tools in active use. updated as the stack evolves. model deep dives in the wiki.

IDE / Editor4
Claude Code

Primary agent. Infrastructure, web design, front-end, back-end, TypeScript. Where most of the actual building happens.

Amp Code

Sourcegraph's agent. Used for think-out-loud mode — interview the other agents' work, edit, piece it all together.

Codex CLI

OpenAI's terminal agent. Sys admin level tasks, scripts, operational work. Lighter footprint than Claude Code.

Cursor

AI-native editor. Best for large codebase navigation and multi-file edits.

Terminal / Multiplexing5
tmux

Session persistence, window splits, detach/attach. Still the baseline.

dmux

Dev agent multiplexer for git worktrees. Route multiple Claude Code instances across isolated branches.

Zellij

Modern terminal workspace. Layouts as YAML, plugin system, batteries included.

cmux

Native macOS terminal built for agentic multitasking. Vertical tabs, notification rings when an agent needs attention, in-app browser. Built on libghostty. Free and open source.

Warp

AI terminal. Block-based output, command search, team sharing.

Remote / Workflow Infrastructure4
exe.dev

Remote VM instances for long-running Claude Code sessions. Overnight tasks with permissionless execution, committed back to repo.

Termius

SSH client. Remote into exe.dev instances, set tasks running, pull results back to local when done.

Obsidian

Vault synced across all devices. Agents write project MDs, specs, captain's logs of sessions. Nothing lost to power outages or session compaction.

Tailscale

Mesh networking across devices and VMs. The plumbing that makes the remote setup feel local.

Developer Tooling6
AgentDeck

Stream Deck+ controller for Claude Code. Hardware-to-CLI bridge for agentic workflows.

pi-autoresearch

Autonomous experiment loop on Raspberry Pi. Set a question, walk away.

conductor.build

IDE with browser, multi-agent, PR submission/review/merge all in one place.

Whisperflow

Voice-to-agent input on macOS. Talk to your agent instead of typing.

Cline

Autonomous coding agent in VS Code. Full file and command access.

Symphony

OpenAI's long-running agent service. Linear → isolated workspace → Codex per issue.

Web / Design / UI5
Lovable

AI-to-production UI. Prompt → deployed React app. Formerly GPT Engineer.

v0

Vercel's AI component generator. shadcn-native output, direct to codebase.

Figma

Design, prototype, and dev handoff. Still the standard for collaborative UI work.

Excalidraw

Hand-drawn whiteboard diagrams. The system design tool.

tldraw

Collaborative infinite canvas. SDK available for embedding.

Hosting / Managed4
Vercel

Frontend + serverless. Auto-deploy from git. This site.

GitHub Pages

Zero-config static hosting from any repo. Push to main, it's live. Free for public repos.

Replit

Code + deploy in browser. Fast for prototypes and sharing live demos.

Hosting / Instant3
Vercel CLI

Deploy any directory in seconds. `vercel --prod` from any project root.

Here.now

Instant terminal deployments. Minimal config, immediate URL.

Surge

`surge` CLI. Static sites live in under 10 seconds. No config.

Screen / Demo / Record3
macOS Screen Recording

Built-in and free. Shift+Cmd+5 opens the recording panel — pick screen or window, set mic, trim on save. Shift+Cmd+3 full screenshot, Shift+Cmd+4 region, Shift+Cmd+6 Touch Bar.

openscreen

Free, open-source screen recording for demos. No watermarks. Alternative to Screen Studio.

CleanShot X

Best capture tool on macOS. Screenshot, record, annotate, share.

LLM APIs / Free Tier5
Groq

Fastest inference available. LPU hardware, near-instant responses. Free tier with rate limits.

OpenRouter

Unified API across every major model. One key, any model. Many models available free with rate limits.

Google Gemini

Gemini 2.5 Pro has the best long-context reasoning available. Generous free tier via AI Studio.

Qwen

Alibaba's open model family. Strong at code and multilingual tasks. Run locally for free via Ollama or LM Studio.

Brave Search API

Real-time web search grounding without Google dependency. 2,000 free queries/month.

Local / Offline Inference3
LM Studio

Desktop app for running local models. Best UX for trying models offline. Good model browser.

Ollama

CLI-first local model runner. `ollama run llama3`. Best for scripting and agent pipelines.

Jan

Open-source desktop alternative to LM Studio. Fully offline, privacy-first.