Deep dives
Not every tool needs a full write-up. These do. Each deep dive has a longer take aimed at people building with AI, a starter snippet, a clear when-to-use, and the alternatives worth knowing.
13 deep dives
A lightweight JavaScript animation engine for CSS, SVG, the DOM and JS objects.
The sweet spot between hand-rolled CSS and a heavy motion framework — tiny, framework-agnostic and a joy for staggered, timeline-based motion. If you are not on React, this is my first reach.
Deep dive →A content-first web framework that ships zero JavaScript by default and supports any UI framework.
The best choice for content sites, blogs and marketing pages — fast by default, and its content collections are a joy for data-driven sites (this library runs on them). Bring React only where you actually need it.
Deep dive →Anthropic's terminal-native coding agent that reads your repo, edits files, runs commands and ships changes.
The most capable agent for real, multi-file work right now — it reasons about your whole repo instead of autocompleting the current line. Needs a paid Claude plan, but it earns it.
Deep dive →A lightweight TypeScript ORM with SQL-like and relational query APIs across major SQL databases.
A thin, SQL-close TypeScript ORM with great types and a tiny runtime. My pick when I want to stay near SQL and have agents generate correct queries.
Deep dive →The industry-standard JavaScript animation platform, including ScrollTrigger and all plugins.
The heavyweight for production motion and scroll-driven storytelling — and as of 2024 every plugin is free thanks to Webflow. If you have seen an award-winning site animate, it was probably this.
Deep dive →A React renderer for three.js that lets you build 3D scenes declaratively with reusable components.
Three.js as declarative React components — reactive, composable, the way to do 3D in a React app. If you know React, this is how 3D finally clicks.
Deep dive →A developer-focused email API with a React-based email-templating workflow (React Email).
A developer-first email API from the React Email team, with a lovely DX. The default transactional email for indie and AI-built apps; React Email makes templates painless.
Deep dive →Copy-paste React components built on Radix and Tailwind that you own and customise.
The default answer for good-looking React UI right now. You copy the code into your repo instead of installing a black box — which is exactly the model AI tools work best with.
Deep dive →A developer-first payments platform for one-off charges, subscriptions and marketplaces.
The gold standard for taking payments in code — superb docs, APIs and dashboard. Free to integrate; they take a cut per transaction. If you're charging money, you'll probably start here.
Deep dive →An open-source Firebase alternative: hosted Postgres with auth, storage and instant APIs.
The fastest way to get a real database, auth and APIs without running a backend — and it is just Postgres underneath, so you are not locked into something proprietary. My default backend for AI-built apps.
Deep dive →A frontend cloud for deploying static sites and serverless functions straight from Git.
The smoothest path from git push to a live URL, with a preview on every PR. The free Hobby tier is generous for personal projects — just watch the bandwidth and usage limits as you grow.
Deep dive →An open-source TypeScript toolkit for building AI apps with streaming and a unified model API.
Makes streaming, tool calls and swapping models a one-liner. If you're building AI features in React or Next, this is the layer to start from — free and open source.
Deep dive →A TypeScript-first schema validation library that infers static types from schemas.
Define a schema once, get runtime validation and a TypeScript type for free. It's everywhere for a reason — forms, API inputs, env vars. The content schema in this very site is Zod.
Deep dive →Keep exploring
Every tool, with an honest take on each.
Tool combinations that work together.
Honest head-to-heads with a verdict.
How to build the thing you keep needing.
The craft of building with AI.
An ordered route through the library.
Reusable prompts worth stealing.
Project blueprints with a stack to match.
Plain-language words for what AI writes.
The shifts worth knowing about.