Svelte Indie Stack Guide for Solo Developers

The Stack

This is the stack for developers who tried React, found it unnecessarily complex, and wanted something that feels like writing actual HTML and JavaScript again. Svelte compiles away the framework, so your shipped code is smaller and faster than React equivalents by default. SvelteKit wraps it in a full-stack framework that handles routing, SSR, and API endpoints.

When to Use This Stack

Perfect for: Indie SaaS, productivity tools, content sites with interactivity, dashboards, and any project where you want fast UI development with minimal boilerplate.

Not ideal for: Projects where you need a massive component library ecosystem (React's is bigger), teams that already know React well (switching has a cost), or mobile apps (no React Native equivalent for Svelte).

This stack is best when you value developer experience and want to build fast with less code. Svelte consistently tops developer satisfaction surveys because it stays out of your way.

Why Solo Developers Love It

Less code, same result. A Svelte component that does the same thing as a React component is typically 30-40% fewer lines of code. No useState, no useEffect, no useCallback. Reactive state is just a variable. Side effects are just $effect. It's closer to how you'd naturally think about UI.

SvelteKit is genuinely full-stack. Server-side rendering, API routes, form actions, load functions, middleware. It's comparable to Next.js but with Svelte's simplicity. You can build an entire SaaS without a separate backend if your logic isn't too complex.

Tailwind + Svelte is a perfect pairing. Scoped styles are Svelte's default (styles in a component only affect that component). But Tailwind's utility classes make styling even faster. The combination means you almost never write CSS files.

Performance by default. Svelte compiles to vanilla JavaScript. No virtual DOM, no runtime framework code shipped to the browser. Your app is smaller and faster without any optimization effort. For a solo developer who doesn't have time to performance-tune their React app, this matters.

The Parts Nobody Warns You About

Smaller ecosystem than React. This is the real tradeoff. Need a rich text editor? React has 15 options. Svelte has 2-3. Need a complex data table? React has dozens. Svelte has a handful. You'll occasionally find yourself wrapping a vanilla JS library or building something that would be an npm install in React.

Svelte 5 runes changed things. Svelte 5 introduced runes ($state, $derived, $effect) which replaced the old reactivity model. If you're reading tutorials or looking at libraries, make sure they're updated for Svelte 5. The migration is mostly straightforward but old code patterns don't work the same way.

Prisma works great but adds overhead. Prisma's type generation is excellent for development but the generated client adds bundle size and cold start time to serverless deployments. For edge deployment (Cloudflare Workers), consider Drizzle instead since it's lighter and works better at the edge.

Auth is a solved but scattered problem. Unlike the Next.js ecosystem where Clerk dominates, Svelte's auth story involves more manual setup. Lucia Auth is excellent but it's a lower-level library. You'll write more auth code yourself. For many solo developers that's fine. For others, it's frustrating.

Setting Up the Stack

Run npm create svelte@latest and pick the skeleton project with TypeScript. Add Tailwind with npx svelte-add tailwindcss. Install Prisma with npm install prisma @prisma/client and set up your schema pointing at a Supabase or Neon PostgreSQL instance.

For auth, install Lucia and set up the database adapter for Prisma. Build your login/register pages with SvelteKit form actions. The login flow is roughly 200 lines of code total, which sounds like a lot until you realize it handles sessions, cookies, CSRF protection, and password hashing.

The key SvelteKit concept to understand is load functions. Each page can have a +page.server.ts that runs on the server and passes data to the page component. This is where you fetch from your database, check auth, and prepare data. It's elegant once it clicks.

Project Structure

src/
  ├── routes/
  │   ├── +page.svelte           (Home page)
  │   ├── +layout.svelte         (Global layout)
  │   ├── dashboard/
  │   │   ├── +page.svelte       (Dashboard UI)
  │   │   └── +page.server.ts    (Server-side data loading)
  │   ├── api/
  │   │   └── webhook/
  │   │       └── +server.ts     (API endpoint)
  │   └── auth/
  │       ├── login/+page.svelte
  │       └── register/+page.svelte
  ├── lib/
  │   ├── server/                (Server-only code)
  │   │   ├── db.ts              (Prisma client)
  │   │   └── auth.ts            (Lucia setup)
  │   └── components/            (Reusable components)
  └── app.css                    (Tailwind imports)

Cost Breakdown

Alternatives to Consider

If you want a bigger ecosystem: Next.js + React gives you the largest component library ecosystem and the most tutorials/resources. The tradeoff is more boilerplate and larger bundle sizes.

If you want simpler deployment: Astro with Svelte islands gives you a content-focused framework where you can still use Svelte components for interactive parts. Great for content-heavy sites.

If you want no framework lock-in: HTMX + any backend means zero frontend framework dependency. Everything is server-rendered with sprinkles of interactivity.

My Take

The Svelte indie stack is the developer happiness choice. It won't win on ecosystem size or job market demand, but it will make you genuinely enjoy building your product. For a solo developer working nights and weekends, enjoyment matters more than most people admit.

I've built projects in both React and Svelte. The Svelte projects took less time, had fewer bugs related to state management, and produced smaller bundles. The React projects had easier access to third-party components and more Stack Overflow answers when I got stuck.

If you're starting fresh and don't have a strong React habit, give SvelteKit a serious try. The learning curve is gentle, the documentation is excellent, and the community, while smaller, is incredibly helpful. You'll write less code, ship faster, and probably enjoy the process more.