AI has fundamentally changed how I write code. After experimenting with various tools, here are the seven AI tools I actually use daily and find genuinely valuable for development work.
AI-powered code completion that transforms daily coding
GitHub Copilot has become indispensable for my workflow. It's not just autocomplete - it understands context and generates meaningful suggestions.
What I use it for:
Why it works: Context-aware suggestions that usually require minimal editing. Particularly excellent for repetitive tasks and standard patterns.
AI-native code editor for modern development
Cursor has revolutionized my coding experience with its AI-first approach. It's like having an intelligent pair programmer built directly into the editor.
What I use it for:
Why it works: Deep integration with multiple AI models and excellent context awareness across entire codebases. The composer feature is particularly powerful for making coordinated changes across multiple files.
AI-powered development environment by Codeium
Windsurf offers a comprehensive AI development environment with powerful code generation and understanding capabilities, built by the team behind Codeium.
What I use it for:
Why it works: Provides excellent AI assistance with fast, responsive suggestions. Good alternative when you want reliable AI coding help without depending entirely on external services.
AI-powered UI generation for rapid prototyping
Vercel's v0.dev generates React components from text descriptions. Perfect for quickly prototyping UI components.
What I use it for:
Why it works: Generates clean, modern React code with Tailwind CSS that's production-ready with minimal tweaks.
Problem-solving and technical discussions
ChatGPT excels at explaining complex concepts, debugging issues, and planning architecture.
What I use it for:
Best approach: Be specific about your tech stack and provide context for better responses.
Code review and technical problem-solving
Claude provides excellent code analysis and is particularly good at understanding complex codebases.
What I use it for:
Why Claude: Better at maintaining context over long conversations and provides more thoughtful responses for complex technical questions.
AI-powered research and current information
Perplexity has become my primary research tool for staying current with technology trends and finding solutions to specific problems.
What I use it for:
Why it's valuable: Provides up-to-date information with sources, making it reliable for research and learning about emerging technologies.
These seven tools have genuinely improved my development workflow. The key is understanding each tool's strengths and using them for what they do best rather than trying to force one tool to handle everything.
My daily workflow:
Each tool serves a specific purpose in my development process, and together they've made me significantly more productive while helping me learn and improve my coding skills.
Let me know what you think