---
title: "Uses — what we keep on the bench"
description: "The tools, services, and hardware the Symonov team actually uses: editor, frontend, backend, infra, tooling, hardware."
url: https://symonov.com/uses/
---

# What we keep on the bench.

Tools, services, hardware. The boring stuff that ships production code, with a tag showing whether it's Serhii's, Dmytro's, or shared across the team.

**43** items

**26** shared

last revision · 2026-q4

## editor & terminal — where the code is written

- serhii symonov: [PhpStorm](https://www.jetbrains.com/phpstorm/) primary IDE for WordPress / Laravel work.
- dmytro symonov: [VS Code](https://code.visualstudio.com/) frontend / Vue / Nuxt / TypeScript daily driver.
- both: **Neovim** quick edits, server-side config tweaks.
- both: [tmux](https://github.com/tmux/tmux) one session per project, persistent across SSH.
- both: [Claude Code](https://claude.com/claude-code) AI pair-programming for Astro/TS work and content drafts.

## frontend — shipped to the browser

- dmytro symonov: [Vue](https://vuejs.org/) Composition API. frontend default for SPAs and Mini Apps.
- dmytro symonov: [Nuxt](https://nuxt.com/) SSR and full-stack Vue apps.
- both: [TypeScript](https://www.typescriptlang.org/) strict mode, types end-to-end.
- dmytro symonov: [Vite](https://vite.dev/) build tool for libraries and apps.
- dmytro symonov: [Pinia](https://pinia.vuejs.org/) state when state is needed. used with restraint.
- dmytro symonov: [Zod](https://zod.dev/) runtime validation at API boundaries.
- dmytro symonov: [Tailwind CSS](https://tailwindcss.com/) utility styling for app UIs.
- both: [Astro](https://astro.build/) this site. zero-runtime, content collections, MDX.
- dmytro symonov: [Vant](https://vant-ui.github.io/vant/) mobile UI primitives for Telegram Mini Apps.

## backend & data — server side, persistence, integrations

- serhii symonov: [PHP](https://www.php.net/) modern PHP for new code, custom WP plugins.
- serhii symonov: [Laravel](https://laravel.com/) platform backbone — APIs, queues, schedulers.
- serhii symonov: [WordPress](https://wordpress.org/) plugin host. wp.org publishing, REST API.
- serhii symonov: [WP-CLI](https://wp-cli.org/) every wp deploy script touches it.
- dmytro symonov: [Node.js + Fastify](https://fastify.dev/) APIs and server logic behind Nuxt apps.
- both: **MySQL** main relational store. tuned beyond defaults.
- both: [PostgreSQL](https://www.postgresql.org/) relational store for Laravel platforms.
- both: [Redis](https://redis.io/) cache, queue, rate-limit state.
- both: **OpenAI / Claude API** translations and tooling, never user-facing without review.
- both: [grammY](https://grammy.dev/) Telegram bot framework — for the support bot behind /contact/.

## infra & deploy — where it actually runs

- both: [Docker Compose](https://docs.docker.com/compose/) every service we run is a container.
- both: [Traefik](https://traefik.io/traefik/) reverse proxy + automatic Let's Encrypt TLS.
- both: [Nginx](https://nginx.org/) static sites and app front servers behind Traefik.
- both: [OVH VPS](https://www.ovhcloud.com/) where this site and the support bot run.
- both: [Cloudflare](https://www.cloudflare.com/) DNS, CDN, Web Analytics, AI bot allowlisting.
- both: [GitHub Actions](https://github.com/features/actions) CI + rsync deploy. one workflow per site.
- both: **GitHub Container Registry** docker images for the support-bot and bazargram.

## tooling & ops — glue around everything

- both: [pnpm](https://pnpm.io/) monorepo package manager. workspaces over yarn/npm.
- both: [Prettier](https://prettier.io/) one-pass formatter, on save and in CI.
- both: [ESLint](https://eslint.org/) flat config, shared rules via eslint-plugin-kassaila.
- both: [Vitest](https://vitest.dev/) unit and content-audit tests, this site included.
- dmytro symonov: [Playwright](https://playwright.dev/) end-to-end tests for app flows.
- both: [Sentry](https://sentry.io/) error tracking for production sites and apps.
- both: [gh CLI](https://cli.github.com/) PR / issue / secrets management without leaving terminal.
- both: [Mailtrap](https://mailtrap.io/) transactional email for client sites — and the SwiftTrap plugin target.
- both: [Freemius](https://freemius.com/) paid licensing for premium plugin tiers (FlashFilter).

## hardware — what sits on the desks

- serhii symonov: **MacBook Pro (M-series)** primary workstation.
- dmytro symonov: **ASUS VivoBook** primary workstation.
- both: **External 4K monitor** one each, vertical-stacked workspace.