# My AI Development Workflow

By Ricardo Calcina · 2 May 2026 · https://ricardocalcina.com/blog/ai-assisted-solo-builder/workflow

> The concrete tools, habits, and mental models I use every day to ship faster as a solo builder.

This is how I actually work. Not aspirational. Not what I think sounds impressive. Just the stack and habits that have stuck after a year of building with AI.

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## The Core Stack

I work across two main modes:

1. **Deep building** — Cursor + a good model + my own brain
2. **Research and planning** — Perplexity or web search + my own notes

Everything else is either support or distraction.

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## Cursor as the Centre of Gravity

My editor is Cursor. Not because it's magical, but because it removed enough friction that I stopped context-switching.

The features I actually use:

- **Tab completion** for the boring stuff—boilerplate, repetitive patterns, obvious next lines
- **Inline editing** (Cmd+K) for refactoring a block without losing flow
- **Composer** for larger architectural changes where I need to see across multiple files

What I don't do:

- I don't ask AI to "build me a feature" and walk away
- I don't accept generated code without reading it
- I don't let AI write my business logic unsupervised

The rule: AI speeds up typing. It does not replace thinking.

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## Model Choice

I switch between models depending on the task:

- **Claude** for architecture, API design, and anything where taste matters
- **GPT-4** for debugging, regex, and quick syntax questions
- **Local models** for sensitive data or when I don't want to send code to a third party

I don't have a religious attachment to any model. They're all wrong sometimes. The trick is learning which one is wrong in the way you can catch.

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## The Research Layer

Before I write code, I usually need to understand something:

- A library I've never used
- A pattern I'm not sure about
- Whether someone already solved this problem

My workflow:

1. **Perplexity or web search** for quick factual lookup
2. **Read the actual docs** — AI summaries are decent, but docs are the source of truth
3. **Search GitHub** for real-world usage examples
4. **Take notes in plain text** — not in some fancy system, just a scratchpad

The notes matter. They force me to process what I found instead of bookmarking and forgetting.

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## Project Scaffolding

I created [Dev Foundry](https://devfoundry.io) because I was tired of setting up the same Astro + Tailwind + auth + database stack for every new project.

Now I start from a boilerplate that already has:

- Auth (OAuth + magic links)
- Database schema patterns
- Basic UI components
- Deployment config for Vercel

This saves me a day per project. The AI helps me customise from there, but the foundation is pre-thought.

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## The Writing and Shipping Loop

My actual daily loop looks like this:

1. **Morning**: review what I planned yesterday, adjust if needed
2. **Deep work block**: build the core thing—no AI, just focus
3. **Afternoon**: use AI to fill gaps, refactor, write tests, fix edge cases
4. **End of day**: deploy to staging, review, note what broke

The key insight: AI is for the second half of the day. Not the first.

If I start with AI, I end up with a mess I don't understand. If I start with my own code and use AI to clean it up, I end up with something I trust.

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## What I Still Do Manually

- **Code review**: I read every diff before committing. No exceptions.
- **Architecture decisions**: AI can suggest, but I decide. The blame is mine.
- **User-facing copy**: AI drafts are always wrong. I rewrite everything.
- **Tests for critical paths**: AI writes decent tests, but I write the ones that matter most.

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## What's Changed Over Time

Six months ago, I was using AI for everything. Now I'm more selective.

I noticed a pattern: the projects where I leaned hardest on AI were the ones I understood least. That felt fast in the moment, but slow later when I had to debug something I didn't build.

Now I use AI as an amplifier, not a substitute. I still have to know what I'm doing. The AI just helps me do it faster.

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## The Workflow in One Sentence

Think first, build second, use AI to clean up the gap between the two.

That's it. Nothing revolutionary. Just a discipline that took me too long to learn.

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*Next: [The Trap of AI-Assisted Mediocrity](/blog/ai-assisted-solo-builder/taste) — Why more output isn't always better output.*