Independent developer field guide
Edition 0012026
Stage 02 / 05

Build

Assembling components, backend logic, and user workflows.

The build stage is where you turn technical architecture and product requirements into working software. You assemble the interface, configure database schemas, set up data validation, implement business logic, and connect external APIs into user journeys.

Questions to answer before moving on:

  • Does the primary user workflow function end-to-end with real persistent data?
  • Are sensitive API keys, database credentials, and secrets securely managed through environment variables?
  • Are errors and loading states handled properly across the user interface?
  • Is the codebase modular enough to take dependency updates or tool swaps without full rewrites?
Authentication
Auth.js Open source, runtime-agnostic library for authentication and session management in JavaScript frameworksAuthenticationopen source → Auth0 Identity and access management platform with universal login, single sign-on and multifactor authenticationAuthenticationfreemium ↗ Clerk Provides user authentication, session management and user profile management for web and mobile applicationsAuthenticationfreemium → Firebase Authentication Backend authentication service with identity management, federated social logins and phone authenticationAuthenticationfreemium ↗ Lucia deprecated TypeScript authentication and session handling resource, previously distributed as an npm packageAuthenticationopen source ↗ Supabase Auth Built-in user authentication and authorization integrated with Postgres Row Level SecurityAuthenticationfreemium ↗
Payments & Billing
Lemon Squeezy Merchant of record platform for global payments, subscriptions, checkout and sales tax compliance for software businessesPayments & Billingusage-based → Paddle Merchant of record platform managing SaaS billing, global tax compliance, subscriptions and fraud preventionPayments & Billingusage-based ↗ Stripe Financial infrastructure platform for payment processing, billing, payouts and financial services for internet businessesPayments & Billingusage-based →
Databases
Drizzle ORM TypeScript ORM with typesafe, SQL-like syntax that compiles to single SQL queriesDatabasesopen source ↗ Firebase App development platform by Google with managed databases, cloud storage, functions, hosting and developer toolingDatabasesfreemium → MongoDB Atlas Fully managed multi-cloud document database service with automated scaling and built-in searchDatabasesfreemium ↗ Neon Serverless Postgres platform with decoupled compute and storage, database branching and automatic scale-to-zeroDatabasesfreemium → Prisma TypeScript ORM with type-safe queries and migrations, plus managed database servicesDatabasesfreemium ↗ Supabase Open source backend platform with managed Postgres databases, authentication, real-time subscriptions, storage and serverless edge functionsDatabasesfreemium → Turso Distributed database platform built on libSQL SQLite for edge computing and multi-tenant architecturesDatabasesfreemium ↗ Upstash Serverless data platform offering Redis, Vector database and QStash with per-request pricingDatabasesusage-based ↗
Email Services
Formspree Backend form handling service for HTML forms that forwards submissions to email or appsEmail Servicesfreemium → Resend Email API and platform for creating, sending and tracking transactional emails using web frameworksEmail Servicesfreemium →
AI & Machine Learning
Bolt.new In-browser AI development platform for prompting, building, running and deploying full-stack web applicationsAI & Machine Learningfreemium ↗ Claude API Developer platform for building, integrating and deploying AI applications and agents powered by Claude modelsAI & Machine Learningusage-based → Groq AI inference engine and developer platform for model execution on custom Language Processing Unit hardwareAI & Machine Learningfreemium ↗ Hugging Face Open-source community platform to build, host, share and deploy machine learning models and datasetsAI & Machine Learningfreemium ↗ Lovable AI software engineer that generates full-stack web applications from conversational natural language promptsAI & Machine Learningfreemium ↗ OpenAI API Cloud API for programmatic access to OpenAI artificial intelligence models and autonomous agents for software developmentAI & Machine Learningusage-based → Replicate Platform to run, fine-tune and deploy machine learning and open-source generative AI models via an APIAI & Machine Learningusage-based ↗ Replit Cloud-based collaborative software creation platform with AI coding assistance and deployment environmentsAI & Machine Learningfreemium ↗ Together AI Cloud AI platform for serverless inference, fine-tuning and dedicated GPU clusters for open-source AI foundation modelsAI & Machine Learningusage-based ↗
UI & Design Systems
shadcn/ui Collection of re-usable, accessible user interface components copied into application source codeUI & Design Systemsopen source ↗ Tailwind CSS Utility-first CSS framework with composable atomic classes for styling responsive web interfaces in HTMLUI & Design Systemsopen source ↗ v0 Generates full-stack web applications and user interfaces using generative AI promptsUI & Design Systemsfreemium ↗
CMS & Content
Astro Web framework for content-focused websites, using any UI component libraryCMS & Contentopen source → Eleventy Zero-config JavaScript static site generator that transforms templates into static HTMLCMS & Contentopen source → Payload CMS Open-source TypeScript headless CMS and application framework that runs inside Next.jsCMS & Contentopen source ↗ Sanity Composable content platform and headless CMS with structured content and real-time collaborationCMS & Contentfreemium →
Boilerplates & Starter Kits
Dirstarter Next.js directory website template with built-in payments, SEO optimization and AI MCP integrationBoilerplates & Starter Kitspaid ↗ Larafast Laravel SaaS starter kit with pre-configured authentication, Stripe payments and admin scaffoldingBoilerplates & Starter Kitsnot found ↗ MakerKit SaaS starter kits supporting Next.js, Remix, Supabase and Stripe paymentsBoilerplates & Starter Kitspaid ↗ ShipFast Next.js boilerplate with pre-built authentication, payment processing, transactional emails and UI componentsBoilerplates & Starter Kitspaid ↗ Supastarter SaaS starter kit supporting Next.js, Nuxt and TanStack Start with built-in auth and billingBoilerplates & Starter Kitspaid ↗ Vite Frontend build tool with a development server and optimized production bundlesBoilerplates & Starter Kitsopen source →
Storage & CDN
Cloudflare R2 S3-compatible object storage service with zero-egress fees for developers and applicationsStorage & CDNusage-based ↗ Cloudinary Cloud-based media management platform for uploading, optimizing, transforming and delivering images and videosStorage & CDNfreemium ↗ UploadThing File upload platform for TypeScript and JavaScript developers with server-side file handlingStorage & CDNfreemium ↗