The 5 Best Productivity Tools for Software Developers

If you’re a software developer looking to make your job easier, it can be overwhelming trying to sort through the overabundance of tools available across many different categories.

How do you know you’re using the right developer productivity tools and not missing anything?

Whether you focus on front or backend development — or are a full-stack engineer covering the process from start to finish — there are a few key tools that every developer team should use.

Those few tools will serve as the core to help you and your developer team communicate better, improve collaboration, and quickly solve bugs.

Here are the best programmer developer productivity tools to help you with your projects.

The 5 Best Productivity Tools for Software Developers

1. Terraform

If you’re searching for developer productivity tools, Terraform is at the top of the list. This infrastructure as code (IaC) tool helps developers manage their infrastructure.

Since configurations are written in a single file, it eliminates the need to have scripts everywhere, simplifying the entire infrastructure management process.

With Terraform, developers can describe infrastructure in code in a declarative way, defining the end state and eliminating the need for step-by-step instructions. This makes it easy for developers to recreate infrastructure from scratch and make changes throughout its development and lifecycle stages.

Plus, the version-controlled configuration makes it ideal for larger teams as it enables individuals to make changes without stepping on each other’s toes.

2. Cypress

For those looking for tools to make front-end projects easier, Cypress is one of the best-automated testing tools that enhances developer productivity. This powerful tool is designed specifically to help developers write easier and faster and run tests more reliably.

The platform can test anything in a browser, including end-to-end tests, integration tests, and unit tests, though Cypress is most commonly used for end-to-end testing.

Tests that previously had to be run by hand can be run automatically in Cypress, saving developers valuable time and money as they can focus on fixing bugs and other tasks.

What’s more, Cypress’ Dashboard Service records tests, so developers can see exactly what went wrong and don’t have to question it.

3. Github

Github is one of the most important productivity tools for all types of software development.

It has a built-in code review tool where developers and teams can:

• Review new code, commenting on specific lines
• See the result of continuous integration checks and merge changes
• See changes made to code, questions from team members, make suggestions and grant approvals all in one place

Github also enables you to secure packages and manage permissions within your organization.

Other new GitHub tools include:

GitHub Actions: Automates workflow and makes it easy to build, test, deploy, and review code.

Github Actions offers continuous integration, so you get fast and automated feedback without having to manually run tests.

Github Marketplace: Easily integrate third-party apps to improve development workflow.

4. NewRelic

NewRelic’s NewRelic One full-stack observability platform has many different features, making it ideal for front-end and back-end developer productivity tools.

The complete platform gives an in-depth, live view of applications, infrastructure, end-user experience, and machine learning models.

A couple of the most commonly used NewRelic tools include:

Application Monitoring

NewRelic’s application monitoring (APM) gives developers a total overview from backend operations to frontend user device experience.

With NewRelic APM, developers can:

• Get code-level visibility with contextual logs to troubleshoot issues.
• Drill into errors, slow request traces, and group traces to find errors and easily fix them.
• Track deployments with deployment markers in APM charts to better understand performance and errors. Manage service level objectives (SLOs) to ensure optimal user experience.

Log Management

NewRelic’s Log Management empowers developers with a detailed application, infrastructure, and network device logs to troubleshoot bugs quickly.

Logs are searchable and filterable, so bugs can be found in a few seconds — no digging required. This way, you can spend less time pinpointing a bug is and jump straight to finding a solution.

Plus, developers can create alerts and dashboards from log data, making it easier to track and stay on top of any future problems.

5. minware

In software engineering, it’s difficult to track key performance indicators (KPIs) that reveal added value to your business.

However, with minware, software teams are empowered with analytics of the full software development life cycle.

When software developers can see how long code takes to go into production and how it ages over time, they can unlock their full potential. These powerful analytics allow teams to focus less on trial-and-error projects and more on lasting code that creates impactful, high-quality software.

The Bottom Line

There’s no shortage of programmer and developer productivity tools to help streamline tasks and make writing code, debugging it, and maintaining systems easier.

Not all of these tools are relevant for more limited projects like back-end libraries that don't manage their infrastructure. However, all the listed tools are relevant for any complete application with servers and a user interface.

Regardless, all developers can take advantage of tools like those from Github and NewRelic that have applicable elements across all stages of development — covering both front and backend processes. Any tool that helps teams better collaborate and solve bugs is a huge boost for productivity.

Try a few different developer productivity tools and see what works best to help you pinpoint bugs and help you work the most efficiently.