Obsidian.md
Notion
Logseq
Joplin
Roam Research
Evernote
Standard Notes
TiddlyWiki
Codify CLI
NixOS
ASDF
Flox
Daytona
Codario
Ansible
Codis
Setting up a development environment has always been one of the most frustrating parts of being a developer. Whether you're joining a new team, setting up a fresh machine, or onboarding someone new, the process is almost always the same: a wall of documentation, hours of manual installs, config tweaks, and the inevitable "works on my machine" problem. Codify fixes that.
Codify is a CLI tool that brings the power of Infrastructure as Code to your local development machine. Just like Terraform lets you declare your cloud infrastructure in code, Codify lets you declare your entire developer environment in a simple codify.jsonc file. Run codify apply and your machine is set up exactly as defined, every time, without error.
See also: - Web editor: dashboard.codifycli.com the recommended way for creating Codify JSON files - Github: github.com/codifycli/codify open source under Apache 2.0 license
Obsidian.md Codify CLINo Codify CLI videos yet. You could help us improve this page by suggesting one.
Codify CLI's answer:
The CLI is written entirely in Typescript
Codify CLI's answer:
Declarative, not scripted Most teams rely on brittle shell scripts or lengthy wiki docs for onboarding. Codify replaces that with a single, readable codify.jsonc file that declares what you want, not how to get there. The result is something you can reproduce, review, and version-control.
Low barrier to entry Tools like Nix/nix-darwin are powerful but have a notoriously steep learning curve. Ansible is designed for server infrastructure, not laptops. Codify is built specifically for developer environments and uses plain JSON, so almost anyone on the team can read and edit it.
Visual dashboard + CLI Unlike pure CLI tools, Codify ships with a visual dashboard editor, pre-built templates, and cloud file management, making it usable for developers who prefer a GUI and for managers who own the onboarding process.
Open source and transparent Every action Codify takes on your machine is auditable. No black-box installers. The code is fully open and security-conscious, with sudo prompts, parameter escaping, and plugin verification.
Codify CLI's answer:
If your team is still using shell scripts or a setup wiki, Codify is a no-brainer upgrade. Setup docs go stale the moment someone installs a new tool and forgets to update the README. Shell scripts break in ways that are hard to debug and even harder to maintain. Codify gives you a single file that actually reflects what should be on the machine, and enforces it.
If you're using Homebrew Bundle, it's a decent start, but a Brewfile only covers what Homebrew manages. The moment you need to configure something outside of that, you're back to writing scripts. Codify handles the full picture.
If you've looked at Nix, you've probably also spent an afternoon trying to get it working and questioned your life choices. It's genuinely powerful, but the learning curve is brutal and most teams don't have someone willing to own it long-term. Codify gets you most of the same reproducibility benefits without needing to learn an entirely new language and mental model.
If you've tried Ansible, it's a great tool, but it's designed for managing servers, not developer laptops. Using it for local setup feels like using a sledgehammer to hang a picture frame. It works, but it's overkill, and someone still has to maintain those playbooks.
If you use chezmoi, it's solid for dotfiles but that's about it. It won't install your packages or manage your tool versions.
Perhaps you know someone who swears by Obsidian, it may seem like a cult of overly devoted people for how passionate they are, but it's not without reason
I've been using Obsidian for over 3 years, at a point in my life when I felt I had to handle too much information and I felt like grasping water not being able to remember everything I wanted, language learning, programming, accounting, university, daily tasks. A friend recommended it to me next to Notion (of which he is a passionate cultist priest) and I reluctantly picked it and fell in love almost immediately.
Obsidian seems very simple, like a notepad with folder interface, similar to Sublime Text, but the ability to link files together in a Wiki style allows you to organize ideas in any way you want, one file may lead to a dozen or more ideas that are related
If you want to do something specific, Obsidian has a plethora of community created plugins that expand the functionality, in my case, I use obsidian to organize my classes both as a teacher and as a student, using local databases, calendars, dictionaries, slides, vector graphic drawings, excel-like tables, Anki connection, podcasts, and more
I've been using Obsidian for more than a year. It's been great. I think it offer a great balance of control, flexibility and extensibility. What is more, you own your own data, that's been a must-have feature for me. I just can't imagine putting all my knowledge into something that I don't have control over.
I think two of the most popular alternatives that people consider are Logseq and Roam Research. Although Logseq is a bit different, it's considered compatible with Obsidian. Supposedly, you can use them with a shared database (files. Both use simple text files for storage). I tried that once, a few months ago. It worked, yet it messed up a bit my Obsidian files ยฏ_(ใ)_/ยฏ.
Based on our record, Obsidian.md seems to be more popular. It has been mentiond 1520 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.
Install Obsidian: Download the client from obsidian.md and create a local Vault โ just a local folder. - Source: dev.to / 30 days ago
Obsidian (https://obsidian.md/) Honestly its not huge and most are probably obvious, but those are what I immediately install on my machines. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 month ago
A place to store the feedback - I keep mine in an Obsidian vault, organised by type (interviewing, facilitation) and date. This makes trend tracking trivial. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
Option 2: Dedicated markdown app.Typora, Obsidian, or similar. Better editing experience, but now you're context-switching between your code editor and your docs editor. Copy-pasting paths, losing mental context, duplicating effort. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
Obsidian is the storage. A desktop app that opens any folder of markdown files and adds links, search, and a graph view on top. Your files stay on your disk. No cloud unless you turn it on, no proprietary database, no export step. If you want your notes back, you already have them. - Source: dev.to / about 2 months ago
Notion - All-in-one workspace. One tool for your whole team. Write, plan, and get organized.
NixOS - 25 Jun 2014 . All software components in NixOS are installed using the Nix package manager. Packages in Nix are defined using the nix language to create nix expressions.
Logseq - Logseq is a local-first, non-linear, outliner notebook for organizing and sharing your personal knowledge base.
ASDF - Automated Spam Defense Force
Joplin - Joplin is a free, open source note taking and to-do application, which can handle a large number of notes organised into notebooks. The notes are searchable, tagged and modified either from the applications directly or from your own text editor.
Flox - Manage and share development environments with all the frameworks and libraries you need, then publish artifacts anywhere. Harness the power of Nix.
