An opinionated, working list of the platforms, libraries, and services we reach for on every engagement. Picked because they ship, not because they're new.
The frameworks we use to ship a marketing site, an app, or both — chosen for ergonomics, edge-rendering support, and how cleanly they hand back control when you need it.
Our default for content-heavy and hybrid sites. Islands architecture means no JS by default, React only where it earns its weight.
The build tool under the hood — HMR fast enough to feel like live editing, ESM-native, and the de facto standard for Vue and modern React tooling.
For teams already invested in Vue. SFC ergonomics, reactivity primitives that scale, and a healthy ecosystem of high-quality libraries.
For app surfaces inside our Astro sites — interactive flows, dashboards, anything stateful. React 19 with Server Components where the runtime allows.
When we need React Server Components and the full app-router surface — usually for product apps with heavy server-side data fetching.
Utility-first CSS with a design-system layer. Constraints baked in via the config, no global stylesheet drift, dark mode for free.
The platforms we use when a marketing team — not an engineer — owns the day-to-day content. Picked for editor experience and developer hand-off quality.
Our core platform. Designer-grade control, custom-code embeds, and a CMS your client can actually run. Plus Webflow Cloud for app deployment.
For DTC and ecommerce work where Webflow's commerce limits start to bite. Custom Liquid themes, headless via the Storefront API.
CMS attributes, filtering, pagination, and sliders for Webflow projects that hit the platform's native limits. Best-in-class drop-ins.
When the content model is more graph than flat — structured content, rich block-based editors, GROQ for querying. Pairs well with Astro.
Pick the database first, then the rest follows. We default to Postgres via Supabase for most product work; Firebase for realtime-heavy or mobile-first stacks.
Our default backend. Postgres you actually own, row-level security, realtime subscriptions, storage, and edge functions — all in one console.
When realtime-everywhere matters or the client already has a mobile app on it. Firestore, Cloud Functions, hosting, and Google sign-in baked in.
The default relational engine, whether via Supabase, Neon, or self-hosted. Mature, well-understood, supports the JSON when you need it.
For workloads that live at the edge alongside a Workers deploy — SQLite semantics, replicated across the Cloudflare network.
Three options depending on the project: a dedicated auth service when sessions and orgs matter, the database's own auth when keeping vendor count low matters, and OAuth providers wired directly when neither.
Our default for product apps. Drop-in UI, organizations baked in, JWT templates for Supabase third-party auth, and a polished user dashboard.
When the backend already has it. Supabase Auth or Firebase Auth — no third vendor, no third bill, JWT goes straight to RLS.
Wired directly when "sign in with Google" is enough. Standard flow, PKCE for SPAs, scope minimization by default.
When the client lives in enterprise SSO land. SAML, custom IdPs, fine-grained compliance — when Clerk is too opinionated and we need full control.
Edge-first by default. Webflow Cloud for sites we want sitting next to a Webflow marketing site. Cloudflare Workers when we want lower-level control. Vercel for Next.
Where our app builds usually deploy. Mount an Astro/React worker at any path inside a Webflow site, share the domain, share the brand.
The runtime under Webflow Cloud, and our default for low-level edge work. Workers, Durable Objects, R2, KV — the full edge platform.
When the project is Next.js, this is the path of least resistance. Edge functions, ISR, image optimization, preview branches for every PR.
Caching, DNS, TLS, and the WAF in front of nearly everything we ship. Free tier covers more than most clients need.
Stripe for any money handling — full stop. GSAP and Lenis power every animation system we ship; Radix UI handles the rest of the interactive primitives.
Checkout, subscriptions, invoicing, webhooks — there is no second choice here. We wire it once, properly, and never look back.
The animation system on every site we build. Timelines, ScrollTrigger, FLIP — battle-tested, fast, and worth the embed budget.
Smooth-scroll engine that doesn't break accessibility or scrolljacking expectations. Pairs with GSAP ScrollTrigger out of the box.
Headless, accessible component primitives we style ourselves. Dialogs, menus, tooltips, popovers — done right, not from scratch.
What a typical Stacklumen build looks like in production — Webflow at the top of the funnel, an app underneath, all riding on Cloudflare's edge.
These tools are how we keep estimates honest and timelines tight. If you've already got opinions on the stack, that's fine too — we adapt.