StackAIProjectsAboutConsultancyBlogContactLet's talk
The stack

What Ibet on

// tools I trust enough to have opinions about

The stack I'll happily ship to production tomorrow morning. Everything on this page comes with an opinion — because the fastest way to slow a team down is to pick tools you can't defend.

~/austin/the-stack
// composer.json
"require": {
  "laravel/framework": "^11.0",
  "laravel/cashier": "^15.0",
  "openai-php/laravel": "^0.10",
  "probots-io/pinecone-php": "^0.4"
}
// package.json
"dependencies": {
  "next": "15.5",
  "vue": "^3.5",
  "typescript": "^5",
  "tailwindcss": "^4"
}
// production-tested
LIVE
6
core categories
30+
production tools
8+
years of picking well
0
bikeshedding
01 / The core

The tools in almost every project I ship.

laravel + postgres

The backend I don't have to argue about

Eloquent, Postgres, Redis, queues. Boring — deliberately. When the framework isn't the interesting thing, I can spend attention on the product. And I can hand this stack to any senior on the team without a two-week onboarding.

Laravel 12Postgres 16EloquentOctaneHorizonPest
interface.ts

Two front ends, one head

Vue 3 + Inertia when the API is Laravel. React + Next.js 15 when it's marketing or edge. Same taste, different tools — no religion, only fit.

Vue 3InertiaNext.js 15React 19TypeScript
typescript.ts

TypeScript

Strict mode, no `any` in production. The compiler catches half the bugs before the tests do.

strict modezod for edgesgenerated types
tailwind.css

Tailwind CSS

The design system I don't have to negotiate. Tokens in @theme, no inline hex outside true one-offs.

Tailwind v4@themecn() everywhere
redis.conf

Redis

The queue I trust with revenue. Also cache, session store, rate limiter, and pub/sub for Echo.

Horizon queuescache tagsEcho pub/sub
02 / The depth chart

Every tech, honestly weighted.

corestrongworking
A / 8 tools

Backend

Laravel 10–12
The framework I fight for.
TedBree · 100K+ users
PHP 8.x
Modern, typed, fast enough to embarrass Node.
Every backend since 2018
Octane + Horizon
The way Laravel gets serious about scale.
TedBree · 70% API latency cut
Pest + Larastan
Tests I actually enjoy writing.
Hub Platform · DDD case study
REST / GraphQL
Whichever your consumers deserve.
OurHaven Partner API
Sanctum + JWT
Auth that stays out of the way.
50K+ users at TedBree
Symfony 7
When the project already lives there.
Book Management API
RabbitMQ + Soketi
When the queue can't take down the socket, and the socket can't take down the queue.
Hub Platform
B / 8 tools

Frontend

Vue 3 + Inertia
Laravel's happiest UI story.
Mini Wallet · Ping CRM
React + Next.js 15
For anything App Router and RSC.
This portfolio
TypeScript (strict)
No `any` in production, ever.
Chipper · OpiaTranslate
Livewire + Alpine
When Blade users are already there.
TedBree · Edusi LMS
Vite + Workbox
Fast dev, offline-ready ship. The reason Payurus works on a Lagos train.
Payurus Digital Wallet PWA
Tailwind CSS 4
@theme + tokens or nothing.
Every UI since 2022
Framer Motion
Motion where it earns its bytes.
This portfolio
Pinia + Composition
State that reads like the components using it.
Chipper Social App
C / 9 tools

AI & Automation

Claude API
Reasoning I trust in production.
Enterprise assistants at GFG
OpenAI
Second-opinion model + Whisper + embeddings.
KeywordMetrics SEO Platform
Gemini + Gemini Nano
Cheap fast reasoning + on-device AI.
OpiaTranslate Chrome extension
Pinecone / pgvector
RAG that cites its source.
Enterprise RAG at GFG
n8n
Automation without inventing a framework.
Ops workflows · Edusi + GFG
Playwright / Patchright
Agents that actually click buttons.
Megaphone Swarm
Python + vLLM
Serving Qwen 2.5-7B on rented GPUs when the OpenAI bill would eat the margin.
Megaphone Swarm · self-hosted LLM
MCP
The protocol AI tooling needed all along.
Internal agents at GFG
Claude Code
Certified — the AI dev workflow I run.
Anthropic cert · Feb 2026
D / 6 tools

Data

PostgreSQL
Default. Row-level policies included.
Hub Platform · Mini Wallet
MySQL / MariaDB
Boring, indexed, well-understood. Twelve years of no surprises.
TedBree · Edusi · Mactay
Redis
The four-in-one I stop configuring. Queue at 100K jobs/day, cache with tags, session, pub/sub.
Every serious backend
MongoDB
When schemas genuinely can't settle.
Pre-launch prototypes
Elasticsearch
Search that scales past LIKE.
TedBree fuzzy search
Supabase
Postgres + Auth + Storage in one bet.
This portfolio
E / 8 tools

Infra & Delivery

Docker + Compose
Same box locally as in prod.
Hub Platform · every project since 2020
AWS (EC2/RDS/S3/Lambda)
Where I keep production honest.
Datazen Insight · Mactay
Laravel Forge
Deploy in a coffee break.
AIDEVELOPIA on Hetzner
GitHub Actions
The CI I stop worrying about.
Every repo I own
Hetzner
Bare metal that respects the wallet.
AIDEVELOPIA production
Vercel
For anything Next.js edge or ISR.
This portfolio · 2KStore
RunPod
GPU-hour compute for open-source LLMs. The counter-move to API-only vendors.
Megaphone Swarm
Pusher / Soketi
Real-time without inventing a broker.
Mini Wallet · Onboarding Portal
F / 5 tools

Payments & Web3

Stripe + Cashier
Subscriptions without reinventing billing.
KeywordMetrics · Edusi LMS
Paystack + webhooks
African rails for African revenue.
OurHaven Partner API
Web3.js / Ethers.js
Because the wallet is the login screen, and every button is a transaction that costs money.
Tezda · 1M+ tx/mo
Metamask flows
The onboarding step everyone underestimates.
Tezda ecommerce
Solidity
Smart contracts I can read + write.
Tezda NFT access logic
03 / What I'd pick for you

Every dev has a stack list.
Few have a decision doctrine.

Six scenarios I've actually shipped. Tell me what you're building — I'll tell you what I'd reach for and why.

A SaaS with billing
Laravel + Cashier + Vue/Inertia + Postgres
Cashier hides Stripe's edge cases. Inertia keeps the API and the UI in one repo.
An AI product with real users
Laravel + pgvector + Claude API + n8n
Vectors close to the data. Claude for the reasoning. n8n for the ops loops nobody wants to code.
A marketing site that has to rank
Next.js 15 (App Router) + MDX + Supabase
RSC gets SEO done. MDX lets me write like a human. Supabase for the parts that need a database.
Migrating off WordPress
Next.js + Payload CMS + Vercel
Kill the plugin graveyard. Give editors a UI they'll actually use. Deploy in minutes.
An ecommerce store you'll actually own
Laravel + Livewire + Cashier + Stripe
Full control over checkout, subscriptions, taxes. No monthly platform tax on your gross.
An internal tool the team lives in
Laravel + Nova + Livewire + Alpine
Nova gets you 80% of the CRUD for free. Livewire fills the rest without a build step.
04 / What I'm sharpening

Growth is boring if I'm not learning something publicly.

LEARNING

Bun

Node compat with a runtime that gets out of the way. Currently benchmarking against Node on our Next.js builds.

// picked up because Node cold-starts hurt DX
LEARNING

tRPC

Type-safe client/server without hand-writing endpoints. Watching whether it earns the maintenance vs a plain REST layer.

// picked up because DX matters at scale
LEARNING

Playwright Agents

Browser agents that survive real websites, driven by LLMs. Shipped Megaphone Swarm on this — expanding the pattern.

// picked up because it works
Building something? Let me tell you what I'd reach for.

Ok so — what are you building?

You saw the doctrine. Now flip it. Tell me the constraints — team size, timeline, budget, existing stack, ceiling on the bill. I'll show you the picks I'd make and why.

Start a stack chat →Grab my résumé
response < 24h·based in Lagos · remote·overlap UK / EU · US ETAvailable nowopiaaustin@gmail.com