Keep 4, Cut 4: The AI Coding Tools I Actually Ship With
This started as a rapid-fire round on camera: keep four, cut four, coding tools. Easy round, because I do not have to guess. I ship with these tools every day. Below is the scoreboard, the reasoning behind every verdict, and the real stack that survives on my machine. No sponsors, no affiliate links. Just what holds up when the project is real.
The scoreboard
Four earn their slot. Four lose it. Save this and skip the next ten 'best AI coding tools' videos.
KEEP: Cursor, Claude Code, Codex, Lovable
CUT: Copilot, Replit, v0, BoltKeep: the four that earn their slot
Cursor. Keep. My daily editor, where the actual work happens. Claude Code. Keep. Elite for big refactors and multi-file work. Nothing else on this list handles that as well. Codex. Keep. Fast tasks. Hand it a contained job, get it back done. Lovable. Keep. Fastest zero to MVP of anything here. When the goal is a working app today, it wins.
KEEP
Cursor: daily editor, where the actual work happens
Claude Code: elite for big refactors and multi-file work
Codex: fast tasks, hand it a contained job
Lovable: fastest zero to MVP, working app todayCut: the four that lost their slot
Copilot. Cut. It is behind, and that is the whole verdict. The keeps lapped it. Replit. Cut. v0. Cut. Same reason for both: they are fighting Lovable for the zero-to-MVP slot, and Lovable is faster. Second place in the same lane goes home. Bolt. Cut. Dies on anything real. Fine for a demo, gone the moment the project has actual requirements.
CUT
Copilot: behind, the keeps lapped it
Replit: fighting Lovable for the zero-to-MVP slot and losing
v0: same fight, same result
Bolt: fine for a demo, dies on anything realThe real stack I ship with
The keep-or-cut game caps you at four. My working stack is eight, because shipping is more than writing code. This is the exact list I send people who ask, every tool and the one job it owns.
My real coding stack, what I ship with:
Cursor: daily editor
Claude Code: big refactors + multi-file
Codex: fast tasks
Lovable: zero to MVP fast
Claude Artifacts: quick utilities
ChatGPT: debug rubber duck
Perplexity: docs lookup
GitHub: still where the code livesHow to steal this
Do not install all eight on day one. Start with one editor, one heavy lifter, and one zero-to-MVP tool. Add the rest only when you feel the gap they fill. A stack earns tools one at a time, same as mine did. And re-run the keep-or-cut test every few months. The cut list changes faster than you think.
Build the stack in this order:
1. One editor (Cursor)
2. One heavy lifter (Claude Code)
3. One zero-to-MVP tool (Lovable)
4. Add the rest one at a time, only when you feel the gap they fill
5. Re-run keep-or-cut on your stack every few monthsGet the next one first
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