Every developer has that mix of tools they can’t live without the ones that keep everything flowing, from the first line of code to the final deploy. Over time, my stack has evolved around three key things: speed, reliability, and reducing context switching. I don’t want to waste time jumping between tabs or debugging the same setup issues I want tools that just work and let me stay in the zone.

This is my 2025 developer stack, built to balance flexibility with focus. It’s not about chasing hype, but about what actually delivers day to day from core frameworks and frontend tools to AI assistants, API testers, and documentation platforms that keep everything connected. Whether I’m building something new, refining an idea, or shipping production-ready features, this setup keeps me grounded and efficient.

1 Core Stack

The foundation matters. My core setup focuses on performance, type safety, and simplicity tools that scale cleanly without a ton of extra config.

• Next.js –My go-to for full-stack projects. It’s fast, flexible, and production-ready, handling everything from server-side rendering to static exports without breaking a sweat. Perfect for building apps that scale smoothly.

• Drizzle ORM – A lightweight, SQL-friendly ORM that pairs beautifully with TypeScript. I really like how clean and transparent the migrations are no surprises, just simple and reliable database handling.

• PostgreSQL – Still my database of choice. It has proven time and again to be one of the most reliable and robust relational databases out there. The documentation is thorough and easy to follow, making it simple to troubleshoot or explore advanced features.

Together, this stack gives me speed, predictable performance, and clean type control across the entire app.

API Development & Testing

APIs are at the center of most projects, and testing them locally should be quick and reliable.

• Apidog – My go-to Postman alternative that brings everything into one clean workspace. It works seamlessly both online and offline, supports Postman and OpenAPI imports, and makes documenting and testing APIs feel effortless.

• Hoppscotch – Clean, minimal UI that makes testing endpoints quick and distraction-free. Great for when I just want to send a few requests without opening heavy tools.

• Thunder Client – Built right into VSCode, so I don’t need to switch windows. It’s fast, lightweight, and perfect for quick API testing without firing up Postman or opening another app. The interface is clean, it saves collections easily, and supports environment variables basically all the essentials for testing APIs during development. .

2 Documentation & Content

No codebase is truly “done” without proper documentation and this part of my stack keeps knowledge organized and easy to share.

• DeveloperHub.io – A powerful no-code documentation platform I’ve come to rely on. It makes it incredibly easy to create clean, structured, and visually appealing documentation sites for products and APIs. The interface is intuitive, collaboration is seamless, and publishing updates takes just a few clicks.

• Mintlify – Excellent for building developer-friendly in-app documentation experiences. It allows you to embed clear, context-aware docs directly within your product, helping users understand APIs or features without leaving the interface. The setup is smooth, the design clean, and it integrates well with existing developer workflows.

• Notion – My go-to workspace for quick notes, content planning, and seamless collaboration. It’s flexible enough to handle everything from brainstorming ideas to organizing full project roadmaps. The real-time collaboration makes it easy to stay aligned with teammates, while the clean interface keeps everything structured and distraction-free.

• Obsidian – For personal technical notes and long-term knowledge management. I like how it turns plain text Markdown files into a powerful, interconnected knowledge base. The graph view makes it easy to visualize relationships between ideas, and the flexibility of plugins lets me tailor it exactly to my workflow.

Combining DeveloperHub and DeepDocs has helped keep my public and private documentation completely aligned without much manual work.

3 AI & Developer Assistants

AI tools are now part of my daily workflow. Instead of replacing devs, they remove the boring parts so I can focus on the actual building.

• AI SDK 5 – Great for embedding AI workflows or logic directly into applications.

• Codex CLI – My favorite for local AI-powered coding. It edits files, runs tests, and even handles commits straight from the terminal.

• DeepDocs – A smart documentation automation tool that keeps everything perfectly in sync with the codebase. It automatically updates my READMEs, SDK guides, and tutorials whenever the code changes, ensuring documentation never goes stale. This saves time, reduces manual updates, and guarantees that developers always have accurate, up-to-date references.

• ChatGPT API – I use it for debugging ideas, refactoring, and occasionally generating helper functions.

The result? A cleaner workflow where I code more and maintain less.

4 Frontend & UI

Frontend work is where I care most about consistency everything has to look sharp and feel smooth.

• shadcn/ui – A solid balance between flexibility and pre-built design. It gives you the structure of a design system without feeling restrictive.

• Tailwind CSS – Fast, responsive, and still my favorite way to style anything. Once you internalize the classes, it’s hard to go back.

• Framer Motion – Subtle motion and transitions make a huge difference, especially for interactive pages.

• Lucide Icons – Clean, open-source, and easy to customize.

• Storybook – I use it to build and test components in isolation. It’s been a huge help when collaborating with others.

This combo lets me build fast, ship fast, and still maintain a consistent brand look across projects.

5 Auth & Payments

Auth and payments used to be the parts I dreaded setting up. These tools make them almost effortless.

• Better Auth – Handles modern auth like OAuth2 and Passkeys really well, and the developer experience is smooth.

• Clerk – A strong all-in-one for user sessions, management, and UI components.

• Polar – I’ve been testing this for managing open-source donations it’s lightweight and creator-friendly.

• Stripe – Still the industry standard for global payments, no need to explain why.

They’ve made integrating secure flows a “drop-in” step instead of a multi-day headache.

6 Infra & DevOps

For deployments, logs, and background jobs here’s what I rely on:

• Vercel – My go-to for deploying anything built on Next.js. The DX is unmatched.
• Redis – Reliable in-memory cache and message broker.
• Inngest – Handles background jobs, retries, and event-driven workflows like a charm.
• Resend – Clean, API-based email service.
• PostHog – Self-hostable analytics that help me track engagement without shipping data off to a dozen services.

This combination keeps infrastructure simple, automated, and scalable.

7 Tooling & Workflow

This is where everything ties together from version control to productivity and local utilities.

• Turborepo – Makes monorepo management effortless.
• pnpm – Fast, space-efficient package manager that’s replaced npm entirely in my setup.
• Zod – For runtime validation that stays aligned with TypeScript types.
• Ultracite – I use it for content processing and static site tasks.
• Cursor – My current favorite AI-powered IDE. It’s intuitive, fast, and context-aware in ways traditional editors aren’t.

These tools help me move faster and spend less time maintaining configs.

Final Thoughts

Stacks evolve that’s just part of being a developer. The goal isn’t to chase trends, but to build one that fits your flow. This combination gives me speed, control, and visibility from local code to production and documentation.

Whether you’re refining your workflow or starting from scratch, mix and match from these categories. A great stack isn’t about having everything it’s about having what works best together.