Curating Your Linux Workspace:
My 11 Essential Applications
As someone who uses Linux as his Daily driver and has a tendency 25 years on to still distro hop, there are some apps I install each time (to the point i’ve scripted the installs). These apps are core to my workflow and some link into my self hosted home lab.
Zen Browser
- Application URL: zen-browser.app
- GitHub URL: github.com/zen-browser/desktop
Description
Zen Browser is a modern, privacy-first web browser built entirely on top of Firefox. Designed with clutter-free productivity in mind, it features built-in vertical tabs, workspaces to separate your browsing contexts, and absolute freedom from tracking or telemetry. It aims to offer a beautiful, highly customisable interface while remaining fast and resource-efficient.
For me this is the sweet spot between not using a ChromeOS or derivative browser, and not being stuck in the past with Firefox. I saw it written once that Zen Browser is what Firefox wishes it could be in 2026.. Zen connects to the Firefox login, pulls down the plugins, bookmarks and passwords which keeps things simple on a reinstall. There are also ZenMods which provide functionality within the browser outside of plugins (the image above has a transparent theme Zenmod installed)
I’m a big fan of the sidebar for the tabs and the ability to pin, group and have those bigger icons when needed, These things all make much more sense to me when using a sidebar.
Installation
- Arch Linux: Available via the Arch User Repository (AUR).
yay -S zen-browser-bin - Fedora: The recommended platform-agnostic installation method is via Flatpak (Flathub).
flatpak install flathub app.zen_browser.zen
Warp Terminal
- Application URL: warp.dev
- GitHub URL: github.com/warpdotdev/Warp
Description
Warp is a blazing-fast, Rust-based terminal emulator designed to modernise the command line. Unlike traditional terminals, Warp treats commands as discrete text blocks, making navigating, copying, and re-running scripts incredibly straightforward. It features an integrated AI assistant, IDE-like code completion, and collaborative features built specifically for modern development teams.
Warp is core to my workflow, its like every linux terminal you have ever used on steriods. While many Terninal AI integrations focus on vibe coding (and Warp can do this in spades) what I find much more useful with Warp is the system integration of the AI. I can ask a question
Why is the fan running so loud on my laptop
And the chosen LLM will go and investigate and come back with possible reasons, commands to fix it. or if you’re feeling brave just go and fix it.
The LLM selection is what you’d expect, the usual gallery of frontier models from Claude to ChatGPT, with MCP integration (useful for tapping into Patchmon and ManageLM).
As well however as this deep system integration the selected LLM will create anything from a script, through an ansible playbook to a full blown app with the usual cavets when it comes to vibe coding.
There is a free tier, however the frontier models do come at a cost, and at time of writing there is no way (I can see) to connect to Ollama or LMstudio for local LLM’s
Installation
- Arch Linux: Install from the AUR.
yay -S warp-terminal - Fedora: Warp provides an official RPM package repository.
sudo dnf config-manager --add-repo [https://releases.warp.dev/linux/rpm/stable/warpdotdev.repo](https://releases.warp.dev/linux/rpm/stable/warpdotdev.repo)
sudo dnf install warp-terminal
Termix
- Application URL: github.com/Termix-SSH/Termix
- GitHub URL: github.com/Termix-SSH/Termix
Description
Termix is an open-source, self-hosted, all-in-one server and infrastructure management platform. Acting as a powerful alternative to proprietary services like Termius, it provides web-based SSH terminal access, secure tunneling, remote desktop control (RDP/VNC), real-time host resource monitoring, and remote file management directly inside a clean browser interface.
I spent years paying for this functionality via Termius and was so happy to remove that subscription fee as this is the self hosted version of that. I will be the first to state that the interface feels like a 1980s toshiba laptop however functionality wise this is a great tool providing access to SSH and RDP sessions and providing stats on docker containers running on the remote servers and a degree of system monitoring too.
There is an Android app (I assume and IOS one too) which provides similar functionality.
When paired with Tailscale/Netbird this provides a huge amount of power on a self hosted home system.
Installation
- Arch Linux: Can be deployed via Docker or installed from the AUR if packaged.
yay -S termix-bin - Fedora: The most reliable way to self-host Termix on Fedora is using Docker/Podman.
docker run -d -p 8080:8080 termix/termix
VacuumTube
- GitHub URL: github.com/shy1132/VacuumTube
Description
VacuumTube is an unofficial desktop Electron wrapper for YouTube Leanback—the interface natively used by Smart TVs and consoles. It circumvents browser blocking to bring a full couch-friendly YouTube interface to your PC. It comes packed with fantastic quality-of-life enhancements, including built-in adblocking, native controller/gamepad support, and integrations for SponsorBlock and DeArrow.T
Now sure, you can watch YouTube in a browser window or you can install it as a PWA app, however what VacuumTube provides is the same leanback interface you see on the TV version of YouTube. This is really just an ease of life install.
Installation
- Arch Linux: Available through the AUR.
yay -S vacuumtube - Fedora: Easily installed as a Flatpak via Flathub.
flatpak install flathub rocks.shy.VacuumTube
Element Matrix Client
- Application URL: element.io
- GitHub URL: github.com/element-hq/element-web
Description
Element is the flagship client for Matrix, a secure, decentralised real-time communication network. It provides fully end-to-end encrypted chat, voice, and video calls. Element is perfect for teams or individuals looking to host their own secure communications without relying on centralised tech giants.
I originally installed Matrix server as a private chat app for myself and my wife, which i could pull WhasApp and discord messages into. This quickly diverged into using it as a frontend for OpenRouter’s LLM’s and putting MCP servers in front of most of my Homelab servers. Doing this has turned the Elemenet client into a very powerful ChatOps interface for AIOps on my homelab.
Matrix is one of those projects that Discord, Slack and apps like WhatsApp killed however the entusiastic maintainers have allowed it to grow out of where it started into more than the sum of its parts.
Installation
- Arch Linux: Available directly in the official extra repository.
sudo pacman -S element-desktop - Fedora: Best installed via Flatpak, though third-party Copr repositories exist.
flatpak install flathub im.riot.Riot
btop
- GitHub URL: github.com/aristocratos/btop
Description
If you are still using standard top or htop, it is time for an upgrade. btop is a stunning, game-inspired terminal resource monitor written in C++. It displays detailed, real-time statistics for processor usage, memory consumption, storage, networks, and individual running processes in a beautifully responsive terminal user interface.
Btop is a well presented TUI which gives me at a glance information relating to the server/desktop i run it on. Its simple, convenient and its use of colour and design make seeing what is happening quickly.
Installation
- Arch Linux: Included in the official extra repository.
sudo pacman -S btop - Fedora: Available directly in the standard DNF repositories.
sudo dnf install btop
Cline
- GitHub URL: github.com/cline/cline
Description
Cline is an autonomous coding assistant that lives in your development environment. It can create and edit files, execute terminal commands, analyze system bugs, and actively build complex software projects step-by-step under your guidance. It bridges the gap between static LLM chats and fully autonomous terminal automation.
Cline was the catalyst for the Matrix setup above, originally i was looking for something i could run on servers like warp terminal. This morphed into setting it up to work with Ollama and the MCP servers i’d setup. Now its a nice chatbot to run in a bash shell on my laptop outside of warp-termainal
Installation
- Arch Linux: Cline is commonly run as an extension inside VS Code/VSCodium, but the CLI tool can be compiled using Node.js or pulled via the AUR.
yay -S cline-cli - Fedora: Install via Node Package Manager (
npm).sudo dnf install nodejs
sudo npm install -g @cline/cli
KDE Connect
- Application URL: kdeconnect.kde.org
- GitHub URL: github.com/KDE/kdeconnect-kde
Description
KDE Connect is a brilliant tool that seamlessly bridges the gap between your Linux desktop and your smartphone. It operates over your local Wi-Fi network to synchronise notifications, share clipboards, send SMS messages from your computer, transfer files instantly, and even turn your phone touchscreen into a remote trackpad for your PC.
There are a whole bunch of apps like this, Blip, LocalSend, these are great apps however KDE Connect is the OG at this, as well as transferring files between mobile OS and Linux PC’s I first started using this as a way of copying clipboard items between phone and new laptop install.
KDE Connect has been around for years and is really stable and does what it does very well, its just not as pretty as the others in its interface.
Installation
- Arch Linux: Available in the official extra repository.
sudo pacman -S kdeconnect - Fedora: Available natively via DNF.
sudo dnf install kde-connect
Stirling-PDF
- GitHub URL: github.com/Stirling-Tools/Stirling-PDF
Description
Stirling-PDF is a robust, self-hosted web application that gives you total control over your PDF files. Instead of uploading sensitive documents to sketchy third-party websites, Stirling-PDF lets you split, merge, convert, sign, encrypt, compress, and OCR documents entirely locally. It is lightweight, fully featured, and runs cleanly in a container environment.
I have Stirling running on my Kubernetes cluster and have the Linux app connecting to this server, the Stirling app is my default PDF viewer and in doing this I have a PDF client which does the things you would usually have to pay.
I’m able to put signatures on files, digitally sign files, annotate, edit, extract and merge files.. and I do all of this locally on my own network.
Installation
- Arch Linux: Can be run via Docker or installed through the AUR.
yay -S stirling-pdf-bin - Fedora: Running the official container image via Podman or Docker is highly recommended.
podman run -d -p 8080:8080 froth/stirling-pdf:latest
OnlyOffice
- Application URL: onlyoffice.com
- GitHub URL: github.com/ONLYOFFICE/DesktopEditors
Description
For users who require maximum document interoperability, OnlyOffice is the premier alternative to Microsoft Office on Linux. Unlike other office suites that approximate .docx, .xlsx, and .pptx formats, OnlyOffice uses Microsoft Office XML formats as its native standard. This ensures that document layouts remain flawlessly consistent when shared across different operating systems.
I’ve personally found OnlyOffice the most MS Office compatible editor for Linux, and although it has the ability to connect to my Nextcloud, do AI searches of Docs I mainly use it for a local editor. Its prettier (for me) than LibreOffice and it feels less heavy.
Installation
- Arch Linux: Available via the AUR.
yay -S onlyoffice-bin - Fedora: Best installed using Flatpak to isolate its dependencies.
flatpak install flathub org.onlyoffice.desktopeditors
Tailscale
- Application URL: tailscale.com
- GitHub URL: github.com/tailscale/tailscale
Description
Tailscale is a zero-configuration mesh VPN built on top of the ultra-fast WireGuard protocol. It makes creating encrypted connections between your personal computers, remote servers, and mobile devices completely effortless—even if they sit behind complex corporate firewalls or carrier-grade NAT. It assigns every machine a stable IP address, paving the way for smooth remote access and secure file sharing.
This is the glue of my home lab. The ability to have a flat network across my Cloud VPS server, home network has been the building block of getting me where I am today. I have set myself up with no open ports on router, no remote public entry points. I can access all my services from anywhere in the world from my laptop and mobile phone. I’ll write a future post on how I’ve set this up with Tailscale, NginX proxy Manager, Cloudflare DNS and Tailscale-operator in Kubernetes.
Installation
- Arch Linux: Install the package and enable the system daemon.
sudo pacman -S tailscale
sudo systemctl enable --now tailscaled
sudo tailscale up - Fedora: Available natively in the Fedora repositories.
sudo dnf install tailscale
sudo systemctl enable --now tailscaled
sudo tailscale up
Thoughts.
There is a lot more to this than I can cover on this post. This is a glimpse into my setup and workflow. I’ll be covering much more of how my homelab is built