Shelf 02

Coding & developer tools

AI in the loop with your code. Agents and IDEs collapse the gap between intent and implementation — and using them is the fastest way to develop real intuition about how LLMs work.

Anthropic

Claude Code

Agent

Terminal-native coding agent. Reads your repo, edits files, runs tests, and iterates until the change works.

Best for

Multi-file refactors, bug hunts, and shipping features.

AgenticTerminalRepo-aware

Cursor

IDE

VS Code fork built around AI. Inline edits, chat over your codebase, and an agent mode for larger changes.

Best for

Developers who want AI woven into a familiar editor.

IDEChatAgent

Codeium

Windsurf

IDE

AI-first IDE with a strong agent (Cascade) that plans and edits across files.

Best for

Plan-then-execute workflows.

IDEAgentPlans

GitHub

GitHub Copilot

IDE

The original inline autocomplete. Now bundled with chat, PR review, and agent features inside GitHub.

Best for

Teams already living inside GitHub.

AutocompletePRsIntegrated

Vercel

v0

Generator

Generate React + Tailwind UI from a prompt. Ships components you can paste straight into a Next.js app.

Best for

Spinning up polished UI fast.

UI genReactTailwind

StackBlitz

Bolt.new

Generator

In-browser full-stack app generator. Prompts produce running apps with npm installs and a live preview.

Best for

Going from idea to live prototype in minutes.

Full-stackBrowserPrototype

Replit

Replit Agent

Generator

Builds, hosts, and deploys apps from natural language. Strong for non-developers shipping their first thing.

Best for

Non-developers building real apps.

Full-stackHostingBeginner

Anthropic

Claude Agent SDK

Framework

Build your own agents on top of the same harness that powers Claude Code. Tools, file edits, sub-agents.

Best for

Engineers shipping custom agentic workflows.

SDKAgentsCustom

LangChain

Framework

Popular Python/TS framework for chaining LLM calls, tools, retrieval, and memory together.

Best for

Wiring up RAG and tool pipelines.

FrameworkPythonTS

LangChain

LangGraph

Framework

Stateful, graph-based orchestration for multi-step agents. Designed for production reliability.

Best for

Agents that need durable state and branching.

StatefulAgentsProduction

LlamaIndex

Framework

Focused on connecting LLMs to your data. Strong retrieval, indexing, and document parsing tooling.

Best for

Knowledge-heavy apps over your own docs.

RAGIndexingDocuments

Anthropic + community

Model Context Protocol

Framework

Open protocol for connecting AI clients to data sources and tools. The 'USB-C for AI apps.'

Best for

Letting any client use any data source.

ProtocolOpenTools