The Stack
Everything I use to build
The actual hardware and tools behind a new business every week. Honest picks — some links are affiliate links (marked below), and I only list things I genuinely use. The one builder I don't use day to day I left off; it's covered in the app-builders breakdown instead.
Hardware
MacBook Pro Machine
The machine everything here gets built and shipped on. On Amazon.
Keyboard Desk
What I type every build and every post on. On Amazon.
Magic Mouse Desk
Wireless, simple, gets out of the way. On Amazon.
External display Desk
Room for the code on one side and the live site on the other. On Amazon.
Build & ship
Namecheap Domains
Every build starts with a domain here — cheap, and no upsell circus at checkout. Namecheap.
Netlify Hosting
Static hosting, instant deploys, free SSL. SideRoad and every build run on it. Free to start.
Hand-code + AI The build
Most of SideRoad is hand-built HTML, CSS, and JS with AI help. For throwaway tests I’ll let an agent like Emergent drive instead.
Stripe Payments
For the builds that actually charge money. Nothing to set up until there’s a dollar to collect.
Grow & research
SEMrush SEO research
Keyword research, difficulty scoring, and competitor digging in one place — the paid tool I’d point you to once you’ve outgrown the free methods. SEMrush.
Search Console Search data
Free, and the first place real search numbers show up for a new site. I check it before anything else.
Google Analytics 4 Analytics
Free. Traffic, sources, and the events that tell me whether people actually subscribe and click.