The tools I run, and the ones I'd never recommend.
Honest reviews of the tools behind the AI systems I build and write about. Some have affiliate programs. Most don't. I'll always tell you which is which.
Claude
The frontier model that ships in production.
Open guide →Cursor
The AI editor for serious codebases.
Open guide →OpenAI
Still the API every other model gets measured against.
Open guide →Model Context Protocol
The standard plug between agents and the world.
Open guide →n8n
Self-hostable automation that scales past Zapier.
Open guide →Vercel
The deploy target for the modern web.
Open guide →Webflow
The visual builder that ships production-grade marketing sites.
Open guide →Framer
The fastest way to ship a flagship marketing site.
Open guide →Gemini
Google's frontier model, strong on long context and the Google stack.
Open guide →Grok
Real-time, X-aware answers from xAI.
Open guide →Perplexity
The answer engine that cites its sources.
Open guide →Claude Code
Agentic coding in the terminal that reads your whole repo.
Open guide →v0
Generate production React UI from a prompt.
Open guide →Windsurf
The agentic AI editor, Cursor's closest rival.
Open guide →Zapier
Connect apps without code, the automation default.
Open guide →Make
Visual automation with serious branching power.
Open guide →Cloudflare
Workers, R2, and the edge platform I deploy on.
Open guide →Supabase
Postgres, auth, and storage for AI apps.
Open guide →Figma
Where the design actually happens.
Open guide →Midjourney
The benchmark for AI image quality.
Open guide →ChatGPT
OpenAI's assistant, the one most people start with.
Open guide →Codex
OpenAI's agentic coding tool, terminal and cloud.
Open guide →Notion
Docs, wiki, and now agents in one workspace.
Open guide →Shopify
The commerce platform that ships stores fast.
Open guide →Lovable
Prompt-to-app, the fastest path to a working MVP.
Open guide →Canva
Design for everyone, now with a real AI studio.
Open guide →Runway
Generative video the pros actually ship with.
Open guide →Higgsfield
Cinematic AI video with real motion control.
Open guide →HubSpot
The CRM that grew into a full growth suite.
Open guide →Apollo
B2B contact data and outbound in one place.
Open guide →Smartlead
Cold email at scale with inbox rotation.
Open guide →Instantly
Cold outreach and deliverability for senders.
Open guide →Manychat
Chat automation for Instagram, WhatsApp, and Messenger.
Open guide →Intercom
Customer service with Fin, its AI support agent.
Open guide →Ahrefs
The backlink and SEO toolset, now AI-aware.
Open guide →Semrush
The all-in-one SEO and visibility platform.
Open guide →Klaviyo
Email and SMS built for ecommerce revenue.
Open guide →One letter, every Sunday. Working systems, not hot takes.
Build logs, working systems, and field notes from running a portfolio of AI ventures. Sent weekly, never more.