We recently held our 2025 team retreat in Istanbul, Türkiye. The whole Swiftmade team came together for a productive day discussing AI and the tools we've been experimenting with.
This isn't a comprehensive review - these are just cool products we've actually tried and found useful. Here's what came up.
Backend & Infrastructure
1. Convex
Convex is an open-source reactive database where queries are TypeScript code running right in the database. Just like React components react to state changes, Convex queries react to database changes.
What it does: Gives you a database, server functions, and client libraries in one package. Your queries update automatically when data changes—no messing with cache invalidation or state syncing.
When to use it: Collaborative apps, dashboards, anything where users need to see live updates. Great if you want TypeScript everywhere and don't want to babysit backend infrastructure.
2. Temporal
Temporal is a durable execution platform that guarantees your code runs to completion, even through failures. It's built by the creators of AWS SQS, AWS SWF, and Uber's Cadence.
What it does: Runs workflows as code and handles all the retry/timeout/state stuff automatically. Server crashes mid-workflow? Temporal picks up right where it left off. You don't write recovery logic.
When to use it: Processes that absolutely can't fail halfway through—payments, order fulfillment, multi-step onboarding. Anything running for hours, days, or weeks. Basically, when you need the saga pattern without losing your mind.
3. Better Auth
Better Auth is a comprehensive authentication framework for TypeScript that works with any framework - React, Vue, Svelte, Next.js, and more.
What it does: Email/password auth, social logins (80+ providers), 2FA, multi-tenant orgs. Setup is genuinely quick—under 5 minutes.
When to use it: New TypeScript projects needing auth, or when you're sick of your current auth setup. Worth it if you need social logins, 2FA, or team features and don't want to build it yourself.
AI Development Tools
4. Langfuse
Langfuse is an open-source LLM engineering platform for debugging and improving language model applications.
What it does: Logs every LLM call—prompts, responses, latency, costs. Also works as a prompt database so you can version them instead of hardcoding everywhere. Includes eval tools and metrics. Plugs into LangChain, Llama-Index, OpenAI SDKs.
When to use it: Production LLM apps where you need to figure out why things broke, track costs, or A/B test prompts. Helpful for "why did my chatbot say that?" debugging.
5. Context7
Context7 keeps your AI coding tools updated with current documentation for libraries and frameworks.
What it does: Keeps your AI coding tools updated with current docs for libraries and frameworks. Has an MCP server for plugging into tools like Cursor.
When to use it: When your AI assistant keeps suggesting deprecated APIs because its training data is from six months ago. Especially helpful with fast-moving frameworks.
6. n8n
n8n is an open-source workflow automation platform that connects applications and services together - like Zapier, but self-hostable with AI features.
What it does: Visual workflow builder that connects APIs, databases, and services. Node-based interface with AI nodes for LLM workflows.
When to use it: Repetitive business tasks, data syncing between systems, or mixing traditional automation with AI stuff. Pick n8n over Zapier if you want to self-host or need custom integrations.
Frontend & Design
7. Stagewise
Stagewise is an AI coding agent that runs in your browser for editing frontend interfaces by pointing and clicking.
What it does: Point and click on UI elements, then describe what you want changed. The LLM knows exactly what you're targeting—no "that button on the left" confusion. Works with React, Next.js, Vue, Angular, Tailwind, Material-UI.
When to use it: UI tweaks without writing CSS yourself, or when you're tired of the AI guessing which element you mean. Good for iterating on existing interfaces.
8. Figma Make
Figma Make integrates AI-powered design capabilities directly into Figma.
What it does: Automates boring design tasks, generates variations, speeds up prototyping—all inside Figma. Helps rather than replaces.
When to use it: Trying out design variations fast, automating stuff like resizing or creating similar components. For designers who want AI help but don't want to leave Figma.
Marketing & Content
9. Firecrawl
Firecrawl is a web scraping API that converts websites into clean, AI-ready data formats.
What it does: Scrapes websites into JSON, Markdown, or screenshots in under a second. Handles JavaScript-heavy sites and can interact with pages. Works on about 96% of the web.
When to use it: Getting web data for AI apps, lead enrichment, competitor research, or training models. Good when you need structured data without proxy hell.
10. HeyGen
HeyGen is an AI video generation platform that creates professional videos from text, without cameras or actors.
What it does: Turns scripts or audio into videos with AI avatars and voiceovers. 1,000+ avatars or make your own. The killer feature: translates to 175+ languages with lip-sync and voice cloning.
When to use it: Training videos at scale, product demos, localized marketing. Really useful when you need the same video in multiple languages without re-shooting, or when actual video production is too expensive/slow.
What We Learned
These tools solve actual problems we run into—keeping docs current, debugging LLM apps, making videos in 175 languages. Not hypothetical stuff.
Some we're using already, others we're still testing. The AI landscape moves ridiculously fast, but the tools that last are the ones fixing specific annoying problems.
Tried any of these? Have other recommendations? Let us know.
