Here are some of my recommendations for the best tech stack to build a project with. While the best tech stack is the one you know best, this should be a good list of technologies to consider.

§ Guiding Principles

Isomorphic Typescript

• Encourages code re-use
• Developers can move between FE and BE easily
• Easy to hire React devs or to get someone up to speed
• Large amount of high quality libraries, code samples, online resources
• LLMs perform well writing Typescript

Optimize for launching quickly by writing less code

• Buy instead of build for things outside of core product
• Use popular libraries with large communities in order to leverage LLMs being able to write code for you

Prefer code over config

• Use auto-scaling serverless infrastructure wherever possible
• Infrastructure as code (IaC) with Alchemy

§ What I no longer recommend

• Retool, it's easier to vibe code apps especially if you are supported by typed backend APIs and a comprehensive design system

§ Tech Stack

Language
Typescript: Type safety end-to-end, huge ecosystem, and LLMs write it well

Runtime
Bun: Faster replacement for Node

Build Tool / Monorepo
Turborepo

Code Quality
oxlint + oxfmt

Infra
Cloudflare: Generous free tier and wide range of infra

§ Frontend

Framework
Next.js: Extremely fast to build an MVP and great DX

Design System
shadcn/ui for Tailwind using CVA

Forms
TanStack Form

Data Fetching
TanStack Query

Validation
Zod: Ergonomic API and large ecosystem of integrations

§ Backend

DB
PlanetScale Postgres

ORM
Drizzle: Schema built in Typescript with Zod integration and SQL-like query builder

Workflow
Cloudflare Workflows

Vector DB
Turbopuffer

§ Services

LLM
OpenAI: Frontier models with strong tool use and structured output

Payments
Lemon Squeezy: Merchant of record so they handle tax and compliance

Messaging
Twilio: SMS and voice

Email
Resend: Clean API and good deliverability

Auth
Better Auth: A comprehensive and configurable auth lib

Feature Flags
StatSig: Flags, experimentation, and analytics with a generous free tier

Logging
Middleware