What the Flowuity build stack looks like, and why we made each call.
Next.js, Supabase, Stripe + PayFast, HubSpot, Resend, Twilio, Anthropic. The reasoning behind a default stack — and the conditions under which we deviate.
Choosing a stack is a commercial decision before it is a technical one. The stack that ships the product, that the team can hire for, that the client can run after the engagement ends — that is the right stack. The stack that satisfies a particular engineering aesthetic is the wrong one.
Our default is Next.js with React and TypeScript on the front end. The reasoning is simple: it is the highest-quality frontend stack with the deepest hiring market, and it lets us ship server-rendered, fast, accessible products without a custom build pipeline. We use the App Router and Server Components by default.
Supabase for the data layer. Postgres, with row-level security, real-time, and authentication built in. The reasoning is that we get the long tail of Postgres — every problem you will encounter has been solved on Stack Overflow — without paying the operational tax of running it ourselves.
Sanity for structured content when an editor needs to live alongside the application. We need a content surface that non-engineers can edit safely, that has versioning, and that can be queried alongside our application data. Sanity is a clean answer; for simpler sites the data lives in the codebase.
Stripe and PayFast for payments. Stripe for cross-border, subscription, and the platforms that need them; PayFast for ZAR-denominated SA-only flows where it is materially cheaper.
HubSpot for CRM, with our Integration practice owning the data contract. Resend for transactional email. Twilio for SMS and WhatsApp Business. Anthropic Claude for AI features that need to reason.
We deviate when there is a real reason. A regulated client whose security posture forbids Vercel. A product whose latency budget rules out a serverless function. A team that already runs on a different stack and would rather we joined them. Deviation is fine. Deviation for novelty is not.
→ Book a Discovery.
When off-the-shelf software stops fitting.
The signs your business has outgrown a SaaS tool, the workarounds that compound, and how to tell whether custom software is the answer — or whether you just have not configured what you already pay for.
AI inside the work, not next to it.
Why ChatGPT in a browser tab does not move the needle on your business. What “AI inside the work” actually looks like — three patterns we ship most often, and where each one earns its keep.
Inside a Flowuity Discovery.
A look at the two-week paid engagement that begins every Flowuity build. What we read, who we interview, what the memo contains, and why a clear no is the most useful outcome.