My preferred libraries, tools, and services for building software.

I'm a big believer in the right tool for the job. I'm also a big believer in not spending too much time thinking about the tools. It's not a comprehensive list, but this list should give you a good idea of what I'm comfortable with.

Infrastructure

  • Vercel when Possible

    I’ve been using Vercel since it was Zeit and it's second to none. I’ve never had a problem that wasn’t solved by adding a few environment variables. I’ve also never had to think about CI/CD, environment variables, or deployments. It just works.

  • AWS

    One of the most powerful tools in my toolbox. Also one of the most complicated. I’ve been using AWS for years and I still don’t know what half of the services do. But, does anyone really?

  • Railway

    I’ve been using Railway for a few months now and I’m really impressed. Prototyping and deploying a full-stack app is as simple as running a few commands. I’m excited to see where this goes.

Databases

  • PostgreSQL

    I’ve been using Postgres for years and it’s never let me down. It’s fast, it’s reliable, and it’s easy to use. I’ve never had a problem that wasn’t highly documented and easily solved.

  • MongoDB

    Mongo and NoSQL in general is a bit scary to me. I've used it for a few projects and it's been great, but I'm cautious about when I use it.

  • MySQL

    Just recently getting on this train. Mainly interested in what it can do to scale. What PlanetScale is doing with Vitess is really interesting. Unfortunately none of my personal projects are big enough to warrant it, but I'm excited to see where it goes.

Frontend

  • React 18 <3

    What can I say that hasn’t already been said? It's the standard as it should be. I'm all in on server components.

  • Tailwind

    I’ve been using Tailwind for a few years now and I’m still impressed. I love the utility-first approach and the configurability. I also love that it’s not opinionated. I can use it with any framework or library. It's not just CSS it's a whole design system.

  • React Query

    No library has changed the way I think about data fetching more than React Query. It’s so simple and yet so powerful. I love the dev tools and the team behind it is going to do great things.

  • Framer (Motion)

    I’ve used a lot of animation libraries and this is the only one that I've been able to create a design system with. It’s simple, it’s fast, and it’s highly configurable. I also love that it’s paired with Framer so I can prototype and build at the same time.

Backend

  • NodeJS

    They say "always bet on JavaScript." I'm not sure I agree with that, but I do love Node. I've never seen frontend engineers onboard onto a backend as fast as they do with Node. Whether it's Express, Fastify, or NextJS, I'm a big fan and I know them all.

  • Python

    I find the best data processing tools are written in Python. So, I've learned Python. I'm deeply experienced using Django with Celery for async tasks. It's what I build SupplyNow with. I often go for flask when I need something quick and simple.

  • Serverless

    All of my personal projects are serverless. I love the simplicity and the scalability. I pay as I go, and I don't have to worry about scaling. I've used AWS Lambda, Google Cloud Functions, and Vercel in production. I've also used SST for a project and had a great time.

Business Intelligence

  • Metabase

    I've just recently made the switch. This is where it's at. Open-source, easy to host, and easy to use. I've used Looker, Tableau, and PowerBI and I'm never going back. I'm a big fan of the SQL-first approach, setting up collections for consistent data, and the ability set up distribution lists for reports right in the UI.

  • Tableau

    I've used Tableau for a few projects and it's been great. I'm not a huge fan of the UI, but it's powerful, easy to use, and standard in many organizations.