§ Recipe

Build a SaaS.

The leanest path from idea to revenue. Every tool here has a generous free tier or open-source fallback, and every step pulls its weight — no decorative infra, no premature scale.

IndieFree
  1. Architecture partner

    01

    Claude

    Anthropic's long-context assistant for writing, coding, analysis, and careful reasoning.

    Chatbots & Assistants
    Freemium
    4.8

    Before you write code, argue with Claude about the schema, auth model, and pricing tiers. It catches half of the shape you'd otherwise refactor on day 14.

  2. UI scaffolding

    02

    v0

    Vercel's AI app builder for React, Next.js, Tailwind, shadcn/ui, and full-stack prototypes.

    Coding & Development
    Freemium
    4.4

    Describe a dashboard, get working Tailwind + shadcn/ui React. Not pixel-perfect, but 80% of the chrome done in minutes means you ship the actual business logic faster.

  3. Code editor

    03

    Cursor

    AI-native code editor with agents, codebase context, completions, and review workflows.

    Coding & Development
    Freemium
    4.9

    This is where the V0 output becomes a real codebase. Multi-file edits, agentic refactors, tab-complete that understands your domain. Non-negotiable.

  4. Full-stack prototype

    04

    Bolt.new

    StackBlitz browser AI builder for full-stack web apps with token-based usage.

    Coding & Development
    Freemium
    4.3

    When you want a throwaway Next.js + Supabase prototype live in 5 minutes to test a flow before committing. Wasted iterations are the expensive kind.

  5. Launch research

    05

    Perplexity

    AI answer engine for cited web research and fast synthesis.

    Research & Search
    Freemium
    4.6

    Who are the three closest competitors, priced how, positioned against whom? Perplexity with citations is faster than any human consultant and less biased than Twitter.

  6. Internal docs

    06

    Notion AI

    AI writing, summarization, search, and knowledge assistance inside Notion workspaces.

    Productivity
    Freemium
    4.3

    You'll forget why you made every decision. Notion AI will remember and summarize, and turns your scattered product thinking into an actual living spec.