Every year brings new tools. Every month someone declares another framework dead. My criterion is simple: I use what has proven to scale in production with real traffic. No hype, no FOMO.

This is my stack as of 2026, with the reasoning behind each choice.

Backend: Laravel 11 + PHP 8.3

Laravel remains the most productive option for PHP backend in production. In 2026, with PHP 8.3, the combination offers:

• Typed properties and enums: more readable, safer code without sacrificing writing speed
• Fibers: real concurrency in PHP, which Octane leverages well
• Laravel 11 minimal structure: the new simplified app structure reduces boilerplate without hiding magic

Why not Node/Python/Go? Because the Laravel ecosystem (Forge, Vapor, Horizon, Telescope, Nova) covers the complete lifecycle of a web project without me manually stitching pieces together. For 1-5 developer teams, that’s worth more than raw benchmarks.

Testing: Pest

Pest over PHPUnit. The fluent API + architecture hooks + mutation coverage make writing tests less painful. My projects reach production with feature tests + domain unit tests. Not optional.

Frontend: Vue 3 + TypeScript + TailwindCSS

Vue 3 with Composition API is my default. The reason: the mental model of ref + computed + watch maps directly to how I think about UI state. No hidden magic.

TypeScript has been mandatory for 2 years. Time-to-find-bug drops dramatically when the compiler yells before you reach the browser.

TailwindCSS v4: the new CSS-first architecture eliminates the Tailwind config in many cases. Faster builds, easier to maintain.

When I use React

When the client or team already has React in production and there’s no point in switching. Or when the project requires a specific component ecosystem (Radix, shadcn). I have no framework religion — I have pragmatism.

Astro for content sites

This portfolio itself runs on Astro. For sites where content comes first and interactive JS is the exception, Astro is unbeatable on performance.

Inertia.js: the bridge

For projects where the backend is Laravel and the frontend is Vue or React: Inertia eliminates the need for a separate REST API. The result is an SPA that behaves like a server app. Less complexity, same result for the user.

DevOps: Forge + DigitalOcean + GitHub Actions

• Laravel Forge: server provisioning without touching nginx manually. For mid-size projects it’s the best cost/complexity ratio.
• DigitalOcean: predictable hosting, no AWS billing surprises.
• GitHub Actions: CI/CD. Tests on every PR, automatic deploy to staging, manual deploy to production with approval.
• Vercel: for Astro or Next.js frontends that don’t need PHP server.

Observability: Sentry for errors, Logtail for structured logs. I’d rather pay for these two tools than discover production bugs from an angry user.

AI-augmented: the layer that changed everything in 2024-2026

This part is new since 2024 and is now a permanent part of my stack.

Claude Code (agentic driver)

My primary IDE is still VS Code, but Claude Code is what holds full project context. Reading 20 files at once, refactoring with coherence, writing tests that respect existing patterns — I don’t do this alone anymore.

Claude Design + Google Stitch

For UI: I go from wireframe to Vue/React component in record time. I’m not a designer by vocation; these tools let me ship quality UI without blocking myself in Figma for days.

MCP servers

GitHub MCP, Sentry MCP, database MCP (on dev). Claude can read the full project context — issues, production errors, queries — without me copy-pasting anything.

What I’ve dropped

• Laravel Livewire for complex apps: I prefer Inertia+Vue for serious interactivity. Livewire is great for simple forms.
• GraphQL by default: REST + Laravel resources covers 90% of cases with less complexity.
• Premature microservices: well-structured modular monolith first, microservices when the problem justifies it.

Conclusion

A stack is not a collection of technologies. It’s a system of decisions that reduces cognitive load and allows you to ship quality product sustainably. My 2026 stack has been evolving in real production for 5+ years.

If you’re looking for a Senior Full Stack with this stack for your team, let’s talk.