Writing & Editing Stack
Being a technical writer, I like to keep my workflows as simple as possible, with the least amount of tools necessary to complete a piece. I'm both writing and editing technical content on a daily basis, so here are some tools that help me spare a bit of brain power.
Writing
For writing, I use Markdown as the markup language of choice. Simple for getting the job done. Occasionally, I might use MDX for docs.
To write in Markdown (or MDX) I prefer to use Zed as my editor. I have used Visual Studio Code, Notion, Obisidan and many others.
What I like about Zed is UI simplicity and that it never freezes. Like you could open a bazilion of files and it would not stutter.
I store all of my content in a Git repository, and each clients gets its own submodule. This makes it easy to track changes over time and I'm in control of where the content is stored. Easy to backup too.
Grammar
Grammarly and the friends have gone down hill a long time ago. Enshittification has caught up everywhere, and writing assistance tools have not been excluded.
As a local, privacy-respecting alternative I use Harper. Harper is also super fast (they claim suggestions in 10ms, and I trust that number). It works locally, thus no need for an internet connection, especially if I'm writing in the middle of Montenegro with a shitty internet. Sorry Montenegro.
Linter
Vale is my linter of choice. Local-first as well and open-source. I add styles per client so when I write I get alerted when naming is not right, what to capitalize, use contractions or whatnot. Vale works flawlessly in docs CI as well. 10/10
Integration
All of these tools work together in Zed. They are available as extensions, and there is no need for context switching to another tool. Vale and Harper give inline suggestions, which are easily ignored and do not use any screen real estate. Plus, when you do not have 6 different colors screaming at you, you can really focus on writing.
Honorable Mentions
I also use GPTZero to review other writers' content (and sometimes mine when it starts feeling too robotic). GPTZero seems to have the best balance in their models as compared to other tools like ZeroGPT (yeah the naming convention is very creative).