What are the 5 tools you simply couldn't do your work without?
This could be related to your industry, or even a side project you're working on.
Here are my 5 (I couldn't function without them):
Grammarly – proofreading my texts, not just posts, but also client communication
ChatGPT / Claude – mostly brainstorming, help with copy, and summarising
Figma – I can put the basic graphics together quickly.
Translator – sounds incredibly old-school, but English is not my mother tongue
Gmail – and not only for communication, but also for storing ideas and sending myself email reminders for posts
What are your five?
1.6K views
Replies
my 5:
1. claude / chatgpt - brainstorming, drafting, thinking out loud
2. notion - documentation and planning
3. canva / figma - design when i need to, mostly collaboration
4. loom - async walkthroughs and feedback, saves so many meetings
5. granola - meeting notes, honestly don't know how i managed without it
the rest of what i rely on daily are platforms not tools so i stopped myself there.
@riya_pariyar Its interesting to see Granola in many people's list.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@riya_pariyar @ajinsunny I like how it started because the very first 3 or 4 are also in my portfolio! :)
@riya_pariyar agreed granola is so good
@riya_pariyar funny how things change.. Granola is awesome, though I haven’t really moved beyond meeting notes.
What do you use Canva for, if you have Figma?
Great list! Here are mine:
Fluxerv – my own tool, but genuinely the one I use most. Notes that generate working interactive components with /ai
Claude – thinking partner for architecture decisions
Supabase – I'd be lost without it for auth + database
Vercel – deploy and forget
Linear – keeps my solo dev chaos organized
Would love to know what you think of Fluxerv if you get a chance to try it, Nika! 👋
@mpanpalli good morning Memduh, I’m interested in trying it out. Where can I find it? Thanks.
@wereframe Hi Neal! You can find it at fluxerv.com, free to start, no waitlist. Would love to hear what you think!
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@mpanpalli Hey, I haven't been using it yet since I do not know whether I have any use case in my work :)
@busmark_w_nika No worries at all! If you ever find yourself needing a quick interactive tool inside a doc, that's exactly when it clicks.
Exstats
Mine is pretty simple, so I won't even share it. However, I'm a bit surprised. Does Grammarly really still make sense nowadays?
@nowaffl I still have Grammarly running, but I really don't know why. I downgraded to the free version at least a year ago, and I turn it off because it's annoying... it actually makes no sense that I still have it running!
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@nowaffl I do not pay for that but it is still improving my (sometimes poor) English in real time :D
Love this list! Here are the 5 I absolutely couldn't do my work without right now (heavy on the content and code leverage):
Google's Antigravity – Absolutely changes the game for development. Having AI agents autonomously plan code, run the terminal, and test in the browser saves me hours of manual dev work.
Claude / ChatGPT – Essential for brainstorming, structuring logic, and refining raw ideas into punchy copy.
Canva – My go-to for rapid graphic design. I can spin up polished presentation decks, social assets, and marketing visuals in minutes.
CapCut – Essential for video editing. It makes putting together clean, engaging video hooks and product demos incredibly fast.
OBS – The perfect tool for capturing screen recordings, studio-quality product walkthroughs, and async updates.
It’s all about maximizing output while keeping the tool stack lean!
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@ayeshabuilds Are you a streamer? :D because many of them use OBS for livestreams :D CapCut is also on my list btw :)
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@ayeshabuilds aaa okay, I totally forgot that founders also has that obsession to record things :D
@ayeshabuilds Hi Ayesha, thank you for sharing. Have you tried Claude Design for PowerPoints yet? I'm curious as to how it compares with Canva. I was thinking of paying for another tool for graphic design and image creation since Claude isn't really focused there but was unsure of which to pursue. Thoughts?
@wereframe Hey! I’m on the free tier of Claude so I haven't tested the design workflows yet.
But as a designer, I'd say stick with Canva. Claude is a lifesaver for text, copy, and code, but it doesn't "think" visually. If you want pure AI slide generation, check out Gamma instead!
@ayeshabuilds Thank you so much! So many tools out there for a solo founder. I appreciate the quick response!
Bond
superhuman
slack
gcal/gmeet
bond
granola
Wispr Flow
notion
Claude/Chatgpt
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@chloesamaha Some are new to me, and some I heard about before! :) Solid list, thank you for listing more than 5 :)
Great thread though
Mine are honestly pretty boring but they get the job done:
Claude / ChatGPT for brainstorming and first drafts. I use Claude more for longer reasoning tasks and ChatGPT for quick stuff.
Notion for keeping everything organized. My brain would fall apart without it.
Figma for quick mockups even though I'm not a designer. Good enough to communicate ideas without scheduling a meeting.
Perplexity for research. Stopped opening 20 tabs since I started using it.
Slack, not because I love it but because everything dies without it.
The real pattern I notice is that none of these are fancy. The tools that stick are the ones that just quietly work every day without you thinking about them.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@nolan_vu I find it as a solid foundation, honestly :D
@busmark_w_nika thanks for your feedback, everyone got their own foundation checklist so it depends on what you prefer and what you need for handling tasks
@busmark_w_nika and if you don't mind I have another irrelevant question about PH
Do you know how to avoid being rejected for thread on p/general, since I want to share some topics about AI and my expertise but the system keep rejecting my request so it's kind of upset to not know the reason, thanks in advance Nika
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@nolan_vu To be honest, the only thing that comes to my mind is to write on the support, because it is probably auto-rejected. Alternatively, I would rather try to post in other forums: :)
Good list. Here are mine:
Claude — everything from drafting to reasoning through complex problems, it's the default first stop
Lovable — spinning up quick prototypes without a full dev env
My personal diary that has all my passwords — unglamorous but the whole operation falls apart without it
Linear — keeps the engineering team aligned without the overhead
Custom Claude Code stack — we've built internal agents that replaced about three separate tools we used to pay for
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@mustafa_najoom Why did you opt for Lovable?
@busmark_w_nika Speed and experimentation. It makes it easy to prototype and pressure-test ideas quickly before committing engineering resources.
ChatGPT, Canva, Notion, Google sheets and Loom. If any of those disappear for a week, my workflow gets a lot slower
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@busra_seker1 basics, but must have basics :)
Sivi AI
Slack - communication, also personal notepad
Figma - for detailed design work and team handoffs
Sivi - for instant marketing design generation
PostHog - analytics, session replays, and feature flags in one place
Windsurf/Devin - not just for engineers
Seems the common thread is no longer tools that help me work, its tools that work alongside me.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@sona Sivi is new to me. When was the launch? I somehow missed it :)
Sivi AI
@busmark_w_nika Hey, thanks for asking! Sivi Gen-1 launched in 2023, not too late :) Sivi generates editable marketing designs such as banners, social creatives, ads, etc. from a text brief, layered, editable, and on-brand rather than flat images. Sivi Gen-3 is coming soon, so it's actually a good time to discover it.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@sona So will be there any relaunch in the near future? :)
Sivi AI
@busmark_w_nika love that you arekeeping an eye out! not a relaunch, a big upgrade :)
Gen-3 is coming soon. Want me to ping you when it goes live?
My five
Notion - documenting, journaling, and meeting notes.
Claude, ChatGPT, and Gemini - research and code review.
Lovable and v0.app - for prototyping and design.
Google Calendar and Google Tasks - for organization and scheduling.
@Andika AI - which I own and use daily as a replacement for Grammarly and Jenni.ai.
minimalist phone: reduce your screentime
@rbluena I think that in most of cases, we use the same (almost) :)