Commissions
We take on custom software for clients, and we write every layer of what we deliver. You set the requirements, the platform, and the schedule. We bring the engineering, and the same care we put into our own apps.
What we take on
Most commissions begin with something a client needs and cannot simply buy: a file format nobody else supports, a codec or a parser, a measurement or analysis tool, a native app for a platform that got ruled out as too expensive, or a system that has to run on their own hardware with nothing behind it.
We work from your requirements. If the thing has to speak a particular protocol, fit inside a product you already ship, match a design your team has already settled, or land by a date that genuinely matters, those are the constraints we build to. We will tell you what we think along the way, and we are happy to be overruled.
What you get at the end is a system that stands on its own: something that runs on your machines, with no subscription behind it and no thicket of third-party packages underneath. That is how we build our own software, and it is most of why it keeps working. There is less of it, we understand all of it, and nothing turns up in a build that we did not put there.
How we work
We start by writing the job down, in enough detail that both of us can tell when it is done. That document is where surprises get found, and it is cheaper to argue about a paragraph than about a delivery.
You talk to the people writing the code. Teams stay small, which keeps decisions quick and keeps the reasoning in the heads of the people responsible for it.
A person is answerable for every line we hand over. Modern tools have made implementation faster, and we use them, but specification, review, and testing still take the time they always took, and the responsibility for the result stays with us.
Licensing, source access, escrow, and ongoing support are settled per engagement rather than dictated by a template. Tell us what your situation requires and we will work with it.
What we bring to it
Our own apps are built from the ground up, so the parts that most teams treat as someone else's problem are ours already. When a commission needs one of these, we are not starting from a blank page.
- Formats and codecs — archives, documents, images, audio, and video, including specifications that are old, vague, or barely documented at all.
- Signal processing — measuring and generating real audio, on real hardware, while it happens.
- Color science — appearance models, gamut mapping, and the arithmetic that keeps a color the same color from one device to the next.
- Numerical and symbolic work — exact arithmetic, very large integers, solvers, and the algorithms behind them.
- Protocols and networking — transport security, name resolution, remote display, and the wire formats underneath.
- Native applications — macOS, iOS, iPadOS, and Android sharing one core.
- Data with provenance — large reference sets where every claim can be traced to a source.
Short projects and long engagements
Plenty of good work is small and finite. A format to read, a component to replace, a port to finish, a performance problem with a number attached to it. We scope it, build it, hand it over, and that is the end of it. A short project is not a trial we are hoping to extend.
Other work is better held over years, and we are glad to do that too. Software tends to get rebuilt whenever the ground under it shifts, and a system whose foundations you control needs far less of that. Staying with a project also means the people who know why it was built the way it was are still the ones changing it.
Whether we are a good fit
We are at our best when we are building something, rather than adding capacity to a plan that already exists. If what you need is extra hands inside your current process, there are better options than us, and we would rather say so early.
And if a product on the market already does the job and its terms suit you, buy it. We think building is worth considering more often than most teams assume, which is not the same as thinking it is always the answer.
Getting started
Write to us with the problem and whatever makes it awkward: the platform, the deadline, the format, the budget. We will tell you whether it is something we should take on, and if it is, what it would take.