AI Stack for Open-Source Developers

This stack is designed for developers building applications powered by open-source AI models. The workflow mirrors how production teams actually work: experiment locally with Ollama, discover and evaluate models on Hugging Face, write integration code in Cursor, and deploy to production through Together AI. ## How the Stack Works Together **Development Phase**: Use Ollama to run candidate models locally while building your application. The OpenAI-compatible API means your code works identically in development and production — just swap the endpoint URL. **Model Selection**: Browse Hugging Face's 500K+ models to find the right one for your use case. Compare benchmarks, read community evaluations, and test models in Spaces before committing. **Code**: Write your application in Cursor with AI-assisted development. The codebase context awareness helps you build clean integrations with model APIs, handle streaming responses, and implement proper error handling. **Production**: Deploy through Together AI's serverless inference for automatic scaling. The $25 free credits cover initial testing, and pay-per-token pricing means you only pay for actual usage. ## Cost Breakdown | Tool | Role | Cost | |------|------|------| | Ollama | Local Development | Free | | Hugging Face | Model Discovery | Free | | Together AI | Production Inference | Pay-per-token (~$20-50/mo for moderate traffic) | | Cursor | Code Editor | Free tier or $20/mo Pro | The total cost scales with your production traffic. During development, the entire stack is effectively free. In production, Together AI's per-token pricing means you pay proportionally to usage — a few dollars per month for light traffic, scaling linearly as demand grows.