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-# tools & stack for young builders
+# tools & stack
-practical tools recommendations for building as a teen on a budget. the good news: almost everything you need is free or has a free tier that's more than enough for early projects.
-
-## hosting & deployment
-
-### Vercel
-- **what:** deploys frontend apps (React, Next.js, etc.) from a git push. generous free tier.
-- **why it's good:** zero-config deployment. push to github, it deploys. custom domains included. the dx is unmatched.
-- **free tier:** unlimited projects, 100GB bandwidth/month, serverless functions included. this is enough for any project that isn't viral.
-
-### Cloudflare
-- **what:** CDN, DNS, DDoS protection, Workers (serverless), Pages (static hosting), R2 (storage).
-- **why it's good:** Cloudflare's free tier is absurdly generous. Pages has unlimited bandwidth. Workers gives you 100k requests/day free. R2 gives you 10GB storage with no egress fees.
-- **when to use:** for static sites, for DNS (always use Cloudflare DNS), for putting a CDN in front of anything.
-
-### Railway
-- **what:** deploys backend services, databases, cron jobs. "heroku but modern."
-- **free tier:** $5/month of usage free. enough for a small backend + database.
-- **why it's good:** the simplest way to deploy a backend. connect your repo, it figures out the rest. supports basically every language/framework.
-
-### Fly.io
-- **what:** deploys containers globally. good for APIs and backends that need to be fast everywhere.
-- **free tier:** 3 shared VMs, 160GB outbound transfer.
-- **when to use:** when you need more control than Railway or need global deployment.
-
-### alternatives
-- **Render:** similar to Railway. good free tier for web services.
-- **Supabase:** free Postgres database + auth + storage + realtime. the "Firebase but open source" play. great for MVPs.
-- **PlanetScale:** serverless MySQL. generous free tier. good if you prefer MySQL.
-- **Neon:** serverless Postgres. similar to Supabase's database but standalone.
-
-## domains & email
-
-### domains
-- **Cloudflare Registrar:** domains at cost (no markup). the cheapest registrar.
-- **Namecheap:** good alternative with student pricing. .me domains free with GitHub Education.
-- **tip:** a .com is still king for credibility. grab yourname.com if you can. otherwise .dev, .io, or .co work fine.
-
-### email
-- **Google Workspace:** $6/month per user for custom domain email. worth it.
-- **Cloudflare Email Routing:** free email forwarding for custom domains. [email protected] → your gmail. free but send-only requires some setup.
-- **Zoho Mail:** free plan for up to 5 users on a custom domain. the free alternative to Google Workspace.
-
-## GitHub Student Developer Pack
-
-if you're a student, get this immediately. it's free and includes:
-- free .me domain from Namecheap
-- GitHub Pro (unlimited private repos, actions minutes, etc.)
-- JetBrains IDEs (IntelliJ, PyCharm, WebStorm, etc.) free for a year
-- DigitalOcean $200 credit
-- Azure $100 credit
-- various other tools and services
-
-apply at education.github.com with your school email or student ID.
+these are the tools I actually use. not aspirational, not "I tried this once" — these are in my daily or weekly workflow.
## AI coding tools
-this is the most important section. AI tools are the biggest force multiplier available to solo builders right now.
+this is the most important section. AI tools are the biggest force multiplier for solo builders right now.
### Claude Code
- **what:** Anthropic's CLI-based AI coding agent. runs in your terminal. reads your codebase, writes code, runs commands.
-- **why it's good:** best-in-class for complex multi-file changes, refactoring, and building features across a codebase. it understands context deeply.
+- **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.
-- **my take:** this is my primary coding tool. 500+ sessions. it's the closest thing to having a senior engineer pair-programming with you 24/7. for solo builders, this is game-changing.
+
+### 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, and codebase-aware editing.
-- **why it's good:** the inline editing (cmd+K) is incredibly fast for small changes. autocomplete is eerily good. good for iterating on existing code.
-- **cost:** free tier available, Pro is $20/month.
+- **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 VS Code/JetBrains/etc.
-- **why it's good:** the tab-complete is seamless. less powerful than Claude Code or Cursor for complex tasks, but the speed of autocomplete is hard to beat.
-- **cost:** free for students with GitHub Education.
+- **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.
-### how to use them well
-- use Claude Code / Cursor for building new features and complex changes
-- use Copilot for fast inline autocomplete
-- don't let AI write code you don't understand — review everything
-- the best prompt is showing the AI your existing code and describing what you want in plain english
+## hosting & deployment
-## design
+### 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.
-### Figma
-- **what:** collaborative design tool. the industry standard.
-- **free tier:** unlimited files in drafts. 3 team projects. enough for any personal project.
-- **why bother:** even if you're "just a developer," learning basic Figma is high-leverage. wire-framing your UI before coding saves time and produces better results.
+### 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.
-### other design resources
-- **Tailwind CSS:** utility-first CSS framework. makes decent-looking UIs without needing to be a designer. just use their component examples.
-- **shadcn/ui:** component library for React/Next.js built on Tailwind. copy-paste beautiful components.
-- **Heroicons / Lucide:** free icon libraries that look professional.
-- **Unsplash:** free high-quality stock photos.
+### Railway
+- deploys backend services and databases. "heroku but modern." $5/month free usage. the simplest way to deploy a backend.
-## project management as a solo builder
+## design
-you don't need Jira. you don't need Notion. you don't need a complicated system.
+### 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.
-### what actually works
-- **a single markdown file.** `TODO.md` in your repo. list what needs to be done. check things off.
-- **GitHub Issues.** if you want something slightly more structured. label things as `bug`, `feature`, `idea`.
-- **Linear.** if you want a real project management tool. beautiful, fast, free for solo users. but honestly overkill for most teen projects.
+## hardware tools
-### the real bottleneck
-project management for solo builders isn't about tools — it's about discipline. the hard part is:
-1. shipping the boring parts (auth, error handling, edge cases)
-2. not starting a new project every week
-3. finishing things
+### KiCad
+- PCB design. open source. for when software isn't enough and you need to make physical things.
-no tool fixes these. only discipline does.
+## development environment
-## infrastructure basics
+### iTerm2 + tmux
+- iTerm2 as my terminal emulator. tmux for persistent sessions. every long-running process goes in tmux.
-### git
-- learn git properly. not just `add`, `commit`, `push`. learn branching, merging, rebasing, stashing. you'll use git every day for your entire career.
-- GitHub for public repos and collaboration. GitLab if you prefer it. doesn't matter much.
+### Git / GitHub
+- git for version control (obviously). GitHub for repos, CI/CD with Actions, and the Student Developer Pack.
-### terminal
-- get comfortable in the terminal. `tmux` for persistent sessions. `zsh` with a good config. learn basic bash scripting.
-- on mac: Homebrew for package management. iTerm2 or the built-in Terminal.
+### Obsidian
+- my note-taking tool. local-first, markdown-based. I keep everything here.
-### local development
-- Docker for consistent environments. especially useful if your project has dependencies (databases, redis, etc.).
-- VS Code is the default editor. Cursor if you want AI built in. Vim/Neovim if you're into that.
+### 1Password
+- password manager and secrets management. the CLI (`op`) is useful for injecting secrets into development environments.
## the free stack
-here's a complete stack for building and launching a product as a teen for $0:
+here's the complete stack I use for launching projects at $0:
| layer | tool | cost |
|-------|------|------|
@@ -141,11 +78,10 @@ here's a complete stack for building and launching a product as a teen for $0:
| storage | Supabase Storage or Cloudflare R2 | free |
| DNS/CDN | Cloudflare | free |
| domain | .me via GitHub Education | free |
-| email | Cloudflare Email Routing | free |
| design | Figma | free |
| IDE | VS Code + GitHub Copilot (student) | free |
+| AI coding | Claude Code | paid (worth it) |
| CI/CD | GitHub Actions | free |
-| monitoring | Vercel Analytics | free |
-| payments | Stripe (2.9% + $0.30 per transaction) | pay per use |
+| payments | Stripe (2.9% + $0.30 per txn) | pay per use |
-total monthly cost: $0 until you have paying users. then Stripe takes a cut of revenue. this is the dream — zero upfront cost, you only pay when you're making money.
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+total monthly cost: $0 until you have paying users. then Stripe takes a cut of revenue. zero upfront cost — you only pay when you're making money.
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