July 10, 2026
Five AI utilities in one afternoon, and what each one is really for
Cost estimator, stack recommender, prompt starter, idea validator, project matcher. Building them was the point.
The exercise
Shipping five utilities in an afternoon is a stress test on two things: how fast Lovable + the AI Gateway are (very), and how sharp my prompts are (sharper than I thought). Every utility is a different flavor of the same move — take one messy question a would-be builder asks, and answer it with a small, focused surface.
What each one is really for
Cost estimator answers "will this bankrupt me?" It ranks five platforms against sliders you actually understand.
Stack recommender answers "am I about to over-engineer this?" It returns 4–7 items and marks which are standard vs. extra.
Prompt starter answers "how do I even begin?" A copy-pasteable first prompt plus three follow-ups.
Idea validator answers "is this real?" Green/yellow/red plus the killer question you haven't asked yourself yet.
Project matcher answers "has someone already vibed this?" Three catalog projects plus the pattern connecting them.
The insight
Every one of these could be a $19/month SaaS. Instead they're free, embeddable, and each one is a lead magnet for the real product — you, building the next thing.