Rachel Andrew: The Tools I Use

The latest in our series “The Tools We Use” features Rachel Andrew, co-founder of Perch CMS and Invited Expert with the CSS Working Group.

Puppet: The business is run on a stack of small VPS servers with configuration managed by Puppet, which makes dealing with things like switching infrastructure around, creating new sites, and setting up SSL certs, relatively painless.

Docker: I was a great fan of working in virtual machines with Vagrant, but recently have switched to Docker for most things as it means I’m not filling up my disk with VMs.

VSCode: I am pretty much editor agnostic. I need a text editor of some description. Currently I use VSCode.

Zoc Terminal: because the default OS X terminal is horrible. I have a whole bunch of servers that I have to ssh into on a regular basis, so the management of these connections is what makes Zoc worth paying for—that and the fact I like to support the creators of good software. Most crucially, Zoc has a whole set of features for logging, scripting, and creating custom commands. It is a bit of a Swiss Army Knife for someone who spends a lot of time at the command line.

Beanstalkapp.com: for private hosted git repos and deployment. Very reliable and a nice company.

All of my personal task management and GTD uses OmniFocus. As a company, though, we use Clubhouse.io for project management, planning Perch features, and so on. We have tried so many of these tools, and Clubhouse is the only one that has really worked well for us.

I’m not sure how I would run Perch without Xero.com for our accounts. It copes with multiple currencies, multiple VAT rates, and all the rest of the complexity of running a small international business.

Also, tripit.com has to get a mention as it makes sure I know where I am tomorrow and how I’m getting there!