Hey Reader,

It's May 2026. People keep asking what I'm actually using to ship apps right now.

Not what's trending on X.

Not what some sponsored influencer says.

What's in MY toolkit, every single day.

So here's the full stack. Steal it.

Cursor is the cleanest coder out there.

The v3 release is genuinely insane.

Best AI coding tool I've ever used. Best overall design and UX.

But my Cursor usage exceeds $2-3k/mo and it's not cheap.

In fact, the last 30 days were particularly heavy...

I use it primarily for Opus 4.7 (High/High-Thinking) which absolutely crushes in Cursor.

Disclaimer: Cursor, like others, provides me with tokens to test their software. But I also pay for Claude and Codex on top of that - yet I still end up using mostly Cursor. If you build something that makes money, this is the one.

Codex is my solid #2.

​Codex had a huge relaunch and it's back in my daily rotation.

The $200 Pro 20x plan is still the best deal in AI coding. Nothing close.

But the current 2x Limits will end by the end of this month (May 31st).

There's also a $100 Pro 5x plan which is also great value if you're on a lower budget.

And their computer use feature is NEXT LEVEL.

It's like watching someone else drive your laptop, except they actually know what they're doing.

Feels magical when you first use it, and it's super easy to use.

Web apps: Vercel + Convex.

Nothing changed here. Still the best combo on the planet.

​Vercel handles hosting, AI integration, analytics, all of it.

​Convex handles database, backend, automations.

This is the equivalent of buying a house that's already wired, plumbed, and furnished.

You just move in and start living.

Desktop apps: Swift.

While I use Tauri for OpenUsage, I have definitely fallen in love with Swift.

It's the language that Apple created to build for all Apple devices like iPhones, MacBooks, and even Vision Pro.

In the past month, I have built a cursor cost tracker as well as a video recording studio.

And I have done this knowing shit all about Swift, but it is really fun, really fast, and just incredible to see life in action.

Because you can literally just whip up an app that lives on your phone, skipping over the app store and all the pain that comes with it.

GitHub + code reviewers.

Listen carefully. Non-negotiable.

You MUST use GitHub. You MUST use code reviewers. No excuses.

I'm running Cursor's BugBot and Cubic for reviews. Paired with my /shepherd skill, this combo catches bugs before they ever hit production.

It's like having a second pair of eyes on every change. Except the eyes never get tired.

​YouTube videos on GitHub and GitHub code reviewers come this week and next.

Frameworks: don't overthink this.

​Next.js + Tailwind + Shadcn.

That's it. That's the whole list.

This stack hasn't changed much in a year.

Because it just works.

Don't get distracted by tinkerers on Twitter shilling the framework of the week.

Pick the boring stack. Focus your time on building the exciting product.

The biggest update.

Three things changed since my last stack post:

1. Finally unsubscribed from Claude Code (only have the team plan for business now).
2. Dropped all third-party tools for now (like Conductor, Superset, and similar).
3. Started testing AuthKit for auth instead of Clerk. Loving it so far.

That's the whole stack.

No secret tools. No 47 SaaS subscriptions.

No "you need to learn 12 new things" before you build.

Use these. Ship apps. That's it.

Now tell me, what are you building right now? Hit reply.

Talk next week,
Rob

P.S. There's something new cooking that my AI Architect members have been beta testing. Can't share much yet, but it changes how fast you go from idea to live app. Reply "SHIP" if you want early access when we open it up later this month.