The Uncommon Stack

The actual tools I use for development, hosting, SEO, and content creation.

Last updated: December 2024

Hosting & Infrastructure →

Vercel

Where this site lives. Perfect for Astro, zero-config deployments.

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Pantheon

Enterprise-grade WordPress/Drupal hosting for larger client projects.

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Cloudflare

CDN, DNS, image optimization, security. Free tier to pro.

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AWS

S3 for storage, Lambda when needed. The usual.

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Google Cloud

Various client projects and integrations.

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Netlify

Hosting for client projects. Great Git-based deploy workflow.

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Cloudways

My go-to for managed cloud hosting on client WordPress projects.

WPX Hosting

Lightning-fast support and performance for WordPress sites.

Kinsta

Premium managed WordPress hosting. Great dashboard, Google Cloud infrastructure.

ScalaHosting

Solid VPS option with good support. Underrated.

DigitalOcean

Where I spin up droplets for experiments and dev environments.

Development Tools →

VS Code

My editor. Extensions change per project but GitLens is always installed.

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GitHub Copilot

Inline code suggestions. Helpful for boilerplate, occasionally surprising.

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Claude Code

Opus 4.6 for serious code development. This is where real work happens.

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Astro

The framework this site runs on. Fast, flexible, great DX.

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n8n

Workflow automation for everything. Pull keywords, start content drafts, connect APIs.

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GitHub

Version control via terminal. No GUI needed.

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zsh

Terminal shell. Nothing fancy, just works.

SEO & Analytics →

Screaming Frog

Site crawls and technical audits. Essential for any serious SEO work.

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PostHog

A/B testing and web analytics. Open source, privacy-friendly.

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Google Search Console

Free and mandatory. Where I track what Google actually sees.

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Google Analytics 4

Still using it. Still annoyed by the interface.

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SEMrush

Pro+ plan. Keyword tracking, AI visibility tracking, site health monitoring.

Ahrefs

Backlink analysis, keyword tracking. Use alongside SEMrush for different perspectives.

Content & Writing →

Markdown

No fancy apps. Just .md files in VS Code.

n8n

Automations to pull keywords and kickstart content drafts for clients.

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Adobe Stock

Stock images when needed.

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Gemini

AI image generation for blog graphics.

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Email & Communication →

Buttondown

Newsletter platform. Simple, developer-friendly, no bloat.

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Google Workspace

Business email. Boring but reliable.

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Proton Mail

Encrypted email for when it matters.

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Brevo

Transactional and marketing email for client projects.

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Mailchimp

Legacy client setups. Moving away from it.

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Other Tools →

1Password

Password management. Family plan, use it everywhere.

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Privacy.com

Virtual cards for online purchases. Set limits, pause anytime, avoid sketchy charges.

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