# Integration Picker > Recommends the specific third-party services to use for auth, payments, email, storage, and other common needs. Use when building a feature that requires an external service and you're unsure which tool to use or how to set it up. Produces an integrations-plan.md with specific tool choices and the order to add them. Use when this capability is needed. - Skill: `tomevault-io/integration-picker` (Agent Skill, multi-file: 2 files) - Install (CLI): `npx skillmds@latest add tomevault-io/integration-picker` - Raw SKILL.md: https://api.skillmd.com/api/skills/tomevault-io/integration-picker/raw - Safety review: pending (external: skill-scanner PASS, skillspector PASS) - Works with: Claude Code, Claude.ai, OpenAI Codex - Category: Integrations & APIs - Author: tomevault-io (https://skillmd.com/u/tomevault-io) - Updated: 2026-09-17 - Page: https://skillmd.com/skills/tomevault-io/integration-picker --- # Integration Picker ## Quick Start Say: **"Help me pick my integrations"** or **"Which [payment/auth/email] tool should I use?"** Describe what your product needs to do. Total time: 10 minutes. Output: `integrations-plan.md` — specific tool for each integration category, setup priority, and what NOT to add yet. ## What You'll Get An `integrations-plan.md` naming the tool for each category you need, with the reason for the choice, a one-line setup description, cost at your expected scale, and an explicit "add only when" condition for anything you don't need yet. > **Example output excerpt:** > **Auth: Supabase Auth** > Reason: You're already using Supabase — auth is built in. Don't add Clerk unless you need SSO or organization management later. > Setup: Enable Email provider in Supabase dashboard, add the auth helpers to Next.js. 30 minutes with your agent. > Cost: Free. > Upgrade when: You need Google/GitHub social login (supported), SAML SSO (needs Clerk), or multi-org management. ## The Expert Judgment Embedded This skill applies **Integration Cost Analysis** — the idea that every third-party integration is a liability as much as an asset. Each tool adds: a monthly cost, a learning curve, a failure point, a vendor dependency, and often a webhook to maintain. The right integration decision minimizes the number of external dependencies while solving the real need. The cardinal rule: **don't add an integration because it might be useful**. Add it because you have a specific feature that requires it, right now, and the cost of not having it is user friction or lost revenue. For the full catalog of integration options by category, see [integrations-catalog.md](integrations-catalog.md). ## The Process ### Step 1: Identify Categories Needed The agent asks what your product needs to do, then maps those needs to integration categories: | Need | Category | |------|----------| | Users log in and have accounts | **Auth** | | Users pay you money | **Payments** | | You send emails to users | **Transactional Email** | | Users send emails through your product | **Email Sending API** | | Store files, images, documents | **File Storage** | | Get notified when users do something | **Webhooks / Events** | | Schedule tasks (daily reports, reminders) | **Background Jobs / Cron** | | Track what users do | **Analytics** | | Allow users to connect other apps | **OAuth / Third-Party APIs** | ### Step 2: One Recommendation Per Category For each category your product needs, the agent gives one specific tool — not a comparison, not a list. The recommendation is based on: - Your tech stack (from `stack-decision.md` if available) - Your timeline (fast to set up vs. fully featured) - Your expected scale in the first 90 days - Free tier generosity (you're pre-revenue or early revenue) ### Step 3: Setup Priority Integrations are sequenced by when you'll need them during the build: **Week 1 (before any code):** - Auth (users can't do anything without this) - Database (already covered in stack) **Week 1-2 (when building core features):** - File storage (if your core feature involves files) - Transactional email (for auth confirmation, at minimum) **Week 2-3 (before launch):** - Payments (if you're charging on launch) - Analytics (set up before you have users, so you have baseline data) **Post-launch (when the need emerges):** - Background jobs (when you have a specific async task) - OAuth connections (when users ask for a specific integration) ### Step 4: Output `integrations-plan.md` — all chosen tools, with rationale, setup cost (time), monetary cost, and a "don't add until" condition for anything deferred. ## Worked Example **Founder:** Building an agency client portal (Next.js + Supabase). Needs: client logins, file sharing, comment approvals, monthly billing. **Output:** > **Integrations Plan — Agency Client Portal** > > **Auth: Supabase Auth** ✅ Already chosen with stack > Setup: Enable email + Google provider in Supabase dashboard. 30 min. > Cost: Free to 50,000 MAU. > > **Payments: Stripe + Stripe Billing** > You're charging monthly subscriptions, so Stripe Billing handles recurring charges, invoices, and failed payment retries automatically. > Setup: Create Stripe account, add Stripe Billing product, implement Stripe Checkout for subscription sign-up. Agent can scaffold this in 2 hours. > Cost: 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction. No monthly fee. > ⚠️ Don't add: Stripe Connect (for marketplace splits) — you don't have two-sided payments. > > **File Storage: Supabase Storage** ✅ Already in your stack > Clients upload briefs; you upload deliverables. Supabase Storage with row-level security ensures clients only see their own files. > Setup: Create a storage bucket in Supabase, configure access policies. 1 hour. > Cost: Free to 1GB, then $0.021/GB. > > **Transactional Email: Resend** > You need: client invite emails, approval notifications, monthly invoice delivery. > Setup: Create Resend account, add API key to environment variables, create email templates with React Email. 1 hour. > Cost: Free to 3,000 emails/month. > > **Analytics: PostHog** > You need to know: which clients log in, which projects get viewed, where in the approval flow users drop off. > Setup: Add PostHog snippet to Next.js layout. 15 minutes. Start capturing before launch. > Cost: Free to 1M events/month. > > **Don't add yet:** > - Slack integration (add when 3+ clients request it) > - Zapier/Make webhooks (add when a specific automation need emerges) > - Customer support chat (add when support volume justifies it) ## Related Skills - Use **stack-selector** before this — the stack choice constrains integration options - Use **feature-sequencer** before this — know what you're building before choosing integrations - Use **architecture-explainer** after this — explains how all the pieces fit together --- > Converted and distributed by [TomeVault](https://tomevault.io/claim/gvkhosla) — claim your Tome and manage your conversions.