My personal AI-powered solo dev stack — tools, skills, and workflows I actually use daily.
Built around Claude Code. Organized by category. Each entry includes what it does, why it's in my stack, and how to set it up.
| Category | What's in it |
|---|---|
| Token Saving | Keep costs low without losing capability |
| Frontend Design | Ship high-quality UI fast |
| Console | Terminal productivity |
| Coding Behavior | Correct LLM coding failure modes |
| Planning | Idea → validated spec → executable plan |
| Code Review | Structural audit before merge |
| Workflows | How I combine tools end-to-end |
Goal: cut token usage 60–90% on dev operations without sacrificing output quality.
| Tool / Skill | Role |
|---|---|
| ponytail | YAGNI ladder before every code write — cuts LOC/cost/time |
| rtk | CLI proxy that filters verbose command output |
Goal: produce intentional, non-template-looking UI with speed.
| Tool / Skill | Role |
|---|---|
| taste skill | Design direction + quality bar enforcement |
| emil | Senior design engineer persona for UI implementation |
→ Full frontend-design category
Goal: fast, organized terminal workflow.
| Tool / Skill | Role |
|---|---|
| cmux | Multi-pane terminal workspace manager |
Goal: correct default LLM failure modes before they become bugs or bloat.
| Tool / Skill | Role |
|---|---|
| karpathy-guidelines | Think before coding, simplicity, surgical changes, goal-driven execution |
→ Full coding-behavior category
Goal: turn an idea into a validated spec and machine-executable plan before writing code.
| Skill | Role |
|---|---|
| brainstorming | Explore intent + design; hard gate before implementation |
| grilling | Stress-test a plan with relentless one-at-a-time questions |
| grill-with-docs | Grilling + ADR + glossary generation |
| writing-plans | Write bite-sized TDD-driven implementation plans |
| executing-plans | Execute plan task-by-task with checkpoints |
Pipeline: brainstorming → [grilling] → writing-plans → executing-plans
Goal: catch structural regressions, missed simplifications, and complexity that should have been deleted.
| Skill | Role |
|---|---|
| thermo-nuclear-review | Extreme structural audit — code judo, 1k-line limit, spaghetti detection |
How I combine tools together for specific tasks.
| Workflow | Description |
|---|---|
| Solo feature loop | Plan → TDD → ship a feature end-to-end |
Token layer: ponytail + rtk → write less code, filter CLI noise
Design layer: taste + emil → quality UI without templates
Console layer: cmux → organized terminal
Behavior layer: karpathy-guidelines → think first, stay surgical
Planning layer: brainstorm → grill → plan → execute → idea to code without drift
Review layer: thermo-nuclear-review → structural audit, delete complexity
Workflow: plan → tdd → review → ship
This is a living doc. I add tools as I adopt them.