Building RoleReady involved selecting modern tools that solve specific limitations of traditional stacks. After six months in production, this technology stack has proven more stable than previous “battle-tested” implementations.
The performance difference was immediately noticeable. Package installation that took 45 seconds with npm now completes in 3 seconds with Bun. These aren’t just incremental improvements—they’re fundamental shifts in development efficiency.
Runtime & Package Management
Choosing Bun over Node.js and npm/yarn/pnpm provides measurable advantages across the development lifecycle. The unified package manager and runtime eliminates toolchain conflicts while delivering 10-25x faster installation speeds. Native bundling and transpilation reduce build complexity, and the lower memory footprint improves development machine performance.
The development experience feels noticeably more responsive with near-instant hot reloads and simplified dependency management. This isn’t just about speed—it’s about maintaining flow state during development sessions.
Next.js 15 Architecture
The App Router represents a significant architectural shift from the Pages Router, prioritizing Server Components by default. This eliminates client-side data fetching waterfalls completely, leading to faster initial page loads and better SEO performance.
Progressive rendering with Suspense boundaries enables meaningful content to appear quickly while heavier sections load incrementally. The built-in caching system with configurable revalidation strategies reduces database load while ensuring content freshness.
Type-safe routing extends to both dynamic parameters and search queries, eliminating entire categories of runtime errors. The type system catches routing mismatches during development rather than leaving them for production.
Database Layer with Drizzle ORM
While Prisma offers excellent developer experience, several limitations became apparent as the application grew. JSONB support required complex workarounds, generated SQL for complex joins was often suboptimal, and migration control limited visibility into actual database changes.
The migration to Drizzle required systematic planning: starting with schema definition, generating SQL migrations manually, testing each table individually, and verifying data integrity throughout the process. Drizzle provides SQL-like syntax with full TypeScript support, making the transition predictable and maintainable.
// Schema definition with Drizzle
export const jobs = pgTable('jobs', {
id: text('id').primaryKey().$defaultFn(createId),
title: text('title').notNull(),
company: text('company').notNull(),
status: jobStatusEnum('status').default('interested'),
userId: text('user_id').notNull().references(() => users.id),
createdAt: timestamp('created_at').defaultNow(),
});
// Type-safe queries
const userJobs = await db
.select()
.from(jobs)
.where(eq(jobs.userId, session.user.id))
.orderBy(desc(jobs.updatedAt));The migration experience is particularly smooth—Drizzle generates actual SQL files that can be reviewed, modified, and version controlled. This transparency builds confidence when deploying schema changes to production databases.
Authentication with Better-Auth
OAuth provider conflicts represent a significant challenge in real-world applications. Users frequently sign up with multiple providers using the same email address, creating account linking scenarios that many authentication libraries handle poorly.
Better-Auth provides built-in conflict resolution through automatic email detection, provider linking workflows, and graceful error handling. The system maintains session continuity during provider switching, which is essential for user experience.
// lib/auth-server.ts
import { betterAuth } from "better-auth";
import { prismaAdapter } from "better-auth/adapters/prisma";
export const auth = betterAuth({
database: prismaAdapter(db, {
provider: "postgresql"
}),
emailAndPassword: {
enabled: true,
},
socialProviders: {
github: {
clientId: process.env.GITHUB_CLIENT_ID!,
clientSecret: process.env.GITHUB_CLIENT_SECRET!,
},
google: {
clientId: process.env.GOOGLE_CLIENT_ID!,
clientSecret: process.env.GOOGLE_CLIENT_SECRET!,
}
},
account: {
accountLinking: {
enabled: true,
trustedProviders: ["google", "github"],
},
},
});The account linking configuration handles complex scenarios automatically while allowing customization of the user experience for conflict resolution. This feature alone saved weeks of development time compared to implementing custom linking logic.
State Management with Zustand
State management needs evolved as the application grew from simple job tracking to complex interview management with document attachments and real-time updates. Zustand provides the minimal boilerplate needed without the complexity of Redux.
// lib/stores/job-store.ts
import { create } from 'zustand';
import { persist } from 'zustand/middleware';
interface JobStore {
jobs: EnrichedJob[];
updateJobStatus: (id: string, status: JobStatus) => void;
addJob: (job: CreateJobInput) => void;
}
export const useJobStore = create<JobStore>()(
persist(
(set, get) => ({
jobs: [],
updateJobStatus: (id, status) => set(state => ({
jobs: state.jobs.map(job =>
job.id === id ? { ...job, status } : job
)
})),
addJob: async (input) => {
// Optimistic update
const tempJob = { ...input, id: `temp-${Date.now()}` };
set(state => ({ jobs: [...state.jobs, tempJob] }));
try {
const newJob = await createJob(input);
set(state => ({
jobs: state.jobs.map(job =>
job.id === tempJob.id ? newJob : job
)
}));
} catch (error) {
// Rollback on error
set(state => ({
jobs: state.jobs.filter(job => job.id !== tempJob.id)
}));
throw error;
}
},
}),
{ name: 'job-store' }
)
);Optimistic updates with automatic rollback create a responsive user experience, while built-in persistence handles cross-tab synchronization automatically. The bundle size remains under 3kb compared to Redux’s 47kb+, significantly impacting page load performance.
Development Experience Tools
Structured Logging
Pino provides structured logging with request context that makes debugging production issues efficient. Each log entry captures relevant metadata like method, path, and user ID for comprehensive troubleshooting.
import { createRequestLogger } from '@/lib/logger';
export async function POST(request: NextRequest) {
const logger = createRequestLogger();
logger.info(
{ method: 'POST', path: '/api/jobs' },
'Creating new job application'
);
try {
const result = await createJob(data);
logger.info({ jobId: result.id }, 'Job created successfully');
return Response.json(result);
} catch (error) {
logger.error({ error }, 'Failed to create job');
return Response.json({ error: 'Failed to create job' }, { status: 500 });
}
}Comprehensive Validation
Zod schemas shared between client and server ensure type safety across API boundaries. The validation middleware transforms raw requests into typed data, eliminating runtime errors from malformed inputs.
// Shared schemas for client and server
const CreateJobSchema = z.object({
title: z.string().min(1).max(255),
company: z.string().min(1).max(255),
url: z.string().url().optional(),
status: z.enum(['interested', 'applied', 'interviewing', 'decided']),
});
// Type inference
type CreateJobInput = z.infer<typeof CreateJobSchema>;
// API validation middleware
export const withValidation = (schema: ZodSchema, handler: Function) => {
return async (request: NextRequest) => {
const body = await request.json();
const result = schema.safeParse(body);
if (!result.success) {
return Response.json({ error: result.error }, { status: 400 });
}
return handler(result.data);
};
};Performance Impact
The modern technology stack delivers measurable improvements across both development and production environments.
Package installation improved by 15x, reducing setup time from 45 seconds to 3 seconds. Hot reload became near-instantaneous, eliminating the feedback delay that breaks developer flow. TypeScript compilation requires zero configuration, removing setup complexity.
In production, bundle size decreased by 40%, time to interactive improved from 2.1s to 1.2s, server response time improved by 23%, and memory usage decreased by 35%. These improvements directly impact user experience and hosting costs.
Trade-offs and Considerations
No technology choice comes without trade-offs. Bun’s ecosystem, while growing rapidly, still has compatibility issues with some niche Node.js packages. The solution typically involves finding alternatives or using Node.js compatibility mode, but this requires consideration during library selection.
Drizzle’s learning curve challenges developers accustomed to Prisma’s abstraction level. The SQL-like approach provides more power but requires understanding actual database operations. Starting with simple schemas and migrating incrementally helps manage this transition.
Better-Auth, while powerful, has a smaller ecosystem than established libraries like NextAuth. Documentation covers common scenarios well, but edge cases may require source code investigation. Thorough testing with real OAuth providers in development helps identify issues early.
Server Components require a mental model shift for developers accustomed to client-side React patterns. Starting with server-first architecture and only adding client components when necessary prevents over-using ‘use client’ directives.
Production Readiness
After six months in production, the modern technology stack has demonstrated stability and performance that exceed traditional implementations. Bun has proven reliable with zero compatibility issues encountered in real usage. Next.js 15 Server Components eliminated client-side waterfalls completely. Drizzle ORM provides predictable SQL generation with migration control. Zustand handles state management with minimal boilerplate. Better-Auth manages complex OAuth scenarios without custom code.
For new projects starting in 2025, this stack offers superior developer experience and production performance compared to traditional tools. The ecosystem has matured sufficiently for production use while providing measurable advantages in development velocity and runtime performance.
The learning curve presents short-term challenges, but the long-term benefits in productivity, performance, and maintainability make the investment worthwhile. The stack represents the direction of modern web development—embracing type safety, performance optimization, and developer experience without sacrificing production readiness.
Try it yourself: View Live Demo • Source Code