Shipment exception platform
Watches every parcel an online retailer ships, finds the ones that have stopped moving, and gives customer service a short list to work before customers have to ask.
- Node.js
- TypeScript
- Fastify
- PostgreSQL
Software built around how your business works
When off-the-shelf software makes you change how you work, or you are paying for five tools that do not talk to each other, a small custom system can be the cheaper option. I build them, run them and document them.
When custom software makes sense
When the same work is done by hand every day, when information lives in several systems that do not connect, or when the job you need done is specific enough that no product fits. If a good off-the-shelf product exists, I will tell you to buy it.
What I build
The kinds of systems small businesses actually need
Inside the business
Internal tools
Job tracking, inventory, scheduling, intake forms, approval workflows. Replaces the shared spreadsheet that three people are afraid to touch.
Seeing the numbers
Dashboards and reports
One screen that pulls figures from your store, your accounting system and your spreadsheets, so nobody spends Monday morning assembling them.
Customers
Portals
Where customers check an order, upload documents, book a time or see their history, without phoning the office.
Connections
Integrations
Your store, CRM, accounting, shipping and email tools passing data to each other through their APIs, on a schedule or the moment something happens.
Out in the field
Mobile and offline
Web apps that install on a phone and keep working without signal, then sync when back in range. Native iPhone and iPad apps when they are needed.
Old systems
Modernization
An Access database, an old PHP app or a VB.NET tool that still runs the business. Rewritten carefully, with the data moved over and checked.
Approach
How I keep projects small and safe
Phase one is small
The first phase solves the most expensive problem and nothing else. You use it, find out what is missing, and decide whether the next phase is worth paying for.
Your data is never trapped
Standard databases such as PostgreSQL, exports in CSV, and documented APIs. If we part ways, your data goes with you in a form anyone can read.
Tested, monitored, backed up
Automated tests for the rules your business depends on, health checks that alert me when something fails, and backups that are checked by restoring one before launch.
Boring technology on purpose
Well-known tools like TypeScript, Node.js, PostgreSQL and .NET, chosen so the system can be maintained for years by me or someone else.
Example
A business system in production
The shipment exception platform watches every parcel an online retailer ships, through three carriers' tracking APIs, and gives customer service a short list of parcels that need a person. It went from first commit to live in seven weeks with more than 1,700 automated tests. It was built as employment work and is shown with the company's name and data kept private.
Process
From idea to running system
Discovery
How the work is done today, who does it, where the data lives, and what it costs you when it goes wrong.
Scope and price
A short written plan for the first phase with a fixed price, a timeline and what is out of scope.
Build in the open
Regular previews on a test site with realistic data. You try it before your staff depend on it.
Run and improve
Launch with monitoring and backups, training for the people who use it, and a maintenance agreement if you want one.
Related work
Projects that used this kind of work
Built by Code Hawk's founder. Each card says whether it was employment, team or independent work.
KnowTarot
A free tarot reading and learning app that works offline. Readings, a journal, flashcards and a 14-lesson course. Designed, built and run by one person.
- Next.js
- React
- TypeScript
- Tailwind
Questions
Custom software: common questions
Does Code Hawk build custom business software?
Yes. Internal tools, dashboards, customer portals, tracking and scheduling systems, and integrations between the software you already use. Most are web applications that work in any browser and on phones, so there is nothing to install.
How much does custom software cost?
It depends on what it has to do, and I would rather give you a real number than a range that means nothing. The first step is a short discovery conversation. Then you get a written scope and a fixed price for the first useful phase, which is often small. Later phases are quoted when you know the first one works.
Who owns the code?
You do, once it is paid for. The code lives in a repository in your name or handed over to you, the servers and databases are in accounts you control, and the system is documented so another developer could take it over.
Can you build a phone app?
Yes, when it is the right answer. I was one of the main developers of an iPhone and iPad app on the App Store. But many "app" ideas work better and cost far less as a web app that installs to the home screen and works offline, so that is the first thing we will look at.
We already have software that almost works. Can you extend it?
Often. If it has an API or a database you can access, I can add the missing piece around it: a report, an automatic import, a form for the field crew, or a connection to another system. That is usually cheaper than replacing it.
What happens after launch?
Software needs looking after: security updates, backups, small changes as the business changes. I offer a maintenance agreement priced for each system, separate from website maintenance plans, or I will hand it over to your own staff with documentation.
Next step
Have a process that should be software?
A few sentences is enough to start. I will reply within one business day with questions or a rough price, and there is no charge for the first conversation.