Fractional CTO · Website redesign · AI engineering

Apps that ship
Sites that get found

The Notus is a fractional CTO and custom-site studio. We take stuck Lovable, Cursor, and Bolt prototypes to real production, and rebuild sites you've outgrown on Webflow, WordPress, Squarespace, and Wix in custom Astro on Cloudflare. Engineering, brand, and AI visibility under one roof.

Founders bring us half-built AI apps they can't push past auth, payments, AI pipelines, and the security passes no AI tool runs for you. Operators bring us tired Webflow or WordPress sites that no longer convert and can't be read by AI tools. We finish both — same shop, same standards, same in-house team handling brand, design, and engineering. Every build ships with AI-legible markup, schema, and llms.txt baked in from line one. Song Cage went from a founder vision to a shipped product cited #1 by ChatGPT for "best songwriting app" within seven days of launch, with 92 signups in month one and zero ad spend. Fixed scope, fixed price, you own the code outright. No retainer, no platform subscription, no hourly billing from us.

92
SignupsSong Cage · month one · zero ads
#1
ChatGPT rankingSong Cage · week one
3
Production SaaS shippedend-to-end by us
001
Apps to Production
002
Custom Sites & Rebuilds
003
Brand & Design
004
Built-In AI Visibility
Apps that ship · Sites that get found Stuck AI-built MVP to production Webflow & WordPress to custom code Real auth · real payments · real AI Brand, design, and engineering under one roof Three SaaS products shipped end-to-end Song Cage · #1 in ChatGPT · 7 days Apps that ship · Sites that get found Stuck AI-built MVP to production Webflow & WordPress to custom code Real auth · real payments · real AI Brand, design, and engineering under one roof Three SaaS products shipped end-to-end Song Cage · #1 in ChatGPT · 7 days
001 / What We Do

What does The Notus actually do?

Apps to production · Custom sites · Brand · AI visibility
001

Apps to Production

You have an AI-built prototype that mostly works. Notus is the fractional CTO and MVP development team that finishes it the right way: real auth, real payments, real database design, AI calls that don't burn your runway, performance, and the security passes no AI tool runs for you. You ship to real users. You own the code.

  • Any vibe-coded stack: Lovable, Cursor, Claude, Bolt, Replit, v0, Windsurf
  • Auth, payments, webhooks, idempotency, all hardened
  • AI pipelines that don't crash and don't bleed cost
  • Native iOS / Android via Capacitor if you need it
From $7,500 · 3–4 weeks · fixed scope
002

Custom Sites & Rebuilds

A custom website redesign, or a brand-new site from scratch. Our in-house team handles brand, design, and engineering. Webflow, WordPress, Squarespace, and Wix get migrated to custom code you actually own. Then we set you up to keep editing it yourself by talking to Claude or Cursor, with guardrails so nothing in production breaks while you do.

  • Brand-new builds with full brand & design from our team
  • Webflow, WordPress, Squarespace, Wix migrated to custom Astro on Cloudflare
  • AI-editable handoff: CLAUDE.md, preview deploys, one-click rollback, plain-English training
  • Structured so ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI can read you
  • 95+ Lighthouse · no platform fees from us · you own everything
From $4,000 · productized
The proof: both pillars on one project

Song Cage. App to production. Custom site. #1 in ChatGPT.

A founder came to us with a vision for a songwriting app — no prototype, no code. We designed and built the whole thing from blank file: one React codebase shipped to web, iOS, and Android, plus a custom Astro marketing site alongside. Month one: 92 signups, zero ads. Recommended #1 by ChatGPT for its category in seven days.

See the case study →
003

Brand & Design

Logo, colour system, typography, brand guide. Standalone if you only need brand work, or bundled into any site or app build. Designers, not auto-generators.

From $800
004

AI Engineering Specialty

Most rescue shops bolt on Stripe and call it done. We've shipped real AI in production: Groq, OpenAI, Replicate, Parallel AI, BM25 search, vector retrieval, multi-model pipelines that don't crash and don't bleed cost.

Included where it matters
005

Monthly Content (Retainer)

Four articles a month, written to be cited by AI tools. We research, write, get your approval, and publish. Optional add-on once your product or site is live.

$400 / month
Aequam memento rebus in arduis servare mentem Keep a calm mind when things are difficult Horace · Odes II.3
002 / The Difference

Why AI tools stall, and why most agencies can't finish them either

Production engineering is the work nobody sells you
01
The first 70%

AI tools build the demo. Then the doom loop starts

Cursor, Claude, Lovable, Bolt. They're fantastic at scaffolding. But when auth breaks in edge cases, Stripe webhooks drop, the AI calls bleed cost, or the database can't take real traffic, the same tools that built it can't reliably fix it. You end up in a fix-break-fix loop that costs more in credits than hiring help.

Demo → production gap
~70% built. The last 30% is the actual product.
02
The Notus way

Production engineering by founder-engineers, not contractors

We read your codebase, fix the foundations, and finish the build the way it should have been done from the start. Real auth, real payments, AI pipelines that hold up under load, a database that scales, and a site that ChatGPT can read. No retainer, no doom loop, no surprises.

Ready for paying users
High. The final 30%, done right, once.
03
The result

A product real customers use, and one ChatGPT actually recommends

When someone asks ChatGPT for "best songwriting app," our client's name comes up. Not a competitor's. And when those people sign up, the auth holds, the payments clear, the AI features work. That's the difference between a working demo and a working business.

Song Cage: idea → shipped product → 92 signups month one → #1 in ChatGPT in 7 days.

003 / Case Study

Song Cage. Idea → 92 signups → #1 in ChatGPT in seven days

Production engineering · AI visibility · Zero ads
Song Cage songwriting app — DAW-style timeline canvas with Am, C, D, F chord blocks, "There is a house in New Orleans / They call the Rising Sun" lyrics laid on the beat, and the Word Tools panel showing rhymes for "boy" grouped by syllable count (coy, joy, troy, employ, enjoy, destroy, hoi polloi, corduroy, attaboy, capital of Illinois)
The client

Song Cage

Songwriting and melody-detection app that runs on web, iOS, Android, and inside DAWs as a plugin. The founder had the vision; we designed and built the entire product from blank file.

92
Signups
month one · zero ads
#1
Ranked in ChatGPT
"best songwriting app"
7
Days from launch
to first AI citation
$0
Paid advertising
100% organic
What we built
  • Designed and built the entire product from a founder vision, no prototype to start from
  • Real auth, real payments, real audio/AI processing pipeline
  • Native iOS and Android wrappers via Capacitor
  • Custom Astro/Cloudflare marketing site, AI-legible from line one
  • Submitted sitemap to Google Search Console on launch day
Cited across all major AI tools
ChatGPT Ranked #1
Perplexity Cited
Claude Cited

"We went from just an idea to 92 signups in three months. With zero ads."

Song Cage founder

Three products shipped by The Notus
See all three case studies →
004 / How It Works

How does The Notus work with clients?

Apps or sites: same process, same standards
01

Free written estimate

Send us your repo, your live demo, or your AI-tool project link. We read it, run it, and send back a written estimate within 48 hours: what's in scope, what's risky, what it takes to finish. Free. No call required.


You get a real engineer's read on your codebase.

02

We build, finish, or rebuild it

Fixed scope, fixed price. App side: auth, payments, real database, AI pipelines that hold, performance, security. Site side: brand, design, custom code, AI-legible markup. Same shop, same standards. We share progress weekly and hand back code you actually own.


3–4 weeks for finish-the-MVP. 2–3 weeks for sites. 6–12 weeks for full rebuilds.

03

Customers can find it

Every build includes the AI-visibility work baked in: markup, schema, llms.txt, structured copy. Once live, ChatGPT and Perplexity can read your site and recommend you by name. Add monthly content if you want compounding citations. Or don't.


Song Cage: cited in ChatGPT 7 days after launch.

005 / Services

Two pillars · Fixed scope · You own the code

One bill, then it's yours. We are not a retainer.
Pillar one · Fractional CTO

Apps to Production

From $7,500 · 3–4 weeks

You have an AI-built prototype that mostly works. Notus is the fractional CTO and MVP development team that finishes it the right way and ships it to real users. Fixed scope, fixed price. You own the code outright. No platform lock-in, no SaaS subscription to us.


Pillar two · Website redesign

Custom Sites & Rebuilds

From $4,000 · productized

A custom website redesign, or a brand-new site from scratch. Our in-house team handles brand, design, and engineering. Then we set you up to keep editing the site yourself by talking to Claude or Cursor, with the guardrails that make it safe to do so on a live business. Every page also ships structured for ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Google AI to read and cite from line one.


Why this works

"It's hard to pay a dev agency for two weeks of work knowing I already built most of it in a weekend."

We hear this. So we don't charge for what AI already did, and we don't charge for what a template builder already gave you either. We charge a fixed price for the part neither of them could do. We've finished three of these.

Also available

Brand & Design

From $800

Standalone brand work if you only need a logo, palette, and brand guide. Or bundled into any site or app build. Same designers, same standards.


Greenfield builds

Custom App From Scratch

Quoted per scope · typically $25K+

No prototype yet. You have an idea and validated demand, not code. We design and build the whole product end-to-end, including the AI engineering most rescue shops can't deliver.


Monthly add-on

Monthly Content

$400 / month

Four articles a month, published to your site. Each written to be cited by AI tools. We research, write, get your approval, and publish. Cancel anytime.


Not sure what you need?

Send us the repo, the URL, or just the idea. We'll tell you exactly what it takes. Free, in 48 hours.

Stuck on a Cursor build, holding a half-broken Lovable prototype, escaping Webflow, or starting from scratch. We'll send back a written estimate either way.

Let's talk →
Common platforms we move people off
Webflow Custom Astro on Cloudflare
WordPress Custom Astro on Cloudflare
Squarespace Custom Astro on Cloudflare
Wix Custom Astro on Cloudflare

Same shop migrates them all. No monthly platform fees from us. AI-legible from line one, and editable by you and Claude after launch without a developer on retainer.

006 / Who We Help

Stuck founders. Tired sites. Operators ready to ship.

Two pillars, two audiences, handled by one shop
Apps

Stuck on Lovable
or Bolt

You shipped a demo that looks great. Auth and payments are the problem. We unstick you.

Apps

Stuck on Cursor
or Claude Code

The code mostly works. Edge cases, AI cost, security, performance. You can't get past them alone.

Sites

Outgrown Webflow
or WordPress

Your site fought you for the last time. We migrate to custom Astro on Cloudflare, then set you up to edit it yourself by talking to Claude. Fast, AI-legible, yours.

Sites

Need a real
brand-new site

No site, or one that no longer fits. Our team handles brand, design, and engineering. One bill, one team, one timeline.

You're a good fit if
  • You have a stuck AI-built app, or a site that's holding you back
  • You want a fixed price, scoped build. Not a retainer, not hourly
  • You'd rather own clean custom code than rent it from a platform
  • You want brand, design, and engineering from one team, not three vendors
  • You're ready for AI tools to actually be able to find you
Not sure where you fit?

Send us what you have: repo, URL, or just the idea. Free 48-hour written estimate either way.

App side, site side, both. We'll tell you what it takes. No call required.

007 / FAQ

Plain answers. No jargon.

Questions stuck founders ask us every week

Yes. That's one of our two main service lines. Send us a repo link or a deployed URL, and we'll read it, run it, and send back a written estimate within 48 hours: what's in scope, what's risky, what it'll take to finish. The estimate is free.

Yes, this is the other half of what we do. We rebuild your site in custom Astro on Cloudflare, with brand, design, and AI-legible markup baked in. You keep your content and your domain; you lose the monthly platform fees, the template constraints, and the structural invisibility that keeps AI tools from reading your site. Every migration ships with an AI-editable handoff so you can keep updating the site yourself by talking to Claude or Cursor after we hand it back. Start at $4,000, productized.

Yes, and this is the part most agencies skip. Webflow and WordPress can't be safely edited by AI tools today: Webflow has no API for agents, WordPress hides content in serialized database blobs that page builders own. A custom Astro site is the opposite. Claude Code and Cursor can read the whole codebase, understand the design system, and ship changes through plain English. We set you up to do that safely. The handoff includes a project-tuned CLAUDE.md that tells Claude what your brand rules, components, and no-touch zones are; Claude Code hooks that run lint and tests on every change; preview URLs on every edit so you see the change before it goes live; one-click rollback when something does go wrong; and a 60-minute walkthrough so you know exactly how to prompt for edits. Founders are typing things like 'add a testimonial section under the pricing block' and shipping it themselves, same day, without us in the loop.

Both. Our in-house team handles brand, identity, and visual design, standalone if you only need brand work (from $800), or bundled into any site or app build. We don't subcontract this to anyone.

Three things. First: we've shipped three SaaS products of our own (not just rescued other people's bugs), so we know what production actually demands. Second: most rescue shops bolt on Stripe and call it done. We've shipped real AI engineering (Groq, OpenAI, Replicate, BM25 search, multi-model pipelines, real audio/3D/payments work). Third: every build we ship is structured to be discoverable by AI from line one. Song Cage went from launch to #1 in ChatGPT in seven days. We charge for production, AI engineering, and AI visibility together, and nobody else combines those.

Yes, fixed. After the free estimate we send a scope and a number. That number doesn't change unless you ask for new scope. If we find the codebase is in worse shape than the estimate suggested, that's on us, not you. We'd rather lose money on one project than turn into the surprise-invoice agency. We've shipped enough of these to scope accurately.

We don't guarantee specific rankings. Nobody controls AI tools from the outside. What we can say: every site we build is structured the right way (schema, llms.txt, AI-legible markup), and Song Cage went from launch to #1 in ChatGPT in seven days with no paid media. We'll be honest up front about realistic expectations for your specific market.

Finish-the-MVP work runs 3–4 weeks. Larger rebuilds or full custom builds run 6–12 weeks. Marketing sites ship in 2–3 weeks. We'll agree on the timeline before we start, and you review and approve work weekly, so you're never surprised at launch.

Take It to Production starts at $7,500 and runs to ~$15,000 for tougher rebuilds. Full custom SaaS builds are quoted per scope, typically $25K and up. The Built-to-Be-Found marketing site is $4,000 fixed, productized. Monthly content (optional retainer) is $400/month flat. Brand design starts at $800. You own everything outright. No SaaS subscriptions, no platform lock-in, no ongoing fees from us.

No. You tell us what the product is meant to do and where you're stuck. We handle the code, the infrastructure, the AI work, the hosting, the security. All of it. Your job is to review what we ship and approve it. That's it.

Generally no. We take cash so we can stay independent and keep our quality bar high. If you have a genuinely exceptional product and want to talk about a small equity component on top of cash, we'll consider it case by case.

008 / Free Estimate

Send us your project. We'll tell you exactly what it takes.

Written estimate in 48 hours · App or site · No call required
Send your
project
Get an
estimate
3
SaaS shipped end-to-end
48h
To written estimate
$0
For the estimate

Send a repo link, your current site URL, or just describe what you have. We read it, run it, and send back a written estimate: what's in scope, what's risky, what it'll take to ship (app or site). Free. No call required.

48-hour written estimate · No sales pressure · Honest results