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Tech stack for a developer API product (2026)

Web page to Markdown API, designed by StackPrism from one sentence: 9 components, a reason for each, and the live checks that watch them.

The stack

  • Next.js
  • Vercel
  • Inngest
  • Stripe
  • PostgreSQL
  • Upstash
  • Clerk
  • Sentry
APIUsage billingServerlessUpdated
The idea someone typed
“A developer API that turns any web page into clean Markdown. Developers sign up, create API keys, call a REST endpoint, see their usage in a dashboard, and pay per request after a free monthly quota. Traffic comes in bursts.”

Their answers on the constraints step

Expected scale
Spiky traffic

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Start from this stack
goes down

Select a component to see what it does and what it connects to, or pick one above to see what breaks if it goes down. Pinch or use the buttons to zoom.

Why this stack

The API itself is a Node.js app on Vercel Functions, which scale up for bursts of traffic and back down when it’s quiet. Each request is checked against the caller’s key in PostgreSQL and their rate limit in Upstash Redis before any work starts, and long conversions are queued as Inngest jobs that write their results to PostgreSQL. Developers sign up with Clerk and manage keys and usage in a Next.js dashboard. Stripe handles billing past the free quota, and a separate webhook handler records Stripe’s events in PostgreSQL. Sentry reports errors.

Why each piece

All 9 components on the diagram: what each one does, what it talks to, and what stops if it goes down.

  1. Next.js Dashboard

    In Vercel

    Developer dashboard. Calls Clerk (authenticates), Vercel Functions, PostgreSQL (reads) and Sentry (reports).

    Nothing else on the diagram depends on it.

  2. Vercel Functions

    In Core Services

    Node.js API. Calls Inngest (queues), Sentry (reports), PostgreSQL (queries) and Upstash Redis (reads). Called by Next.js Dashboard.

    If it goes down, 1 of 8 components stops working.

  3. Inngest

    In Core Services

    Background jobs. Calls PostgreSQL (writes). Called by Vercel Functions (queues).

    If it goes down, 1 of 8 components degrades.

  4. Stripe Webhooks

    In Vercel

    Billing callbacks. Calls Stripe (receives) and PostgreSQL (updates).

    Nothing else on the diagram depends on it.

  5. PostgreSQL

    In Data & Storage

    System of record. Called by Next.js Dashboard (reads), Stripe Webhooks (updates), Vercel Functions (queries) and Inngest (writes).

    If it goes down, 4 of 8 components stop working.

  6. Upstash Redis

    In Data & Storage

    Rate limiting. Called by Vercel Functions (reads).

    If it goes down, 1 of 8 components degrades.

  7. Stripe

    In External Services

    Billing platform. Called by Stripe Webhooks (receives).

    If it goes down, 1 of 8 components degrades.

  8. Clerk

    In External Services

    Authentication. Called by Next.js Dashboard (authenticates).

    If it goes down, 1 of 8 components stops working.

  9. Sentry

    In External Services

    Error tracking. Called by Vercel Functions (reports) and Next.js Dashboard (reports).

    If it goes down, 2 of 8 components degrade.

When this stack fits

  • Traffic comes in bursts and you don’t want servers sitting idle in between.
  • You sell per request, so every call has to be counted and limited.
  • Developers expect a dashboard with keys and usage from the first day.

When to pick something else

  • Pages need a real browser to render: headless browsers are heavy for serverless functions, so run them on a container service.
  • You’d rather not build keys and metering: API management services can issue keys and count usage for you.

What you need to build this

9 components across 8 areas of the stack.

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Frontend1

  • Next.js Dashboard

    Developer dashboard

    npm install next

    Docs

Backend & APIs1

  • Inngest

    Background jobs

Data1

  • PostgreSQL

    System of record

    Docs

Cache & queues1

  • Upstash Redis

    Rate limiting

    Docs

Auth1

  • Clerk

    Authentication

    npm install @clerk/nextjs

    Docs

Payments2

  • Stripe Webhooks

    Billing callbacks

    npm install stripe

    Docs

  • Stripe

    Billing platform

    npm install stripe

    Docs

Hosting & infra1

  • Vercel Functions

    Node.js API

    Docs

Observability1

  • Sentry

    Error tracking

    npm install @sentry/nextjs

    Docs

Install

npm install next @clerk/nextjs stripe @sentry/nextjs

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