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# tools & stack

these are the tools I actually use. not aspirational, not "I tried this once". for tools I've built myself, see [[personal-infrastructure]] — these are in my daily or weekly workflow.

## AI coding tools

this is the most important section. AI tools are the biggest force multiplier for solo builders right now. see [[learning-paths]] for the "vibe coding" section on using AI tools well.

### Claude Code
- **what:** Anthropic's CLI-based AI coding agent. runs in your terminal. reads your codebase, writes code, runs commands.
- **my usage:** 500+ sessions. this is my primary coding tool. it's the closest thing to having a senior engineer pair-programming with you 24/7. for solo builders, this is game-changing.
- **cost:** requires a Claude API subscription or Claude Pro/Max plan.

### VS Code with Claude Code extension
- my main editor. VS Code is the default for a reason — extensions ecosystem is unmatched.

### Cursor
- **what:** VS Code fork with AI built in. autocomplete, chat, codebase-aware editing.
- **honest take:** I used this before moving to Claude Code as my primary tool. the inline editing (cmd+K) is fast for small changes. good tool, I just prefer the CLI workflow now.

### GitHub Copilot
- **what:** AI autocomplete in your editor.
- **how I have it:** free through GitHub Student Developer Pack.
- **honest take:** the tab-complete is seamless. less powerful than Claude Code for complex tasks, but the speed of autocomplete is hard to beat for quick edits.

## hosting & deployment

### Vercel
- deploys frontend apps from a git push. zero-config. generous free tier (unlimited projects, 100GB bandwidth/month). this is where most of my projects live.

### Cloudflare
- CDN, DNS, Workers (serverless), Pages (static hosting), R2 (storage). the free tier is absurdly generous. I use Cloudflare DNS for everything.

### Supabase
- free Postgres database + auth + storage + realtime. the "Firebase but open source" play. great for MVPs. my go-to for any project that needs a database.

### Railway
- deploys backend services and databases. "heroku but modern." $5/month free usage. the simplest way to deploy a backend.

## design

### Figma
- the industry standard. free tier is enough for personal projects. even as "just a developer," wireframing in Figma before coding saves time and produces better results.

## hardware tools

### KiCad
- PCB design. open source. for when software isn't enough and you need to make physical things. see [[hardware-projects]] for the full hardware journey.

## development environment

### iTerm2 + tmux
- iTerm2 as my terminal emulator. tmux for persistent sessions. every long-running process goes in tmux.

### Git / GitHub
- git for version control (obviously). GitHub for repos, CI/CD with Actions, and the Student Developer Pack. see [[open-source]] for contributing to other projects.

### Obsidian
- my note-taking tool. local-first, markdown-based. I keep everything here. see [[knowledge-management]] for the full system.

### 1Password
- password manager and secrets management. the CLI (`op`) is useful for injecting secrets into development environments.

## the free stack

here's the complete stack I use for launching projects at $0:

| layer | tool | cost |
|-------|------|------|
| frontend | Next.js | free |
| hosting | Vercel | free |
| database | Supabase | free |
| auth | Supabase Auth | free |
| storage | Supabase Storage or Cloudflare R2 | free |
| DNS/CDN | Cloudflare | free |
| domain | .me via GitHub Education | free |
| design | Figma | free |
| IDE | VS Code + GitHub Copilot (student) | free |
| AI coding | Claude Code | paid (worth it) |
| CI/CD | GitHub Actions | free |
| payments | Stripe (2.9% + $0.30 per txn) | pay per use |

total monthly cost: $0 until you have paying users. see [[shipping-products]] for how to go from this stack to a live product. then Stripe takes a cut of revenue. zero upfront cost — you only pay when you're making money.