This setup helps me stay focused, build real things in my limited free time, and continuously learn in the process. The tools I use help me stay focused, build fast, and understand what I'm working on without getting stuck in unnecessary complexity.
Most of my projects start with React or Next.js. They're fast to spin up, come with battle-tested patterns, and have a thriving community. I prefer tools that remove friction, and both of these make the development process smooth without being overly opinionated.
I stick with Postgres for most of my data needs, and Supabase adds just the right amount of magic:
The out-of-the-box features are great for building full-stack apps without maintaining a ton of infrastructure.
I recently discovered better-auth, and the developer experience is excellent. It’s simple to integrate, plays nicely with modern frameworks, and keeps the setup light while still giving you the flexibility you need for real-world auth flows.
I use Drizzle ORM to work with Postgres. It’s built with TypeScript in mind and makes schema management straightforward. It offers:
This makes it easy to evolve your schema as the app grows without losing confidence in your data layer.
My UI workflow revolves around Tailwind CSS and shadcn/ui. Tailwind gives me utility-first styling that keeps my code expressive but lean. When I need components that are already accessible and well-designed, shadcn/ui has me covered.
Together, they let me build UIs quickly without sacrificing flexibility or maintainability.
AI tools have become a core part of my workflow, especially for side projects. Since they're trained on many of the tools I use (like React, Next.js, Drizzle, and Tailwind), they help me:
I use v0 for UI scaffolding, Cursor as my editor with AI assistance built-in, and ChatGPT when I need to dive deeper into a concept. These tools don’t just help me move faster—they help me understand the why behind the code.