37 - Marcos Oliveira

I’m a software engineer with 10 years of experience from Brazil and a self-taught developer. I work at VTEX but have built software for various industries like logistics, finance, health, education, and digital commerce. I started my career with Java, discovered JavaScript along the way, and then came across OCaml, ReScript, and functional programming, which changed my career path. I've specialized in UI engineering, focusing on design systems, front-end and developer tooling, developer experience, and functional programming.

I was active in the open-source community, especially in the ReScript ecosystem, by creating and maintaining libraries. But for the past two years, I’ve been more focused on the Vim and tmux ecosystems, releasing projects like BetterVim and BetterTmux—that’s my attempt to make this ecosystem better with a top-notch developer experience.

Neovim and Terminal

I’ve been using Neovim and Tmux for years, and I started by copying a friend’s dotfiles. Three months later, as usual, I got tired of not knowing how to build my config from scratch. So, I created everything from scratch—the whole Neovim and Tmux config. It took me years to achieve a setup I was proud of, but in the end, it became a product, BetterVim. That’s right, I productified my Neovim config. I didn’t do this alone; I had two partners at the beginning, and now we’re two. I use this config daily, so beyond being a side project, it’s like a bonsai for me—I maintain it every day.

Now, I’m focused on TMUX, which I’ve been struggling with for years to achieve the perfect config, mostly related to developer experience (DX) principles. Recently, I launched an open-source project called BetterTmux that enhances my dotfiles. BetterTmux makes my config much easier by using React (you heard right) to build my TMUX config.

Favorite Tools

• BetterVim is a Neovim distribution featuring lots of slick defaults and an outstanding UI.

• BetterTmux is a framework for TMUX that leverages React and TypeScript to enable powerful customizations.

• Kitty Terminal Emulator

• Neovim

• Tmux Terminal Multiplexer

• Raycast A collection of powerful productivity tools all within an extendable launcher. Fast, ergonomic, and reliable.

Dotfiles

You can find Marcos’s dotfiles here http://github.com/vmarcosp/dotfiles (Read the install.sh file)

Desk Setup

Favorite Books

Technical:

• The Art of Computer Programming by Donald Knuth

Non-Technical:

• The Mystery of the Green House