My Full AI Stack

Every tool I use to build a real AI app with zero developers, what it does, what it costs, and the 3 I'd start with.

Thinking & building

Tool	Job in plain words	Cost
Claude (desktop app)	My co-founder: planning, strategy, writing, reviewing designs	$20/mo
Claude Code	The builder: lives on my computer, sees my files, writes and fixes the actual app	included w/ plan
API models (tiered)	Inside the app: a cheap model brainstorms, a mid model executes, an expensive model judges	usage: ~$0.001 / ~$0.02–0.10 / ~$0.05 per call

Tool	Job	Cost
Claude Vision (API)	Reads photos: garment type, fabric, neckline, occasions	~1¢/image
PhotoRoom (API)	Cleans photos: background removal + retouch	~2¢/image
Gemini image model (API)	Generates media: avatar + virtual try-on (one vendor for both = same face every time)	~4–10¢/image
FashionCLIP (open-source, on Modal)	Meaning-search over the closet ("elegant office look" → the right items)	~$10–30/mo GPU, scale-to-zero

Tool	Job	Cost
Supabase	Database + login + file storage in one box	free tier → $25/mo
Vercel	Hosts the web app	free tier
Open-Meteo	Weather for outfit planning, zero signup, zero key	free

One vendor behind one thin file. I swapped image vendors twice; each swap = one line of code.
Mock-first. Every AI tool has a fake twin so the whole app runs with zero API keys (and zero cost) while I build screens.
Free tiers are budget caps. No payment method on file = the bill physically cannot surprise you.
The expensive model never does cheap work. Judging only.

Claude (the $20 plan), your planning partner from day one.
Claude Code, even non-developers: it explains itself as it works; you learn by watching.
Supabase free tier, your data has to live somewhere real, and free-tier-as-budget-cap is the safest way to start.

Everything else joins only when a real feature demands it. Tools you add "just in case" become bills you forget.

From the build-in-public series. Follow @maybar.ai