Our 2026 Dev Tool Audit: What We Kept, What We Killed, and Why the Stack Shrank 40%
Six months, 12 tools evaluated, 5 migrations. Result: 7-tool production stack (Zed, Bun, Drizzle, Biome, Cloudflare, Hetzner, Continue.dev) replaced 12-tool stack. Cost -62%, velocity +35%. The pattern: agent-compatible, single-purpose, local-first.
Published 2026-06-17
Our 2026 Dev Tool Audit: What We Kept, What We Killed, and Why the Stack Shrank 40%
TL;DR: Three-dev team audited 12 tools across editor, runtime, DB, lint, hosting, AI, CI. Killed 5, replaced 2, kept 5. New 7-tool stack: agent-compatible, single-purpose, local-first. Cost $260/mo vs $680/mo. Velocity +35%. On-call -80%. Full comparison →
The Context
Three-dev B2B SaaS (Next.js + tRPC/Express + PostgreSQL). Jan 2026 stack: VS Code + Cursor Pro + Node 20 + Prisma + ESLint/Prettier + Vercel Pro + GitHub Actions + Supabase + Postman + Datadog + Notion + Linear. Pain: $680/mo, context loss, slow CI, debugging fragmentation, vendor lock-in. Rule: one migration/month, measure, commit or revert.
What We Tested (Migration Scorecard)
| Month | From → To | Category | Cost Δ | Velocity Δ | Ops Δ | Verdict |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | VS Code + Cursor → Zed + Continue.dev | Editor/AI | -$200 | +25% | -80% RAM | ✅ Kept |
| Feb | Node 20 → Bun 1.1 (API) | Runtime | $0 | +40% | -60% mem | ✅ Kept |
| Mar | Prisma → Drizzle ORM | Database | -$25 (Supabase) | +15% | -80% N+1 | ✅ Kept |
| Apr | ESLint + Prettier → Biome | Lint/Format | $0 | +20% CI | -40% CI time | ✅ Kept |
| May | Vercel Pro → Cloudflare Pages + Hetzner | Hosting | -$480 | +10% | +1 host | ✅ Kept |
| Jun | Cursor Pro → Cursor (type surgery only) | AI | -$120 | -5%* | - | ✅ Kept* |
| — | Supabase → Hetzner PostgreSQL | DB Hosting | Incl above | — | +1 host | ✅ Kept |
| — | Postman → Bruno (local) | API Client | -$12 | — | Local-first | ✅ Kept |
| — | Datadog → pino + self-hosted | APM | -$150 | — | +ops | ✅ Kept |
| — | Notion → ADR in repo + ChromaDB | Docs/Knowledge | -$8 | — | Agent-readable | ✅ Kept |
*Cursor kept only for <30 min TypeScript type surgery — LSP integration still best-in-class.
The Pivot Point
March 15: Prisma N+1 incident #3 (dashboard 2.1s p99). Same week: Vercel bill $480. Realization: every tool we kept had one trait — agents can use it natively or via MCP. Tools we killed: Prisma (agents hallucinate client API), Vercel (black box, no agent deploy control), ESLint/Prettier (two tools, config conflicts), Postman (GUI-only, no CLI), Datadog (expensive, agent can’t query), Notion (agents can’t read). Tools we kept: Zed (MCP via Continue.dev), Bun (native agent terminal), Drizzle (explicit SQL, agent-readable), Biome (single tool, agent can run), Cloudflare/Hetzner (API + MCP deploy), Continue.dev (local models, persistent context).
What We Use Now (June 2026 Production Stack)
| Layer | Tool | Agent Interface | Cost/mo |
|---|---|---|---|
| Editor | Zed (stable) | Continue.dev MCP (stdio) | $0 |
| AI (Long) | Continue.dev + Ollama | Native terminal/files/tools | $0 |
| AI (Greenfield) | Cline + OpenRouter | Terminal-native, BYOK | ~$30 |
| AI (Type Surgery) | Cursor Pro | LSP inline diagnostics | $20 |
| Runtime (API) | Bun 1.1 | Native bun run, --inspect | $0 |
| Runtime (Web) | Node 20 LTS | Next.js compat | $0 |
| Database | Drizzle ORM 0.33 | Explicit SQL, typed | $0 |
| DB Host | Hetzner CX42 + dokku | MCP deploy, standard PG | €32 |
| Lint/Format | Biome 1.9 | Single CLI, biome check --apply | $0 |
| Hosting (Web) | Cloudflare Pages | MCP deploy, 300+ PoPs | $0 |
| CI/CD | GitHub Actions + bun | bun install 3.2× faster | Included |
| API Client | Bruno (local) | File-based, git-friendly | $0 |
| Observability | pino + Loki + Grafana | Agent queries logs via MCP | $20 (Grafana Cloud) |
| Knowledge | ADR (repo) + ChromaDB | MCP RAG for agents | $0 |
Total: ~$260/mo (was $680/mo). 7 core tools (was 12).
When You’d Choose Differently
- Vercel + Cursor + Prisma + ESLint if: team <3, low ops appetite, compliance prefers managed, “good enough” > optimal
- AWS/GCP + Copilot Enterprise if: enterprise compliance, existing cloud commit, polyglot beyond TS
- Neovim/Helix + Aider if: terminal-native, max control, language diversity (Go/Rust/Python + TS)
Tool Crucible Rating (Stack Aggregate)
| Dimension | Rating (1–5) | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Overall | 4 | Cohesive, fast, cheap; debugging fragmentation prevents 5 |
| Velocity | 5 | +35% measured; tool friction near zero |
| Cost Efficiency | 5 | $260 vs $680; scales linearly |
| Agent Compatibility | 5 | Every tool MCP-accessible or native CLI |
| Operational Simplicity | 3 | 3 hosts, 2 runtimes, 3 AI tools — manageable but not minimal |
| Debuggability | 2 | Fragmented across editor→runtime→DB; building unified Q3 |
This is part of our Developer Tools 2026 series. See full comparison: Developer Tools 2026 Audit: 12 Teams Share Their Production Stack Decisions
Last reviewed 2026-06-17. See our methodology and affiliate policy.