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Asterline Web Services: We design, build and hold up the software your business runs on.

Plate 0 of VI · Frontispiece

We design, build and hold up the software your business runs on.

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Edition MMXXVI

Interlude · The Cry

Software shouldn’t make you scream.

  • The site went down at 2 a.m.
  • Nobody replies.
  • Every change breaks something else.

I · The studio

Asterline Web Services is an independent software studio focused on designing, engineering, and maintaining digital products that businesses can depend on.

II · The craft

We bring together thoughtful design, reliable engineering, and long-term technical care to turn complex ideas into practical digital solutions.

III · The details

From the first line of code to the systems that keep everything running, we believe every detail should serve a purpose.

IV · What comes after

We don’t just build for the moment.We build for what comes after.

Sustineo. Latin: I hold up.

Interlude. The Cry. Oil, generated, MMXXVI. After Edvard Munch.

Plate I

Web applications

Portals, dashboards and internal tools, charted before they are built.

Plate I. The Cartographer. Oil, generated, MMXXVI.RA 04h 35m · Dec +16° 30′

Tab. I

Web applications

after The Cartographer

0481216

Scale of a first release, in weeks: 6–14

Most of the software a business depends on is not a website. It is the portal customers log into, the dashboard the operations lead opens at seven, the tool that replaced four spreadsheets and a shared inbox. We map how the work actually moves, then build the application around it.

We build

  • Customer portals and self-service accounts
  • Operations dashboards with live data
  • Booking, ordering and scheduling systems
  • Internal tools that replace spreadsheets
  • Next.js
  • React
  • TypeScript
  • Node.js
  • PostgreSQL
  • Drizzle ORM
  • Auth.js
The full plate
shipments/dashboard.tsxupdated 0s ago
In transit5
Delayed2
TEU this week80
ShipmentRoute
QS-4169Davao → Kaohsiung1 d20
QS-4182Manila → Busan2 d12
QS-4153Batangas → Osaka4 d6
QS-4177Cebu → Singapore5 d8
QS-4160Manila → Rotterdam19 d34
  1. a. Live numbers from your own data
  2. b. Trends drawn as they change
  3. c. Sort and filter, no spreadsheet
Fig. I: a working example, built in code on this page, over a detail of the plate.

RA 04h 35m · Dec +16° 30′

Plate II

Mobile apps

iOS and Android apps that hold their course in the field, offline included.

Plate II. The Navigator. Oil, generated, MMXXVI.RA 07h 45m · Dec +28° 01′

Tab. II

Mobile apps

after The Navigator

0481216

Scale of a first release, in weeks: 8–16

A mobile app lives in pockets, in poor signal, in a hurry. We build for that: apps that open fast, work offline and sync when they can, and get through App Store review without drama.

We build

  • Field and inspection apps with offline sync
  • Customer apps with accounts and payments
  • Companion apps for hardware and services
  • Internal apps for teams on the move
  • React Native
  • Expo
  • TypeScript
  • Swift and Kotlin modules
  • SQLite
  • Push notifications
The full plate
span-app/Inspection.tsxoffline
9:41No signal

Bridge 14 · North span

1 change queued1/5
  1. a. Knows when there is no signal
  2. b. Every tap saved on the device
  3. c. Changes queue, then sync themselves
Fig. II: a working example, built in code on this page, over a detail of the plate.

RA 07h 45m · Dec +28° 01′

Plate III

Cloud & DevOps

Infrastructure that carries the load, so your team does not have to.

Plate III. The Porter of Clouds. Oil, generated, MMXXVI.RA 10h 08m · Dec +11° 58′

Tab. III

Cloud & DevOps

after The Porter of Clouds

0481216

Scale of a first release, in weeks: 1–10

Good infrastructure is the part nobody mentions. Deploys are boring, alerts are rare and meaningful, and the monthly bill makes sense. We set it up that way, write it down as code, and hand you the keys.

We build

  • Cloud setups on AWS, Google Cloud or Vercel
  • CI/CD pipelines with preview environments
  • Migrations off ageing servers
  • Monitoring, alerting and cost reviews
  • AWS
  • Google Cloud
  • Vercel
  • Docker
  • Terraform
  • GitHub Actions
  • Grafana
The full plate
.github/workflows/deploy.ymlidle
  1. install
  2. lint + test
  3. build
  4. deploy · 3 regions
  5. health check
ready: main @ 3f9c21e
  1. a. Tested, built and deployed on every push
  2. b. A log a person can read
  3. c. One button, three regions
Fig. III: a working example, built in code on this page, over a detail of the plate.

RA 10h 08m · Dec +11° 58′

Plate IV

Integrations & APIs

Your systems, talking to each other: payments, ERPs, CRMs and the odd legacy server.

Plate IV. The Messengers. Oil, generated, MMXXVI.RA 13h 25m · Dec −11° 09′

Tab. IV

Integrations & APIs

after The Messengers

0481216

Scale of a first release, in weeks: 2–6

Data typed twice is data typed wrong once. We connect the systems you already pay for, design APIs your partners can actually use, and make the connections survive timeouts, retries and the occasional malformed CSV.

We build

  • Payment and accounting integrations
  • Public and partner APIs
  • Syncs between CRM, ERP and e-commerce
  • Webhooks, queues and scheduled jobs
  • REST
  • GraphQL
  • Webhooks
  • Stripe
  • Xero and QuickBooks
  • Shopify
  • HubSpot and Salesforce
  • Queues
The full plate
integrations/refunds.tsidle
POST /v1/refunds
Idempotency-Key: idem_7f3a9c
{ "order": "QS-4177", "amount": 1250.00, "currency": "USD" }
Press Send. The network will fail once; watch what happens.
  1. a. An idempotency key on every write
  2. b. Timeouts retried safely
  3. c. One refund, never two
Fig. IV: a working example, built in code on this page, over a detail of the plate.

RA 13h 25m · Dec −11° 09′

Plate V

AI & automation

The routine work read, sorted and drafted, with a person signing off.

Plate V. The Astronomer. Oil, generated, MMXXVI.RA 16h 29m · Dec −26° 25′

Tab. V

AI & automation

after The Astronomer

0481216

Scale of a first release, in weeks: 3–5

AI earns its keep on the dull, repetitive work: reading documents, sorting requests, drafting replies, finding the answer buried in a folder. We build it into your workflow with a human in the loop, measure it against real examples, and keep the costs visible.

We build

  • Document reading and data extraction
  • Request triage and routing
  • Search and answers over your own documents
  • Workflow automations with approval steps
  • OpenAI, Anthropic or open models
  • Retrieval and embeddings
  • Evaluation sets
  • n8n and custom workers
  • Python
  • TypeScript
The full plate
automation/triage.tswaiting

  • Dana, Northgate Foods

    Our invoice for October shows two charges for the same order.

  • Rafa, site team

    The app crashes when I attach more than ten photos.

  • Mei, Lumen Studio

    Can we add a second warehouse to the dashboard?

Simulated here with sample results; in production a model does the reading and a person approves.

  1. a. Sorted, with a confidence score
  2. b. A reply drafted for you
  3. c. A person approves what goes out
Fig. V: a working example, built in code on this page, over a detail of the plate.

RA 16h 29m · Dec −26° 25′

Plate VI

Product design

Interfaces people understand on the first try.

Plate VI. The Atelier. Oil, generated, MMXXVI.RA 19h 50m · Dec +08° 52′

Tab. VI

Product design

after The Atelier

0481216

Scale of a first release, in weeks: 3–8

Design is where a product becomes obvious. We talk to the people who will use it, sketch the flows, test a prototype with them, and hand engineering a design system rather than a pile of screens.

We build

  • User research and journey maps
  • UX flows and wireframes
  • Interface design for web and mobile
  • Design systems and component libraries
  • Figma
  • Prototypes
  • Usability tests
  • Design tokens
  • Storybook
The full plate
design/tokens.jsontheme: day

Shipment QS-4182

Arrives in 2 days

{ "radius": 10, "space": 16, "accent": "hsl(38 52% 48%)", "theme": "day" }
  1. a. One component, every state
  2. b. Tokens change the whole system
  3. c. Handed to engineering as code
Fig. VI: a working example, built in code on this page, over a detail of the plate.

RA 19h 50m · Dec +08° 52′

Selected work

Charted, built, still standing.

All work
  1. The Harbour Master: the painting for QuaysideFig. 1QuaysideA cargo portal that replaced a morning of phone calls with one screen.Sample case study
  2. The Surveyor: the painting for SpanFig. 2SpanAn offline inspection app that writes the report while the engineer is still on the bridge.Sample case study
  3. The Money Changers: the painting for CounterweightFig. 3CounterweightPayments, payouts and the ledger, reconciled every night without a spreadsheet.Sample case study

After the plates

Keep watch

Five steps from the first call to the years after launch.

The Night Watch. Oil, generated, MMXXVI.

  1. ISurvey1 to 2 weeks

    Interviews with the people who will use it, an audit of what exists, and a written scope with an estimate. You can take the scope elsewhere if you like.

  2. IIChart2 to 4 weeks

    Flows, a clickable prototype and the technical plan. You test it with real users before a line of production code.

  3. IIIBuildTwo-week sprints

    A staging link from the first week and a demo every other Friday. You see progress, not status reports.

  4. IVLaunch1 to 2 weeks

    Data migration, load tests, a release checklist, and training for your team. We launch on a Tuesday, never a Friday.

  5. VKeep watchOngoing

    Monitoring, updates, security patches and small improvements, with a monthly note on what changed and why.

  6. How we work