This is the working list, not an aspiration list. Each entry links to a page that says what we actually do with the tool, where it fits, and when we talk a client out of it. The rule behind every choice is on our stack and channels page: can we hire for it, will it still be maintained in five years, and does it fit the problem rather than the fashion.
Frontend
React for application UI, Next.js when a product needs server rendering, Astro when a site is mostly content, TypeScript across all of it, and Tailwind CSS as the token layer so a design system survives more than one redesign.
Backend
Node.js and Python carry most of the work. Go shows up where throughput matters. GraphQL when several clients need different shapes of the same data — and a plain REST endpoint when they do not.
Mobile
Native with Swift and Kotlin when the app leans on the device. React Native or Flutter when the screens are mostly forms, lists and sync. The trade-off is argued per project on mobile development.
Cloud and delivery
AWS and Google Cloud, containers orchestrated with Kubernetes, and environments described in code with Terraform so staging is a copy of production rather than a rumour about it.
AI
LLM development for language features, agentic AI when the system has to act, chatbots and assistants for support and sales surfaces, and machine learning when a rule genuinely cannot do the job. The full picture sits on AI development.
Data and databases
PostgreSQL by default, MongoDB where documents beat rows, Redis for queues and cache, and BigQuery once reporting outgrows the app database.
Commerce
Shopify for speed to market, WooCommerce when the catalogue lives beside the content, and headless commerce when the storefront has to be its own product.
Content platforms
WordPress where an editorial team already lives, a headless CMS when one content set feeds several front ends, and Webflow for marketing sites a marketing team should own without us.
Quality and automation
Playwright and Cypress for the journeys that must never break, run by CI/CD pipelines on every merge. What that covers is set out in QA and testing.
Marketing technology
GA4 configured against real questions, Google Tag Manager kept small on purpose, server-side tracking where browsers have stopped cooperating, and HubSpot closing the loop from form to revenue. That measurement work is the spine of analytics and CRO.
Choosing between them
Most of these tools can build most of these products. The interesting decision is rarely the language — it is who maintains this in two years, what the reporting has to answer, and how quickly a change can reach production. We put those questions first and let the shortlist fall out of the answers. If you want that argued against your own project, tell us what you are building.