Why This Post Exists
Most "what tools I use" posts are affiliate marketing disguised as advice. This one is not. These are the five tools I actually use every day to run Hunter's Holistic Health, Pharmacy Decoder, I Can Teach You AI, and my consulting work. No affiliate links. Just what works and why.
The Stack
1. Claude Code (Primary Build Tool)
Claude Code is the reason these businesses exist in their current form. I am a PharmD, not a software engineer. Claude Code let me build a full React + Supabase health education platform (huntersholistichealth.com), a pharmacy exam prep app with 340 questions and OTP verification (pharmacydecoder.com), and this site.
The key is the CLAUDE.md file. Every project gets one. It contains the design system, the compliance rules, the file structure, and explicit instructions about what Claude should never do without asking. When Claude Code reads a thorough CLAUDE.md, it behaves like a senior developer who has been briefed. Without one, it guesses.
I use Claude Code for initial builds, major refactors, and anything that touches multiple files at once.
2. n8n on AWS (HIPAA-Lane Automation)
n8n is a self-hosted workflow automation tool. I run it on AWS specifically because AWS offers a Business Associate Agreement (BAA). That BAA is what makes this instance safe for automations that handle data adjacent to my health education practice.
This instance runs the intake routing system for Hunter's Holistic Health: four submission types (waitlist, support, feature requests, clinical inquiries) each routed to their own Google Sheets tab with email alerts. It also handles appointment follow-up automations and the daily business briefing workflow that pulls from five Gmail accounts and three database tables.
The reason I self-host on AWS instead of using n8n Cloud or Zapier: when you self-host, your webhook data never passes through a third-party server. For healthcare-adjacent work, that matters.
3. n8n on Oracle Cloud (Teaching and Client Builds)
Oracle Cloud offers a free tier that includes a VM with enough resources to run n8n for 12 months at zero cost. I use this second n8n instance for everything that does not need the BAA: teaching demos, client workflow builds, and personal automations that have nothing to do with health data.
This separation is deliberate. The AWS instance is the clinical-adjacent lane. The Oracle instance is the general-purpose lane. They never share data. This is the two-layer architecture applied to my own infrastructure.
For anyone starting out with n8n, Oracle Cloud free tier is the best way to learn without paying for hosting.
4. Google Apps Script (Pharmacy Decoder Backend)
Pharmacy Decoder is a single-file web app that serves 340 UMPJE practice questions. It does not need a full backend. Google Apps Script handles everything server-side: OTP email verification for school access codes, activation logging to Google Sheets, and review collection.
The pattern is simple. The front end calls Apps Script via JSONP (dynamic script injection, not fetch, because of cross-origin restrictions). Apps Script handles the logic and writes to a linked Google Spreadsheet. Zero hosting cost. Zero maintenance. It has been running without issues since launch.
For simple apps that need server-side logic without a full backend, Apps Script is the laziest correct solution.
5. Make (Personal Automations)
Make (formerly Integromat) handles my personal workflow automations: Telegram bots that send morning briefings, Notion integrations for cycle tracking and daily logs, and various notification flows that do not need the security posture of the AWS n8n instance.
Make is easier to set up than n8n for simple two-step automations. The visual builder is more polished, and the pre-built integrations with Telegram and Notion work without configuration. The tradeoff is that your data flows through Make's servers, which is fine for personal use but not for anything health-related.
Why These Five and Not Others
Every tool in this stack was chosen because it solves a specific problem better than the alternatives, not because it is popular or trendy.
Claude Code over Cursor: because I need agentic autonomy, not an editor with autocomplete. I am not a developer looking for speed; I am a domain expert who needs the AI to handle implementation.
n8n over Zapier: because self-hosting gives me data control and Zapier gets expensive at scale.
Google Apps Script over a Vercel serverless function: because Pharmacy Decoder does not need a build step, a deployment pipeline, or TypeScript. Apps Script is the right level of complexity for what it does.
Make over building everything in n8n: because some automations are simple enough that self-hosting is overkill.
The Takeaway
Five tools. Two production apps. One Chrome extension. One exam prep product. One consulting service. No dev team. No CS degree. PharmD who builds.