tech-stack-recommender

What this skill does

# Tech Stack Recommender

Provides structured recommendations for technology stack selection based on project requirements, team constraints, and business goals.

## When to Use

- Starting a new project and need stack recommendations
- Evaluating technology options for specific use cases
- Comparing frameworks or languages for a project
- Assessing team readiness for a technology choice
- Planning technology migrations

## Stack Selection Framework

### Decision Inputs

```
┌───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                    STACK SELECTION INPUTS                         │
├───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                                   │
│  Project Requirements     Team Factors        Business Constraints│
│  ────────────────────     ────────────        ──────────────────  │
│  • Scale expectations     • Current skills    • Time to market    │
│  • Performance needs      • Learning capacity • Budget            │
│  • Integration points     • Team size         • Hiring market     │
│  • Compliance/Security    • Experience level  • Long-term support │
│                                                                   │
└───────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘
                              │
                              ▼
                    ┌─────────────────┐
                    │ RECOMMENDATION  │
                    │   Framework     │
                    └─────────────────┘
```

---

## Quick Stack Recommendations

### By Project Type

| Project Type | Frontend | Backend | Database | Why |
|--------------|----------|---------|----------|-----|
| **SaaS MVP** | Next.js | Node.js/Express | PostgreSQL | Fast iteration, full-stack JS |
| **E-commerce** | Next.js | Node.js or Python | PostgreSQL + Redis | SEO, caching, transactions |
| **Mobile App** | React Native | Node.js/Python | PostgreSQL | Cross-platform, shared logic |
| **Real-time App** | React | Node.js + WebSocket | PostgreSQL + Redis | Event-driven, low latency |
| **Data Platform** | React | Python/FastAPI | PostgreSQL + ClickHouse | Data processing, analytics |
| **Enterprise** | React | Java/Spring or .NET | PostgreSQL/Oracle | Stability, enterprise support |
| **ML Product** | React | Python/FastAPI | PostgreSQL + Vector DB | ML ecosystem, inference |

### By Team Profile

| Team Profile | Recommended Stack | Avoid |
|--------------|-------------------|-------|
| **Full-stack JS** | Next.js, Node.js, PostgreSQL | Go, Rust (learning curve) |
| **Python Background** | FastAPI, React, PostgreSQL | Heavy frontend frameworks |
| **Enterprise Java** | Spring Boot, React, PostgreSQL | Bleeding-edge tech |
| **Startup (Speed)** | Next.js, Supabase/Firebase | Complex microservices |
| **Scale-Up** | React, Go/Node, PostgreSQL | Monolithic frameworks |

---

## Technology Comparison Tables

### Frontend Frameworks

| Framework | Best For | Learning Curve | Ecosystem | Hiring |
|-----------|----------|----------------|-----------|--------|
| **React** | Complex UIs, SPAs | Medium | Excellent | Easy |
| **Next.js** | Full-stack, SSR, SEO | Medium | Excellent | Easy |
| **Vue.js** | Simpler apps, gradual adoption | Easy | Good | Medium |
| **Svelte** | Performance-critical | Easy | Growing | Hard |
| **Angular** | Enterprise, large teams | Hard | Good | Medium |

#### React vs Vue vs Angular

```
                Speed to MVP    Long-term Maint    Enterprise Ready
React           ████████░░      ████████░░         █████████░
Vue             █████████░      ███████░░          ██████░░░░
Angular         ██████░░░░      █████████░         ██████████
```

### Backend Frameworks

| Framework | Language | Best For | Performance | Ecosystem |
|-----------|----------|----------|-------------|-----------|
| **Express** | Node.js | APIs, real-time | Good | Excellent |
| **Fastify** | Node.js | High-performance APIs | Excellent | Good |
| **FastAPI** | Python | ML APIs, async | Excellent | Good |
| **Django** | Python | Full-featured apps | Good | Excellent |
| **Spring Boot** | Java | Enterprise | Good | Excellent |
| **Go (Gin/Echo)** | Go | High performance | Excellent | Good |
| **Rails** | Ruby | Rapid prototyping | Moderate | Good |
| **NestJS** | TypeScript | Structured Node apps | Good | Good |

#### When to Use What

```markdown
## Node.js (Express/Fastify/NestJS)
✅ Real-time applications (WebSocket)
✅ I/O-heavy workloads
✅ Full-stack JavaScript teams
✅ Microservices
❌ CPU-intensive tasks
❌ Heavy computation

## Python (FastAPI/Django)
✅ ML/Data Science integration
✅ Rapid prototyping
✅ Data processing pipelines
✅ Scientific computing
❌ High-concurrency I/O
❌ Real-time systems

## Go
✅ High-performance services
✅ System programming
✅ Concurrent workloads
✅ Microservices at scale
❌ Rapid prototyping
❌ Complex ORM needs

## Java (Spring Boot)
✅ Enterprise applications
✅ Complex business logic
✅ Transaction-heavy systems
✅ Large teams
❌ Quick MVPs
❌ Small projects
```

### Databases

| Database | Type | Best For | Scale | Complexity |
|----------|------|----------|-------|------------|
| **PostgreSQL** | Relational | General purpose, ACID | High | Medium |
| **MySQL** | Relational | Web apps, read-heavy | High | Low |
| **MongoDB** | Document | Flexible schemas, JSON | High | Low |
| **Redis** | Key-Value | Caching, sessions | Very High | Low |
| **Elasticsearch** | Search | Full-text search | High | Medium |
| **ClickHouse** | Columnar | Analytics, time-series | Very High | Medium |
| **DynamoDB** | Key-Value | Serverless, AWS | Very High | Medium |
| **Cassandra** | Wide-column | Write-heavy, distributed | Very High | High |

#### Database Selection Guide

```
Need ACID transactions?
├── YES → PostgreSQL
│
└── NO → What's your primary use case?
    ├── General purpose → PostgreSQL (still!)
    ├── Document storage → MongoDB
    ├── Caching → Redis
    ├── Search → Elasticsearch
    ├── Analytics → ClickHouse/BigQuery
    ├── Time-series → TimescaleDB/InfluxDB
    └── Key-value at scale → DynamoDB/Cassandra
```

### Infrastructure

| Platform | Best For | Complexity | Cost |
|----------|----------|------------|------|
| **Vercel** | Next.js, frontend | Very Low | $ - $$ |
| **Railway** | Simple deployments | Low | $ - $$ |
| **Render** | General apps | Low | $ - $$ |
| **AWS** | Everything, scale | High | $ - $$$$ |
| **GCP** | ML/Data, Kubernetes | High | $ - $$$$ |
| **Azure** | Enterprise, .NET | High | $ - $$$$ |
| **DigitalOcean** | Simple, affordable | Low | $ |
| **Fly.io** | Edge, global | Medium | $ - $$ |

---

## Stack Templates

### Template 1: Modern SaaS Startup

```
┌──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                     MODERN SAAS STACK                            │
├──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┤
│                                                                  │
│  FRONTEND          BACKEND            DATABASE                   │
│  ─────────         ───────            ────────                   │
│  Next.js 14        Node.js/Express    PostgreSQL                 │
│  TypeScript        TypeScript         Prisma ORM                 │
│  Tailwind CSS      REST/GraphQL       Redis (cache)              │
│                                                                  │
│  INFRASTRUCTURE    AUTH               PAYMENTS                   │
│  ──────────────    ────               ────────                   │
│  Vercel            Clerk/Auth0        Stripe                     │
│  AWS S3            NextAuth           Stripe Billing             │
│  Cloudflare CDN                                                  │
│                                                                  │
│  MONITORING        CI/CD              ANALYTICS                  │
│  ──────────        ─────              ─────────                  │
│  Sentry            GitHub Actions     PostHog/Amplitude