My 2026 Stack

I like stacks that stay out of the way. Fast tools, few abstractions and enough flexibility to scale.

This is what I’ll use for most projects in 2026.

1. Frontend (Vite + React)

Vite is still the best frontend tooling experience. It’s fast, simple and doesn’t fight you.

For routing, I use TanStack Router. File-based routing, code splitting, great typesafety. The API is clean and the context system is excellent.

If I need SSR, I’ll likely use TanStack Start.

2. Backend (Hono.js)

I don’t love fullstack frameworks. They tend to reduce control and become hard to scale.

Hono is the opposite: small, fast, runtime-agnostic and well designed. The first-party plugins are great and built-in Zod validation is a big win.

3. Database (PostgreSQL + Drizzle)

I default to relational databases. Postgres is always a safe choice and extensions like pgvector or PostGIS make it hard to beat.

Drizzle feels like SQL with great TypeScript support. Simple and predictable.

4. Libraries I keep using

• oxlint / oxfmt: insanely fast, love what the team at VoidZero is building.
• TailwindCSS: no class naming, no CSS architecture, just shipping UI.
• TanStack Query + TanStack DB: best way I know to build smooth data-driven apps.
• Zod: I always end up needing to validate something, so I just define everything with Zod from the start.