A premium curated index of the actual tools that build the modern internet — with real use cases, walkable paths, and a human help desk for when the tools aren't enough.
No affiliate links. No third-party submissions. No auto-generated reviews. Every tool below is one I've personally used to ship real work.
Tools for thinking through and writing the actual thing.
AI pair-programmer that runs in your terminal and edits files directly.
Use when Anything from a homepage tweak to a full tool. Best when the codebase is already in git.
Skip when You need someone to make a design judgment without you. AI defaults to safe-and-generic if not steered.
AI-first code editor (VSCode fork) for chat + multi-file edits in a GUI.
Use when You want to scroll through code visually while AI edits. Good first AI editor for non-developers.
Skip when You're already comfortable in a terminal — Claude Code is faster.
Reasoning + drafting layer. Best for thinking out loud before you build.
Use when You don't know what to build yet. Or you need a second opinion on a plan.
Skip when You need it to actually edit your code or files — that's Claude Code or Cursor.
Where your work actually lives, with undo built in.
Source-of-truth for code, with full history and rollback to any commit.
Use when Anything you'd cry over losing. Site, tools, scripts, configs.
Skip when Throwaway scratch files. Use a Notion doc.
Get the thing live on the actual internet.
Cheap static hosting (S3) + global CDN (CloudFront) for $20-30/mo at SideGuy's scale.
Use when Static sites, shareables, OG images. Anything that doesn't need a server.
Skip when You need a real backend (Stripe checkout, user accounts, etc.). Use Vercel or Cloudflare Pages.
DNS + CDN with built-in 301 redirects, page rules, and free tier that covers most needs.
Use when Apex → www redirects. Path-preserved redirects. Anywhere you want to rewrite URLs without code.
Skip when You're happy with whoever sells your domain. But Cloudflare's free tier > most paid alternatives.
Domain registrar — fine for buying domains, weak for DNS or hosting.
Use when Buying a new domain quickly.
Skip when You're using their hosting or DNS — both are slow and expensive vs Cloudflare.
Get the thing in front of people.
Distribution + conversation layer for B2B operators in your local network.
Use when You sell to operators, founders, owners. Local outreach with personalization wins.
Skip when You sell to consumers (use Instagram/TikTok) or to enterprise procurement (cold email + RFP).
Free Google tool that shows what queries actually surface your pages.
Use when Always. Run it from day 1. Even if you don't act on it weekly, the data compounds.
Skip when Never skip it.
When the tools aren't enough.
Single operator in Encinitas. Maps your situation, picks the right tool from this index, ships if needed.
Use when You're stuck. The tools above can do anything but you don't know which to pick or in what order.
Skip when You already know what to ship. The tools are enough on their own.
MCP servers, skills, and adjacent tools that make Claude Code (or your AI workflow) cheaper, faster, and sharper. Operator-grade evaluations — what's worth adopting vs what's a shiny object.
Web scraping API with a clean MCP server — Claude Code can fetch + clean any URL on demand.
Use when You want Claude to read article text before drafting a take, pull a prospect's site for context, or extract structured data from any web page.
Skip when You're already pasting URLs + content manually — the friction it removes only matters at volume.
Google's agentic IDE — direct competitor to Claude Code with similar terminal + agent capabilities.
Use when You want to know what the competitive frontier looks like + you're already in the Google ecosystem.
Skip when Your two-tool workflow (voice-GPT + Claude Code) is already shipping. Switching costs > switching benefits.
Curated list of design system + MCP server resources — operator's library of what's available.
Use when Designing a new aesthetic surface or evaluating MCP servers to add to your Claude Code setup.
Skip when Your aesthetic is dialed (SideGuy's Light Ocean is) — only matters when you're starting from scratch.
Routes Claude Code requests across Sonnet/Opus/Haiku based on task complexity — cuts cost without losing capability.
Use when Multi-operator setup or high-volume coding. Saves 30-60% vs always-Opus.
Skip when You're one operator on Opus 4.7 and the cost is already manageable. Adds config complexity for marginal savings.
Research synthesis tool — upload sources, ask questions, get answers grounded in your inputs.
Use when Synthesizing 10+ articles/papers/transcripts before forming a take. Or building a knowledge base for a deep-dive shareable.
Skip when You're forming takes off single sources (most news radar candidates). NotebookLM overkill for one article.
Generates a knowledge graph of your codebase — visualizes file dependencies + structural relationships.
Use when You're inheriting a large unfamiliar codebase + need to understand what calls what. Or auditing your own factory dependency graph.
Skip when Your codebase is small + you wrote it (the graph is in your head already).
The actual sequence I used to put 208,000+ pages on the internet, hosted for under $30/mo, with full git history.
Think it through with ChatGPT
Talk through what the site is for, who lands on it, what action they should take. Don't open a code editor yet.
Why: If you can't say in 3 sentences who this is for and what they should do, you're not ready to build.
Get a domain with GoDaddy
Buy the domain. Don't pay for hosting or DNS — you'll move those to Cloudflare in step 4.
Why: GoDaddy is fast for purchase, slow for everything else.
Build the first version with Claude Code
Open Claude Code, describe the site, let it generate a single index.html. Static HTML, inline CSS. Don't add a framework yet.
Why: Frameworks are for when you have a real site. Day 1 you need ONE working page.
Move DNS to Cloudflare with Cloudflare DNS
Free Cloudflare account → add your domain → update nameservers at GoDaddy. Set up a Page Rule for apex → www redirect.
Why: Cloudflare's free tier outperforms GoDaddy's paid DNS. The apex→www redirect alone saves you SEO pain later.
Put it on AWS with AWS S3 + CloudFront
S3 bucket → upload your HTML → CloudFront distribution pointing at the bucket → connect to your domain in Cloudflare DNS.
Why: $24/mo for global CDN. Beats every $20/mo SaaS host I've used.
Save it forever with GitHub
git init → first commit → push to a private repo. Now every change is reversible.
Why: Without git, every typo is permanent. With git, every typo is one command from gone.
Watch what happens with Google Search Console
Add your site, verify ownership, wait. Don't optimize anything for 30 days. Just look at what queries Google is showing.
Why: Most SEO advice is generic. GSC shows what's actually true for YOUR site.
Tell me which step is fuzzy. I've shipped this exact path more times than I can count. One text usually unblocks you in 5 minutes. Text PJ →
A 'sharable' is a single permanent URL built around one specific moment, person, or piece of work. It outranks generic content because it's bespoke, schema-rich, and built to be cited. This is the SideGuy method — distilled into 7 steps you can DIY.
Pick the moment, person, or piece of work
Specific over generic. 'Adobe just bought Semrush — here's what it means for operators' beats 'thoughts on SEO.' A custom 1-pager for one client beats a 'services' page.
Why: Google rewards specific. AI engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude) cite specific. Generic content gets buried.
Write the lede in YOUR voice with ChatGPT
3-5 sentences. State the moment, why it matters, what specifically you're saying about it. Don't let AI write the whole thing — let it refine YOUR draft.
Why: AI defaults to safe-and-generic. The voice has to be yours or the page reads like every other AI-written page Google is currently demoting.
Add an AEO TL;DR card up top
A clean ~50-word summary block at the top of the page with data-aeo-summary='true' attribute. This is the citation magnet for ChatGPT/Perplexity/Claude — they look for compact summaries to quote.
Why: AEO (Answer Engine Optimization) is replacing classic SEO for AI-driven traffic. The TL;DR card is the cheapest way to start ranking in AI answers.
Inject Article + BreadcrumbList JSON-LD schema with Claude Code
Put a <script type='application/ld+json'> block in the head with Article schema (headline, author, datePublished, image) + Breadcrumb. Tell Claude Code 'give me the JSON-LD for this page' and it'll do it.
Why: Rich-result eligibility = better Google snippets + AI citation signal.
Make a 1200×630 OG image
Cinematic over busy. Headline + subhead + brand mark. Reference SideGuy's tools/generate_og_image.py on github.com/pjz2000/sideguy-solutions for a Python template.
Why: LinkedIn + Twitter pull this card into the feed. A clean OG card 3x'd Adobe-Semrush post engagement vs the same post with no card.
Host on a static URL with AWS S3 + CloudFront
$0-24/mo to put a static HTML file on a global CDN with your own domain. Don't put it on Notion, Substack, or a SaaS landing page builder — those URLs aren't yours forever.
Why: A permanent URL is the asset. Linkable, citable, doesn't disappear when a SaaS pivots or shuts down.
Get featured on the SideGuy Shareable Wall
If you've shipped one and it meets the editorial bar (real work, real receipts), request a feature on the Wall (https://www.sideguysolutions.com/shareables/wall.html). Featured = your shareable gets a permanent slot on www.sideguysolutions.com + an embed widget you can paste on your own site. Backlink loop both ways, transparently disclosed.
Why: An editorially-earned link from another credible site is what Google's link spam policy explicitly rewards. Pay-to-place link schemes are what it penalizes.
Steps 1-2 (the writing) are usually the bottleneck. Tell me what you're shipping it about and I'll help you frame it. Text PJ →
None of this requires a 6-week implementation cycle, a $200/hr consultant, or a SaaS demo call. It requires picking the right tool from the index above for what you're actually trying to do — and SideGuy filling in when the tools fall short.
$100/hr or per-shareable. No retainer. No demo call. Encinitas-based, ships in 3-7 days.
📲 Text PJ · 858-461-8054— PJ · SideGuy Solutions · Encinitas · Clarity before cost · Last updated 2026-04-29