The AI Tools I'm Using to Build Faster

Every week someone asks what AI tools I use. Here's the real answer — not a list of affiliate links, but the stack that ships the projects you see on this site.

Coding agents do the heavy lifting. I use terminal-based AI agents to scaffold apps, write components, and debug builds. The skill isn't prompting — it's knowing enough about the system to catch the agent when it's confidently wrong. That happens more than anyone admits, and I've learned to verify every 'done' claim against what's actually on disk.

Local models handle the private stuff. Client data, lead information, and anything sensitive runs through models on my own hardware. It's slower than the cloud, but nobody else sees the data, and the marginal cost is zero. For a cost-conscious builder, free-and-local wins more often than you'd think.

Automation glue ties it together. Webhooks, cron jobs, and small scripts move data between forms, databases, and notifications. None of it is glamorous. All of it compounds. The lesson from the trades applies here too: the boring, well-installed system outlasts the flashy one every time.