Theo Browne's Approach to Building AI Apps

Table of content

Theo Browne runs Ping.gg, a YC-backed company building developer tools. He’s known for creating create-t3-app (the T3 Stack), a TypeScript-first Next.js starter with 28k+ GitHub stars. More recently, he built T3 Chat, an AI chat interface focused on speed and usability.

The T3 Stack Philosophy

The T3 Stack emerged from Theo’s frustration with repetitive boilerplate. His approach: give developers typed, full-stack tooling without unnecessary complexity.

Core principles behind create-t3-app:

Typesafe from the start - TypeScript everywhere, no exceptions
Modularity over completeness - Include only what’s needed
Opinionated where it matters - Strong defaults for auth, ORM, styling
Full-stack coherence - tRPC connects frontend and backend seamlessly

The stack includes Next.js, TypeScript, tRPC, Prisma/Drizzle, NextAuth.js, and Tailwind CSS. Each piece solves a specific problem without bloat.

Building T3 Chat

T3 Chat came from Theo’s own AI usage. As he put it: “I asked for a better S3 for years. UploadThing exists because we got tired of waiting.” The same pattern applies to AI chat interfaces.

What makes T3 Chat different:

Speed obsession - Performance is the primary feature
Clean interface - No clutter, just conversation
Model flexibility - Switch between providers without friction
Developer-friendly - Built by a developer for developer workflows

The app reflects Theo’s content creation process: build something you need, then share what you learned.

Content as Product Development

Theo runs a popular YouTube channel (@t3dotgg) where he streams development and shares opinions on web tech. His workflow:

Build tools he needs (UploadThing, T3 Chat, QuickPic)
Document the process publicly via streams and videos
Iterate based on community feedback
Ship improvements fast

This feedback loop means his products evolve rapidly. Viewer comments become feature requests; stream sessions become debugging sessions.

Tool Stack (2023 snapshot)

Theo shared his daily tools:

General: Excalidraw, Notion, Linear, Discord, TickTick, Superhuman

Creator: Affinity Photo, Final Cut, LosslessCut

Dev Environment: VS Code, stock Terminal, zsh (oh-my-zsh), tmux, fnm, GitHub CLI

Practical Patterns

A few patterns from Theo’s approach to building:

Ship fast, iterate faster - T3 Chat launched and improved continuously based on real usage, not spec documents.

Type safety saves time - The investment in TypeScript pays off when refactoring. Compiler catches errors before users do.

Build what you use - UploadThing, T3 Chat, and QuickPic all started as tools Theo needed. Dog-fooding ensures quality.

Public building creates accountability - Streaming development means you can’t hide problems. Community sees everything.