DEVELOPMENT TOOLS

VS Code

When it comes to writing code, the best editor is the one that makes you most productive. Whether you prefer the feature-rich environment of JetBrains’ PHPStorm or WebStorm, or the simplicity and speed of Vim, use the tool that fits your workflow.

That said, VS Code has become a favorite for many developers thanks to its speed, extensibility, and wide language support. It integrates seamlessly with a growing ecosystem of extensions — including AI-powered coding assistants that can dramatically improve productivity and code quality.

AI Tools and Editors to Consider

AI-driven development tools are rapidly evolving, and several powerful options can integrate directly with VS Code or serve as standalone AI code editors:

• GitHub Copilot / Copilot Chat — Deeply integrated into VS Code, these tools provide intelligent code completion, inline explanations, and chat-based debugging.

• Claude Code (Anthropic) — Offers natural-language coding and file understanding through conversational prompts; available as a VS Code extension or web interface.

• Cursor — A VS Code–based AI editor built for pair programming with strong refactoring and context awareness features.

• Windsurf — A modern AI-native editor designed for developers who want deep file awareness, smart suggestions, and seamless collaboration.

These tools can help you write, refactor, and understand code faster — but they’re most effective when used as assistants, not replacements for developer reasoning or code review.

Recommended VS Code Extensions

In addition to AI tools, here are some useful extensions we recommend for day-to-day development (opinionated but effective):

• Auto Close Tag

• Auto Import — ES6, TS, JSX, TSX

• Auto Rename Tag

• Babel JavaScript

• Better Comments

• Drupal Syntax Highlighting

• ES7+ React/Redux/React-Native/JS Snippets

• ESLint

• GitLens — Git Supercharged

• Highlight Matching Tag

• Path Intellisense

• PHP Intelephense

• Prettier — Code Formatter

Mobile App Development (Xcode / Android Studio)

Ideally we are making use of build tools such as Expo Managed Workflow or EAS in order to build platform specific bundles that can be submitted to app stores. If this is not possible though, the native build tools will need to be used.

• iOS: iOS apps can only be created using Xcode which is only available on macOS. It can be downloaded via the app store.

• Android: Android Studio is available for both macOS and Windows.

Postman

Postman is a powerful tool for testing, debugging, and documenting APIs. It allows developers to send HTTP requests, inspect responses, and organize collections of endpoints for easy reuse. Postman supports authentication, environment variables, automated testing, and even team collaboration, making it an essential utility for anyone working with REST or GraphQL APIs.

Download Postman

Cypress

Cypress is a modern end-to-end testing framework for web applications. It runs directly in the browser, allowing developers to write, run, and debug tests in real time. With built-in support for network stubbing, screenshots, and video recording, Cypress makes it easy to ensure front-end features work as expected across environments.

Cypress Website