Stack
The tools I actually use day-to-day, grouped by what they do, with one-line notes on why each one earned its place. Honest list, not aspirational. Updated when I switch something out.
// AI · the core
The everything tool. Runs in my files, knows my projects, executes plans, ships code. The chat window is a toy by comparison.
Direct API for everything that runs outside an interactive session — classifiers, drone extractors, sweep workers, end-of-day reports. Opus for hard, Sonnet for default, Haiku for cheap classification.
Second opinions when Claude has been wrong twice. Web-search-enabled models surface platform-specific docs Claude's training data misses. Routed to via co-op's
[3P:...] markers.Boilerplate generation, large mechanical refactors, find/replace at scale. Routed to when the work is grind, not judgment.
// build · ship
The editor Claude Code lives inside. Side-pane chat, native diff review, minimal config. Stayed on it after trying alternatives.
Default for any web product with a real backend. App Router. Server actions when they fit; route handlers when they don't.
Tailwind for styling, shadcn for the components you'd otherwise build twice. Both copy-paste, both stay close to the metal — no framework lock-in.
Native iOS via Expo. Used for the workout tracker. Web-tech reach, native feel, one codebase.
Headless browser for smoke tests, screenshot regression, and any "did the page actually render correctly" question. Shipping the smoke skill is what makes it worth the install.
// deploy · host
Push to main, deploy lands in 30 seconds. Edge Config powers the live inline-edit mode on this site. No CI/CD scripts to maintain.
Source of truth. Pre-commit hooks for the pollution guard.
gh CLI for everything the web UI is too slow for.// persistence · state
Postgres + auth + edge functions. Where decisions, metrics, and operational state live across sessions. The default backend for anything that needs to outlive a single chat.
Databases that humans actually open and read. Books log syncs to Notion via API. Content that's better as a table than a query.
Markdown files in git
The tier between "ephemeral chat" and "structured database." Plans, decisions, patterns. Diffable, portable, indexable — the format that survives every tool change.
// communication · ops
Where the team lives. AI loop outputs post here for in-thread review. Native MCP integration in Claude Code, so no glue code.
Pings me on phone for drone results, sweep reports, anything async-but-time-sensitive. Bot-first; no human DMs.
Google Calendar · Workspace
Calendar via MCP — meeting prep skill pulls today's events. Workspace for email and docs that escape the command line.
Payments and subscriptions. The webhooks fire well, the dashboard is honest, the API doesn't surprise you.
// capture · memory
iOS Shortcuts → iCloud Drive
The drone harvests anything I share from my phone — screenshots, reels, PDFs, links — into an iCloud folder. Mac picks it up via launchd, extracts structured reports.
launchd
Mac-native scheduler. The drone, the Friday sweep, the daily reports — all driven by
plist files in ~/Library/LaunchAgents/. No external cron service.Meeting recordings + transcripts. The sales loop pulls call data here for pattern extraction.