Theo's Blog

Tech I'm Shipping In 2023

The quality of the tools you work with is important. I spend…too much time thinking about this.

I’m really proud of the set of tools I’ve settled on using every day. I just finished a set of videos about this tech (that may have sent you here!), but I wanted to have a better reference point with everything listed.

Quick bias check. I optimize my tech decisions for:

  • Speed of delivery
  • Speed of iteration
  • Quality of experience for developers
  • Maintainability over time

After decades of shipping software at every scale from side project to Amazon, I’ve settled on tech that sets devs up for success and reduces the dimensionality of the problem spaces they work in. I firmly believe all of the tech here can work “at any scale”, although scale is not the focus of the tech - delivery is.

Create T3 App

Almost every project I start uses Create T3 App. Run npx create-t3-app, hit some checkboxes for what tools you do (and don’t) want, and you’re ready to go with the best possible starting point. So proud of what this community built. Check it out if you haven’t!!!

React

Still the best balance of DX, performance, and community support. You’ll never get fired for picking React, but you might get fired for writing bad React code. If new, start with the beta docs

Next.js

Frameworks are getting exciting again. Next.js started the new era, and has maintained a lead as both the most stable and most adopted option. The power of having a full backend in your “frontend app” is magical. For dynamic web applications, you’ll struggle to beat Next.

tRPC

Probably my favorite library. Entirely changed how I do development. Check it out if you haven’t. Seriously.

Tailwind

Tailwind made me love styling again. I’ve tried every style solution out there, and Tailwind is the first one to consistently spark joy. When I first saw it, I was terrified, but I’m so happy I made the move. Check out my video on css frameworks for more

TurboRepo

TurboRepo has made it significantly easier to manage my giant TypeScript projects. Check out create-t3-turbo for a great starting point!

Astro

Where Next doesn’t make sense, Astro often does. Including the site you’re reading this on right now! Astro is the static “content” site king, and it’s quickly becoming the best way to “build your own framework” too.

Everything else

Articles about the Infra and the Software coming soon!