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Browse the full archive of posts published on Critical Stack. From timeless principles to sharp takes on developer culture, this is the complete feed — newest first. Use tags to filter by topic or dive into what's most active right now.

Next.js dominates the frontend — but not because it’s good. Here’s what the hype glosses over.

May 30, 2025
3 min read

Next.js is dominating the React ecosystem in 2025. Not because it’s perfect — but because it’s strategic.

May 27, 2025
2 min read

Framework tribalism doesn’t just waste energy — it wrecks clarity, bloats codebases, and turns developers into dogmatists. Here's how to stay sharp.

May 23, 2025
2 min read

Linting was supposed to help us catch bugs. Somewhere along the way, it became a religion. It's time to stop worshipping the tooling.

May 13, 2025
2 min read

Frontend dev has become a form of devops cosplay. Let’s talk about the real cost of overbuilding your toolchain.

May 5, 2025
3 min read

Most apps don’t fail because they can’t scale — they fail because they never shipped. Premature scaling is a self-imposed tax on momentum.

April 24, 2025
3 min read

About Critical Stack

Critical Stack is a developer-focused publication by Rowan Trace, offering sharp insights and grounded advice for developers who think critically about their craft. No fluff, no buzzwords, just real talk about building software that matters.