MVP Software Development

Use whatever your team already knows. If nobody has a preference: Next.js + PostgreSQL + Vercel for a full-stack web app, or Laravel + PostgreSQL + Forge for a server-rendered app. Both are production-proven, well-documented, and have large ecosystems. Don't pick a stack because it's trendy — pick it because your team can ship with it in weeks.

No. A monolith is the correct architecture for every MVP. Microservices solve problems that come with organizational scale — multiple teams, independent deployment cycles, different scaling needs per service. An MVP has none of these problems. A monolith is faster to build, easier to debug, and cheaper to run. Extract services later when you have evidence that you need them.

Yes, but only for the critical path. Write tests that verify a user can sign up, complete the core action, and see the expected result. Skip unit tests for utility functions, skip UI tests for layout, and skip edge case tests for error handling. Your test suite should run in under 60 seconds and give you confidence to deploy without manually testing the happy path.

PostgreSQL. It handles relational data, JSON documents, full-text search, and geospatial queries. Unless you have a very specific need (graph queries → Neo4j, time-series → TimescaleDB, pure document store → MongoDB), PostgreSQL is the right default. Use a managed service: Supabase, Neon, or your platform's built-in Postgres.

Embrace it — intentionally. Take shortcuts, but document them. Add TODO comments explaining what the ideal solution would be. Keep a running list of tech debt items. The key distinction: intentional tech debt (knowingly cutting corners to ship faster) is strategic. Accidental tech debt (messy code from lack of planning) is dangerous. Only take on the first kind.

If your product is a CRUD app (create, read, update, delete data), start with no-code: Bubble, Retool, or Glide. If your product requires custom logic, complex integrations, or real-time features, write custom code from the start. Migrating from no-code to custom code later is essentially a full rewrite, so choose based on where you think the product is headed, not just v1.

Use a managed platform that deploys on git push. Vercel for Next.js apps, Railway for anything containerized, Render for general-purpose, Fly.io for globally distributed apps. Set up production and staging environments. Push to a branch to deploy to staging, merge to main to deploy to production. Total setup time: 30-60 minutes. No Docker knowledge required for most platforms.

Use managed auth (never roll your own), use HTTPS everywhere (platforms like Vercel handle this automatically), never hardcode secrets (use environment variables), validate all user input on the server side, and use parameterized queries or an ORM to prevent SQL injection. These are table stakes, not optional. Security shortcuts in an MVP become data breaches when you have real users.

Use S3 or Cloudflare R2 for storage, with pre-signed URLs for direct uploads from the browser. Never store files on your application server — it creates deployment and scaling problems. Libraries like UploadThing or frameworks' built-in file handling (Laravel's Storage facade, Next.js API routes with formidable) make this straightforward.

When the cost of changing the existing codebase exceeds the cost of starting fresh — and you have evidence that the product is worth maintaining. Most MVPs should never be rewritten. Instead, incrementally improve the codebase as you learn what matters. Full rewrites take 2-3x longer than expected and introduce new bugs. Refactor continuously instead.