There is no shortage of AI tools aimed at developers right now: chat assistants, IDE completions, agents that promise to run your tests, and new products every month with overlapping features. I am not going to argue which one is “best.” Instead, here is what I am actually using today on hobby code: ChatGPT for quick, low-context questions, Cursor when the work needs my repository in the loop, and GitHub Copilot for fast inline help while I type. That trio might change, but it reflects how I have learned to spend money and attention in 2026.

The through-line is simple: match the tool to how much context the problem needs. That stops me from dumping half a repo into a browser tab for a vague design question, or firing up an editor assistant when I only wanted a two-paragraph explanation of something I could read in the docs.

This is not a product review. It is a snapshot of how I work, using the projects on my projects page as concrete examples.