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Full-stack roadmap

The path from how the web works to shipping and maintaining a full-stack app.

Built from the well-known roadmap.sh path and the Full Stack Open course, aimed at professional-grade, nothing left out. Ten phases, from setting up your tools to the automatic monitoring and dependency tooling that keep a real app alive. Each phase becomes its own article. For building AI into what you make, see the AI engineering roadmap.

  1. 1

    Set up your workshop

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    The tools you work in every day, before any project. Skipped in most tutorials.

    A carpenter sets up the bench and sharpens the tools before the first cut.

    • Terminal & shell
    • Linux basics
    • A code editor
    • Dotfiles
    • Git workflow (branch, PR, rebase)
    • SSH
    • AI dev tools
  2. 2

    How the web actually works

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    The groundwork everything else sits on.

    Like posting a letter and getting one back, just very fast.

    • Internet
    • Browsers
    • DNS
    • HTTP
    • TLS / HTTPS
    • CORS & cookies
    • Git & GitHub
  3. 3

    The front end, what people see

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    The languages every web page is made of, plus a safer way to write one.

    A house needs a frame, then paint, then electricity.

    • HTML
    • Semantic HTML & a11y
    • CSS
    • Responsive design
    • JavaScript
    • TypeScript
    • Browser DevTools
    • Web performance basics
  4. 4

    Front end at scale

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    The tools that stop a growing front end from becoming a mess.

    A control panel that updates the whole room when you flip one switch.

    • React / Next.js
    • State & routing
    • Forms & validation (Zod)
    • Data fetching (TanStack Query)
    • Vite
    • Tailwind
    • ESLint + Prettier
    • FE testing (Vitest, Playwright)
    • SSR / SSG / ISR
    • SEO & Core Web Vitals
  5. 5

    The back end, where the work happens

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    The half users never see, that does the real work.

    The kitchen behind the restaurant counter.

    • Node / Python / Java
    • REST / GraphQL / tRPC
    • Auth & RBAC
    • OAuth / OIDC
    • Sessions vs JWT
    • Input validation
    • WebSockets & webhooks
    • Background jobs & queues
    • Caching (Redis)
    • Rate limiting
    • File uploads (S3 / R2)
    • Email
    • Payments (Stripe)
    • API docs (OpenAPI)
    • Env & secrets
  6. 6

    Where the data lives

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    How an app remembers anything after you close the tab.

    A neat filing cabinet versus a pile of labelled boxes.

    • SQL databases
    • NoSQL databases
    • ORM (Prisma / Drizzle)
    • Migrations
    • Schema design
    • Indexing & query performance
    • Transactions
    • Backups & restore
    • Full-text search
  7. 7

    Ship it and go live

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    Getting it online, in a way you can repeat without fear every time.

    Opening the restaurant doors to the public for the first time.

    • Deployment & hosting
    • Domains & DNS
    • Docker & containers
    • CI/CD
    • Infrastructure as Code (Terraform)
    • Cloud (AWS / GCP / Azure)
  8. 8

    Keep it alive: monitoring & automation

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    The automatic tools that watch, protect, and update the app so you do not have to by hand. This is what separates 'can code' from 'can run production'.

    The alarms, cameras, and health inspector that keep a restaurant open safely.

    • Error tracking (Sentry)
    • Uptime monitoring
    • Logging
    • APM / tracing (OpenTelemetry)
    • Product analytics (PostHog)
    • Feature flags
    • Alerting & status page
    • Dependency updates (Renovate / Dependabot)
    • Dependency security (Snyk / npm audit / Socket)
    • Secret scanning (gitleaks)
    • Code quality automation (Husky + lint-staged)
    • AI code review (CodeRabbit)
    • Code scanning (CodeQL / SonarCloud)
    • Release automation (Changesets)
    • Perf CI (Lighthouse CI)
    • Load testing (k6)
    • Backup automation
    • Cost alerts
  9. 9

    Work like a professional

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    The habits that make you someone a team can rely on, not just someone who can code.

    Knowing how to run the kitchen, not just cook one good dish.

    • Code review
    • README & docs
    • ADRs (decision records)
    • Issue tracking
    • System design basics
    • Monorepo (Turborepo)
    • Estimation & communication
  10. 10

    AI in the stack

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    Adding AI to an app you build, done safely. The deep AI path has its own roadmap.

    Hiring a very fast assistant, and knowing exactly what not to trust it with.

    • LLM API integration
    • Streaming responses
    • Evals
    • Prompt injection & AI security
    • Cost control