Boring tools, used well.
This is what I reach for when there's no existing stack to match. Nothing here is fashionable — it's proven, hireable, and something your own team can maintain after I'm gone. When you already have a stack, I adopt it.
The default stack
TypeScript
Anything with a UI or an API. Types are the cheapest documentation I know of.SQL
The query is the interface to your data. Worth writing by hand when the ORM guesses wrong.Python
AI, data work, and the glue between them.SvelteKit
Svelte 5 runes. Less shipped JavaScript than the alternatives, and a compiler that catches what a runtime cannot.Tailwind CSS
Design tokens in one place, no stylesheet that grows forever.Vite
Dev server and build. Fast feedback loop, minimal config.Node
The API layer, sharing types and tooling with the frontend.PostgreSQL
The database until something proves it genuinely cannot be.Drizzle ORM
Typed queries and migrations that read like SQL, because eventually you need the SQL.Cloudflare
Edge, workers, and CDN — a lot of infrastructure you no longer have to run.Queues & Durable Objects
Background work and coordination at the edge, so the request path stays short.Alchemy
Infrastructure as code, deployed by one command in CI. No click-ops, no snowflakes.Model layer
Providers behind one interface, swappable, with fallbacks.Evals
Answer quality as a number, run in CI on every change.Vector store
Chroma DB, or whatever already sits next to your data — retrieval you can measure either way.GitHub Actions
Tests, builds, and deploys on every push. The pipeline is the release process.Docker
Reproducible environments when the target is not the edge.Alerting
Alerts tied to symptoms users actually feel, not to noise.How I choose
Boring by default I pick proven tools over novel ones. Excitement belongs in the product, not the infrastructure.
Match what you have If you already run a stack, I adopt it. Rewriting your tooling to suit mine is rarely in your interest.
Hireable, not exotic Everything here is something you can hire for. When I hand over, your team can actually staff it.
I take on a small number of projects at a time.
Tell me what you're building and where it hurts. I'll say honestly whether I'm the right person for it.