Chapter
12 · Libraries, Accelerators & Production Shortcuts
Pick fewer, sharper tools; wire them cleanly; keep deployment paths explicit.
Mental Model
- Prefer well-scoped libraries over mega-stacks; remove unused ones aggressively.
- Boilerplates are starters, not contracts; align them to the entity-first layout.
- AI generators are assistants; review outputs and re-run formatter/linter.
Starter Stack (example)
UI: next/font, css vars, (optionally) Tailwind utilities
Forms: react-hook-form + zod (client), server validation in actions
Data: Prisma 7 + SQLite/Postgres (adapter), actions-only access
Auth: next-auth credentials/provider mix
Deployment: Dockerfile + prisma migrate deploy; env from Secrets Manager
AI: OpenAI endpoint wrapper; log prompts/results; store summaries as strings
Cloud & Domains
- Domains: Namecheap (DNS) → CNAME to host; keep DNS records in code/docs.
- Deploy: Docker/GCP → run migrations explicitly; mount env secrets; health checks.
- Backups: DB dump per release; keep seed scripts runnable; tag images.