AI Essentials #1 - Building a tech stack
"Technology does not make us smarter. People do not make technology smart. It is the combination of the two, the person plus the artifact, that is smart. Together, with our tools, we are a powerful combination"
— Don Norman, The Design of Everyday Things
For as empowering as Claude has been for me, Claude alone doesn't bring my products to life. I realized early on that I needed a range of tools, each with a different role.
Claude directed me towards most of these products and so far that advice has worked out well. This tech stack will help you get past the cold start problem I write about in Learning with AI (Part 0).
| Product | Category | What I use it for |
|---|---|---|
| Speed and security | Sitting between users and the website, making it load faster and blocking attacks. | |
| Hosting | Connecting to GitHub, so every time I change the code, the live website updates on its own. | |
| Database | Storing every user account, session, and piece of content, then serving it back to users. | |
| Authentication | Letting people create accounts and sign in. | |
| Sending emails, like the welcome email when someone signs up for one of my products. | ||
| AI (thinking and coding) | Writing the code that brings my products to life, and pressure-testing the thinking and process behind it. | |
| AI (ideation and review) | ChatGPT for brainstorming, copywriting, and pressure-testing ideas before building; Codex as a second opinion on complex, process-heavy builds. |
Coming back to Don Norman's point from the top, it's you plus the tools that make things, not either alone. This set is a strong place to start, and you take it from there.