
Ollama became the standard for running large language models locally in 2024. It wraps llama.cpp in a single binary with Docker-style CLI and an OpenAI-compatible API. Phi-3 Mini runs in 4 GB; Llama 3.1 8B Q4 needs 6 GB. For production traffic at scale, vLLM remains the correct choice.
Figma Dev Mode is the developer-facing view inside a Figma file: it generates ready CSS, exposes exact measurements, maps variables to tokens, and, with Code Connect, links each component to the real codebase snippet. It solves most of the design-to-code handoff friction, but it does not replace human judgment on accessibility, performance, or responsive behavior.
Docker Scout continuously scans container images against CVE databases including NVD and ecosystem-specific advisories, and recommends base-image changes to remove vulnerabilities. Built into Docker Desktop and Hub, it competes with Trivy, Grype and Snyk. Best fit for teams already running end-to-end on the Docker ecosystem.
Grafana Beyla is an eBPF agent that automatically instruments existing applications without touching their code: it observes kernel syscalls and generates OpenTelemetry traces and RED metrics for services written in Go, Java, Python, Node, and Rust. It gives broad, immediate coverage, but it does not replace the manual SDK for business metrics and internal logic.
Aider is an open-source CLI that connects your Git repository to an LLM to refactor code, add features and fix bugs without leaving the terminal. Works with GPT-4o, Claude and local models via Ollama. Every change generates an automatic commit with a descriptive message, integrating natively into the Git workflow.
GitLab Duo brings native AI into the whole devops flow: code completion, chat, MR summaries and vulnerability explanation. Duo Pro costs 19 dollars per user monthly on top of Premium or Ultimate, the same as GitHub Copilot Business. It pays off when your team already lives in GitLab.
OpenTofu reached GA in January 2024 as an open-source Terraform fork under MPL 2.0, with Linux Foundation governance. Six months later, it is a stable drop-in replacement: same configs, same state format, same CLI. Version 1.7 adds native state encryption, the first real technical edge over Terraform.
Ansible and Pulumi solve different problems and are not competitors: Ansible manages configuration inside a server (packages, users, services); Pulumi defines, with real code in TypeScript, Python, Go or .NET, which cloud infrastructure exists (VPCs, instances, databases). Combining them, with Pulumi's dynamic inventory feeding Ansible, is the most productive pattern for automating a stack that includes servers in the cloud.
Fluent Bit is the CNCF's lightweight log collector: a ~1.5 MB C binary that rarely tops 30 MB of memory in production. It beats Promtail, Vector, and Filebeat when several destinations or resource-constrained nodes are in play, thanks to a pipeline of inputs, parsers, filters, and outputs that stays easy to reason about and debug.
LM Studio is a desktop app for Mac, Windows, and Linux that downloads and runs large language models on your own machine, with a polished chat interface and no terminal required. It includes an OpenAI-compatible API and RAG with your documents. For individual use it beats Ollama on user experience; for teams or production, OpenWebUI, vLLM, or TGI are the better fit.
Semaphore is the open-source Ansible web UI that solves the four scaling problems: audit trails, role-based permissions, execution history, and centralised secrets. It consumes ~500 MB versus AWX at ~4 GB. The pragmatic choice for mid-size teams that have outgrown running playbooks from a shared terminal.
Traefik is the default reverse proxy for Docker Swarm: automatic service discovery via labels, Let's Encrypt certificates with DNS challenge, and reusable middleware chains. This guide covers the overlay network, static and dynamic configuration, certificate storage for multi-manager setups, and the production decisions that actually matter.
Cuando una aplicación habla con dos o más proveedores de LLM, antes o después aparece un proxy entre medias. LiteLLM propone uno concreto, y esta es la lectura honesta de qué gana y qué cuesta.
Zed is the editor built by Atom's creators, rebuilt in Rust with a native GPU-rendering UI framework and no Electron. It delivers ~8 ms latency, real-time collaboration with integrated voice and shared cursors, and an open license (GPL v3 + Apache 2.0). A serious VS Code alternative for pairs and small teams.
Cursor is a VS Code fork that puts artificial intelligence at the core of the editor instead of bolting it on as a plugin. It offers inline completion, a chat that understands full project context, and Composer, multi-file editing from a short brief. The Pro plan costs $20 a month and it competes directly with GitHub Copilot.
