Recommended Tools & Technologies
Essential tools for AI development and deployment
🛠️ Development Tools
Code Editors & IDEs
- Visual Studio Code: Most popular, excellent AI extensions
- PyCharm: Professional Python IDE with AI features
- Jupyter Lab: Interactive development environment
- Cursor: AI-powered code editor
- Replit: Browser-based collaborative coding
Version Control
- Git: Essential for code versioning
- GitHub: Code hosting and collaboration
- GitLab: Alternative with built-in CI/CD
- GitHub Copilot: AI-powered code completion
🤖 AI/ML Frameworks
Language Model Frameworks
- LangChain: Most popular framework for LLM applications
- LangGraph: Multi-agent and stateful workflows
- LlamaIndex: Data framework for LLM applications
- Semantic Kernel: Microsoft's AI orchestration framework
- AutoGPT: Autonomous AI agent framework
Traditional ML Libraries
- scikit-learn: General-purpose machine learning
- TensorFlow: Google's deep learning framework
- PyTorch: Facebook's deep learning framework
- Hugging Face Transformers: Pre-trained model library
Vector & Search Libraries
- ChromaDB: Simple vector database
- Pinecone: Managed vector database service
- Weaviate: Open-source vector search engine
- Qdrant: High-performance vector database
- FAISS: Facebook's similarity search library
🔗 APIs & Services
Language Model APIs
- OpenAI API: GPT-3.5, GPT-4, embeddings
- Anthropic Claude: Claude-2, Claude-3 models
- Cohere: Language models and embeddings
- Google PaLM/Gemini: Google's language models
- Together AI: Open-source model hosting
Cloud AI Services
- AWS Bedrock: Amazon's managed AI service
- Azure OpenAI: Microsoft's GPT service
- Google Cloud AI: Google's AI platform
- Hugging Face Inference: Model hosting service
📊 Data & Analytics
Data Processing
- Pandas: Data manipulation and analysis
- NumPy: Numerical computing
- Apache Spark: Big data processing
- Dask: Parallel computing library
Data Visualization
- Matplotlib: Basic plotting library
- Seaborn: Statistical visualization
- Plotly: Interactive visualizations
- Streamlit: Web app framework for data science
Database Solutions
- PostgreSQL + pgvector: Traditional DB with vector support
- MongoDB: Document database
- Redis: In-memory data store
- Elasticsearch: Search and analytics engine
🚀 Deployment & Infrastructure
Application Frameworks
- Streamlit: Quick AI app prototyping
- Gradio: ML model interfaces
- FastAPI: High-performance API framework
- Flask: Lightweight web framework
- Django: Full-featured web framework
Containerization & Orchestration
- Docker: Application containerization
- Kubernetes: Container orchestration
- Docker Compose: Multi-container applications
Cloud Platforms
- Vercel: Frontend deployment platform
- Netlify: Web application hosting
- Railway: Full-stack app deployment
- Render: Cloud application platform
- AWS/Azure/GCP: Major cloud providers
Monitoring & Observability
- LangSmith: LangChain application monitoring
- Weights & Biases: ML experiment tracking
- MLflow: ML lifecycle management
- Prometheus + Grafana: Infrastructure monitoring
💰 Cost Management
Usage Monitoring
- OpenAI Usage Dashboard: Track API consumption
- Cloud Cost Calculators: Estimate infrastructure costs
- Custom Usage Tracking: Build your own monitoring
Cost Optimization Tools
- Token Counters: Monitor prompt/response lengths
- Model Selection Tools: Choose cost-effective models
- Caching Solutions: Reduce API calls
🔐 Security & Privacy
API Key Management
- Environment Variables: Basic secret storage
- AWS Secrets Manager: Cloud secret management
- Azure Key Vault: Microsoft's secret service
- HashiCorp Vault: Enterprise secret management
Authentication & Authorization
- Auth0: Authentication as a service
- Firebase Auth: Google's authentication
- OAuth 2.0: Standard authentication protocol
📱 Frontend Development
Web Frameworks
- React: Popular JavaScript framework
- Vue.js: Progressive JavaScript framework
- Svelte: Modern web framework
- Next.js: React-based full-stack framework
UI Libraries
- Tailwind CSS: Utility-first CSS framework
- Chakra UI: React component library
- Material-UI: Google's design system
- Ant Design: Enterprise-class UI design
🧪 Testing & Quality
Testing Frameworks
- pytest: Python testing framework
- Jest: JavaScript testing framework
- Selenium: Web application testing
Code Quality
- Black: Python code formatter
- Flake8: Python linting
- ESLint: JavaScript linting
- Prettier: Code formatter for multiple languages
AI-Specific Testing
- LangChain Evaluators: Test LLM applications
- DeepEval: LLM evaluation framework
- Ragas: RAG evaluation framework
📚 Learning & Documentation
Documentation Tools
- Docsify: Markdown documentation generator
- GitBook: Knowledge base platform
- Notion: All-in-one workspace
- Obsidian: Knowledge management
Learning Platforms
- Jupyter Notebooks: Interactive learning
- Google Colab: Free GPU notebooks
- Kaggle: Data science competitions
- Papers with Code: Research implementation
🎯 Recommended Tool Stack for Beginners
Minimal Setup
- Editor: Visual Studio Code
- Language: Python with virtual environments
- Framework: LangChain
- Vector DB: ChromaDB (local development)
- API: OpenAI or free alternatives
- Deployment: Streamlit + GitHub
Intermediate Setup
- Framework: LangChain + LangGraph
- Vector DB: Pinecone or Qdrant
- Monitoring: Custom logging + LangSmith
- Deployment: FastAPI + Docker + Vercel/Railway
- Testing: pytest with custom evaluations
Production Setup
- Infrastructure: Kubernetes + cloud provider
- Monitoring: Comprehensive observability stack
- Security: Enterprise secret management
- Scaling: Load balancers + auto-scaling
- CI/CD: Automated testing and deployment
Start with the minimal setup and gradually add complexity as your projects grow!