The AI stack I actually use.
Every AI tool I open in a normal working week, what each one costs, what I use it for, and where it falls over. Written by someone who ships with them every day, not someone who opened fifty trials and screenshotted the dashboards.
- 11 tools, real prices, the gotcha on every one
- No affiliate links and nothing I opened once and forgot
- The context layer that makes the rest of it worth paying for
Free, one field
Drop your email and the PDF lands in your inbox. The download link shows up on this page the second you submit, so you don't have to wait on it either way.
One email with the PDF, and the occasional thing worth reading after that. Unsubscribe whenever you want.
Every section, every tool, named
No mystery download. This is the full table of contents, and it's the same file the generator builds the PDF from.
The build stack
This is where the actual work happens. If you only take one section, take this one.
- ›Claude Code
- ›Codex
- ›Claude (chat + desktop)
- ›ChatGPT
- ›Grok
The system layer
The part almost nobody sets up, and the reason my output looks different from someone using the same models.
- ›MCP servers
- ›Skills
- ›Scheduled agents
Capture and memory
Getting what happens in your day into a form the AI can actually use.
- ›Granola
Glue and automation
Wiring things together, and knowing when to stop paying someone else to do it.
- ›Google Workspace CLI
- ›Zapier
Different from every other AI tool list
There are a hundred of these. Here's what makes this one worth the email.
It's a stack, not a listicle
Nobody here signed up for a trial and screenshotted the dashboard. I'm a full-time developer: FiveM scripts for paying clients, and lead developer on a production AI product. Every tool in this document earned its slot by surviving a normal working week.
Real prices, mine
What I actually pay, on the plan I'm actually on, as of August 2026. Where a cheaper tier does most of the job I say so. Nothing in here is an affiliate link, because nothing in here is being sold to you.
Where each one breaks
Every tool gets a gotcha: the failure mode you hit in week two that no review mentions, and what I do about it. That section is longer than the praise for a reason.
The tools are the cheap part
Most people lose to AI tooling by collecting it: twelve subscriptions and no system. The expensive part is the context you feed it, and almost nobody builds that. The last section is the one I'd keep if I had to delete everything else.
Before you hand over an email
Is this actually free?
Yes. One email address, one PDF, no upsell at the end of it. The download link shows up on this page the moment you submit, so you're not even waiting on the email.
What do I actually get?
A PDF covering 11 tools across 4 sections. Each one gets what it is, how I use it, what it costs, what it breaks on, and what I'd swap to if it disappeared tomorrow.
Are you going to spam me?
No. You get the playbook, then the occasional email when I ship something or write something worth your time. Every one has an unsubscribe link, and leaving costs you nothing.
How often does it change?
This space moves monthly, so the document does too. When I rewrite it, subscribers get the new version. Prices especially: treat them as a ballpark, not a quote.