When you start using preprocessors like SLIM and SASS and their compilation through CodeKit, maintaining the “watch” status of each compiled file is a headache.īasically, since Codekit will compile the SLIM file I’m currently editing, the SFTP plugin needs to be watching the compiled HTML file in order to kick the newly compiled file to my dev server. The delay in my actions gives the transfer of the changed file plenty of time to complete. I can pretty much mimic a local environment this way: I write code, save, and then refresh my browser. This means that when I save a file, that file gets uploaded to my remote server. The most notable usage of the plugin is that I watch my entire working directory. Since I use Sublime Text 2, I went with the well done SFTP plugin by Will Bond. Kills a few days of productivity (which hurts such a young startup) but pays dividends in the long run. Actually create a local environment possibly using Vagrant.Master VIM and just code in the ssh session of your remote machine.There are several ways around the lack of a development environment: * And potentially other configurations (caching, no-sql session storage, etc) * We use dedicated WOWZA servers for video streaming * Our database schema changes frequently and keeping our local dbs synced would take extra effort Hence, we simply use a shared development server. Replicating the cron-jobs for each of our machines isn’t great for our database and is quite wasteful. The reason why we don’t have a local environment is that there are many moving pieces in our system: Couple this with the fact that we’re using SVN. It also means that you always need an internet connection to do any work.

The lack of a local development environment means that you can’t see the output of the code that you’re writing locally. * Sublime Text 2 with the awesome SFTP plugin * Codekit for JavaScript build systems and SLIM and SASS compilation * iTerm2 for a terminal replacement with the Fish shell

This writeup will serve as an insight into my day to day workflow, in addition to serving as some documentation for posterity sake. Our stack at YouNow is dated and non-developer friendly, so I’ve had to work around some of the obstacles. When you don’t have a local development environment, development processes take a big hit in efficiency.

Sublime text sftp view output panel