The Stack I'd Use for Every New Project in 2026

I'm tired of "it depends"#

Every time someone asks "what stack should I use?" the answer is always "it depends." And while that's technically true, it's also useless.

So here's my actual stack. The one I use for every new project. No hedging.

The stack#

Why this specific stack#

Next.js over everything#

I've used Remix, SvelteKit, Nuxt, plain React SPAs. They're all fine. But Next.js has the biggest ecosystem, the best deployment story (Vercel), and the most battle-tested patterns.

The app router took a while to get right, but in 2026 it's solid. Server components actually make sense now.

It's always Postgres#

MongoDB had its moment. But for 95% of apps, you want relational data with proper constraints and transactions. Postgres handles JSON too, so you get the flexibility of NoSQL when you need it.

Supabase gives you a managed Postgres with a great dashboard, real-time subscriptions, and auth built in. It's the fastest way from zero to production database.

Tailwind is not ugly#

"But it makes your HTML ugly!" Yeah, and CSS-in-JS makes your JavaScript ugly. At least with Tailwind I can look at a component and immediately know what it looks like without jumping to a separate file.

After v4, there's no real argument against it. The DX is just better.

What I don't use#

• Kubernetes — I'm not managing clusters. Vercel/Railway/Fly.io handle this.
• GraphQL — REST with good TypeScript types gets you 90% of the benefit with 10% of the complexity.
• Redux/Zustand for everything — Server components + React Query eliminated most client-side state management needs.
• Docker in development — I just... run things locally. It's fine.

See the architecture#

Here's what a typical project looks like with this stack: