My Development Environment Setup

A well-configured development environment can significantly boost your productivity. Here’s how I’ve set up mine for maximum efficiency.

Editor: Visual Studio Code

I use VS Code as my primary editor with these essential extensions:

  • GitLens: Enhanced Git capabilities
  • ESLint/PHPStan: Code quality tools
  • Docker: Container management
  • Remote Development: SSH and container development

Terminal Configuration

I’m using Zsh with Oh My Zsh for an enhanced terminal experience:

# My favorite plugins
plugins=(
  git
  docker
  composer
  npm
  z
)

Key Features

  • Syntax highlighting: Catch errors before running commands
  • Auto-suggestions: Based on command history
  • Custom aliases: Speed up common tasks

Development Tools

Version Control

  • Git with custom aliases
  • GitHub CLI for quick PR management
  • Conventional commits for better history

Docker

All my projects run in Docker containers for consistency:

version: '3.8'
services:
  web:
    image: nginx:latest
    volumes:
      - ./:/var/www/html
  php:
    build: ./docker/php
    volumes:
      - ./:/var/www/html

Productivity Tips

  1. Learn keyboard shortcuts: Spend less time with the mouse
  2. Use snippets: Don’t type the same code twice
  3. Automate repetitive tasks: Scripts and aliases are your friends
  4. Document your setup: Make it reproducible

Backup and Sync

I keep my dotfiles in a Git repository, making it easy to:

  • Set up new machines quickly
  • Track changes to my configuration
  • Share useful configs with others

Coming up next: Deep dive into my Vim configuration for remote development!