Curated choices. Your decisions. One page at the end.
Options may change. The candidates here are a curated, verified list — tools die, prices move, signups grow walls, and the list gets updated. The technique — how a stack is built, how the parts connect, how decisions get made — is not changing for a long time. Learn the technique.
1 Start from your job
2 Which layers do you need?
Most working stacks run on three or four. Skipped layers stay visible — an empty block is a decision, not a gap.
3 Your agent — pick the type, then the agent
4 Pick one instrument per class
Top-ranked first. Any row is yours — the ranking is advice, not law.
5 Connections — who feeds whom
One plain sentence per link. If it runs through your hands, end the line with "by hand" — that's your first automation candidate.
6 Cost block
Every paid pick converts at this rate. Free is 0 — written, not implied.