❦ STACK GUIDE · No. 007 · By founder stage
Vibe coder
Shipping with AI as your co-pilot. Not classically trained. Faster than the engineer you didn't hire.
You ship without a CS degree. Your editor is Cursor, your hosting is one Vercel push, your database is whatever Supabase gives you. The AI does the work that used to need a teammate, and you're surprised at how much you can build in a weekend. The stack is small because every tool earns its place.
❦ The stack, at a glance
$60–200
7
13
$60–200/mo
Who this is for
- ●Builder who codes with AI as a primary collaborator
- ●Ships more than they read
- ●Comfortable being responsible for the bugs the AI introduces
Who it isn't for
- ●Anyone who can't or won't code — see Non-tech founder
- ●Senior engineers who don't trust AI output yet — your stack is the same minus Cursor
❦ AI code editor
The single highest-leverage tool in this stack. Where the actual building happens.
❦ Hosting & deployment
Push to main, live in 90 seconds. Vibe coding pace requires deploy pace.
❦ Database & backend
Skip the auth-and-storage setup. Use a backend-as-a-service.
❦ Payments
❦ Project management
Even solo, having tickets keeps the AI on rails.
❦ Customer support
❦ Banking & incorporation
❦ A note from the editors
Budget target: $60–200/mo. Cursor + Vercel Pro + Supabase Pro is the core trio (~$65/mo). Everything else scales as you start charging customers. This stack assumes ChatGPT Plus / Claude Pro ($20/mo each) as your daily foundation — not in directory.
❦ Your stage
See another stage.
The Founder's Stack
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