Full-stack web development is the catch-all category for courses that cover both frontend and backend in one project — usually shipping a complete app from a blank repo to deployment. The stacks vary: MERN (MongoDB / Express / React / Node), MEAN (with Angular instead of React), T3 (TypeScript / tRPC / Tailwind / Next.js / Prisma), or the increasingly common Next.js + Postgres + Drizzle + Auth.js setup.
The skill being taught is integration: how the pieces fit together, where to put authentication, how to share types between client and server, how to deploy without spending a week on Docker. Most courses ship a real product (a marketplace, a SaaS dashboard, a social app) so the architectural decisions are concrete instead of hypothetical.