My Advanced Tech Stack for Building Modern, Scalable Web Applications

Modern web development moves fast and building scalable applications requires tools that work together smoothly. After working with many frameworks, databases, deployment platforms, and architectural patterns, I have refined a stack that has become my primary choice for real world production projects. It focuses on performance, developer experience, and predictable architecture.

This article covers each part of that stack with practical explanations and implementation details. It includes Turborepo, Next.js with Server Actions, Prisma 7, Neon PostgreSQL, TanStack Query, Cloudinary, Better Auth or NextAuth, and deployment to Vercel with standalone output.

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1. Monorepo Architecture with Turborepo

Turborepo provides a scalable foundation by grouping all related projects and shared packages inside one monorepo.

Recommended layout

apps/
  web/                 Next.js application
packages/
  ui/                  Shared UI components
  db/                  Prisma schema and client
  utils/               Shared utilities

Why this matters

• Faster builds through incremental and remote caching
• Shared packages reduce duplicated logic
• Simplifies dependency management for multi app systems

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2. Next.js App Router with Server Actions

Next.js is the core of this stack. The App Router adds structured layouts, while Server Actions remove the need for separate API layers in most cases.

Benefits

• SSR, SSG, ISR, and RSC built in
• Server Actions allow secure server side mutations with no client API code
• Reduced bundle sizes because logic stays on the server
• Cleaner UI structure through nested layouts

Example Server Action

"use server";

import { prisma } from "@/packages/db/prisma";

export async function createTask(data: { title: string }) {
  return prisma.task.create({ data });
}

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3. TypeScript Across the Entire Stack

TypeScript eliminates many classes of runtime bugs and makes refactoring safer. Prisma generates typed models and TanStack Query infers types, creating a fully typed chain from database to UI.