Happy Tuesday everybody!

I've been testing a lot of AI tools lately, and most of them are noise. Cool demos, flashy landing pages, but nothing that actually changes how you work.

But a few of them? Genuinely replacing entire workflows. Not in a "this is cool" way, in a "I literally cannot go back" way. Here's what I've been using.

Claude Code: an AI that writes code in your terminal

This one caught me off guard. Claude Code is a command-line tool from Anthropic that reads your entire codebase, understands it, and writes code for you directly in your project. Not in some web playground. In your actual files.

You describe what you want in plain English, it makes the changes, creates files, runs tests. I've used it to scaffold entire features that would have taken me hours. It's like pair programming with someone who already read every file in the repo.

If you write any code at all, even simple scripts, this is worth trying.

Lovable: build full apps without writing code

Lovable lets you describe an app in plain language and it generates a fully working web app. Not a mockup. A real, deployed app with a database, auth, and UI.

I've seen people go from idea to live product in an afternoon. Landing pages, dashboards, internal tools. The kind of stuff that used to require a developer and a few weeks of work.

If you have side project ideas collecting dust because you "can't code," that excuse is gone.

Perplexity: research without the noise

Google gives you links. Perplexity gives you answers. It searches the web, reads the sources, and gives you a clean summary with citations. No ads, no SEO spam, no scrolling through garbage.

I use it for everything now. Comparing products, understanding technical concepts, fact-checking. It replaced a 20-minute Google session with a 30-second query.

Cursor: the IDE that codes with you

Cursor is a code editor built on VS Code but with AI deeply integrated. It autocompletes entire functions, refactors code when you ask, and understands context across your whole project.

If you're still using regular VS Code with Copilot, Cursor is a noticeable step up. The AI isn't bolted on, it's built into every part of the experience.

ElevenLabs: AI voices that sound real

If you create any kind of content, ElevenLabs is wild. You can clone voices, generate narration, create voiceovers in multiple languages. The output sounds human. Not robotic, not awkward, actually human.

Useful for YouTube narration, podcasts, audiobooks, or even just creating audio versions of your written content. The free tier is generous enough to test it properly.

The real takeaway

The gap between people using these tools and people who aren't is getting wider every month. This isn't about being "into AI." It's about the fact that someone using Claude Code and Lovable can ship in a day what used to take a team a week.

You don't need to master all of them. Pick one, learn it properly, and watch how much faster you move. Then add the next one.

Catch you next week, Andreas