The questions we get most often.
If your question isn't here, send us a note. We add to this list when we hear the same question twice.
Security, workflows,
IT.
How do we change our editors' workflow without breaking it?
By not asking them to abandon what's working. We start by mapping the current workflow, including the parts nobody documented. Then we build the new system to support those habits before opening it up anywhere the team wants more. Editors notice the change because it's better, not because they have to relearn everything.
What happens when an editor disables a plugin the site depends on?
You ping us in Slack. We look at what changed, figure out the dependency, and either flip the plugin back on or write a quick patch so the site survives without it. Then we send the editor a one-paragraph note about why it mattered, no shame attached. For retainer clients, that whole loop takes minutes. Without a retainer, same channel, same person you've been working with. No ticket queues, no chatbots, no triage line between you and the people who actually built the thing.
What does your editorial-context security work cover?
Threat modeling specific to newsrooms (not generic IT checklists), source protection workflows, journalist safety reviews, legal-hold readiness, and concrete P0/P1/P2 action plans you can actually work through. We focus on the questions a regular IT consultant doesn't know to ask.
Can you migrate our email and calendars without losing anything?
Yes. Workspace migrations are idempotent and dedup-by-design, which is a long way of saying: if something goes wrong mid-cutover, we can re-import without creating duplicates. Calendar recurrence and contacts come over with the mail. Staff get platform-specific PDFs so nobody has to share credentials with us.
Engagement &
timeline.
We're not sure what to fix first. Can you help us figure that out?
That's where a lot of newsroom engagements start. We run a short discovery, usually a week, where we sit with editors, engineers, and whoever's been building the work-arounds. We come back with a written scope, a content model sketch, and a timeline. You get a real plan for what's worth doing first, what comes later, and what can wait. Fixed fee for the week, no commitment beyond it.
How long does a project take?
4 to 6 weeks for a marketing site. 8 to 14 weeks for a newsroom system or CMS. 1 to 3 weeks for an audit or strategy engagement. We deploy weekly to staging the entire time, so you never wait until the end to see progress.
Do you offer ongoing maintenance or retainers?
Three months of email support are included with every project at no charge. After that, we offer maintenance retainers, though we'd rather hand you a codebase you can run yourself. Many teams don't need us after the handoff.
If you do want a retainer, we cap them at a couple of days of work per month — small and scoped, not always-on — and we send a written quote per retainer rather than publishing rates.
What happens if we run over scope?
If we made the wrong estimate, we eat it. If scope changed, we write a one-page amendment with the new fee and timeline. You sign, or you don't. Either way we keep working, there's no holdup.
How does pricing work?
We send a written quote after a 30-minute conversation. The quote is fixed unless scope changes, no time-and-materials creep. Numbers don't live on this site because every newsroom's situation is different, and we'd rather hear yours first.
Process &
collaboration.
How do we work together day-to-day?
One Slack channel (or Discord, or Linear comments — your pick). One weekly review call, 30 minutes. Deploys to your staging environment on Fridays. You can pull the cord at any milestone — we'll wrap up gracefully, hand over what's done, and invoice for time worked.
Will you work with our existing team?
Yes — and we prefer to. We work alongside in-house engineers, designers, and editors. We pair, code-review, and document so your team can pick up where we left off.
What if we want to change direction mid-project?
Talk to us. If the change is small, we absorb it. If it's substantial, we write a brief amendment and re-quote. We've never had this end badly — most clients change their minds about something during a project, and that's a feature of the process, not a bug.
Will you sign an NDA?
Yes, mutual NDAs are standard. We'll sign yours or send ours, either is fine.
Stack &
ownership.
What stack do you use?
SvelteKit (Svelte 5) + Node + Postgres + Cloudflare. Deployed on Cloud Run or your platform of choice. We pick this stack because it's small, boring, well-documented, and you can hire for it. We're flexible on it — if you have a strong reason for a different stack, we'll discuss.
Do we own the code?
Yes. Everything lives in your repo, on your servers, under your domain. We're not a SaaS. After handoff, you can fork it, modify it, or hire someone else to maintain it.
Can you migrate us off WordPress / Substack / Beehiiv / Webflow?
Yes. We've done it from all four. Migration is part of standard scope when applicable — we handle redirects, SEO continuity, and content import. Allow 2–4 extra weeks depending on archive size.
Will you use AI / LLMs in our build?
Tactically, yes — we use Claude and similar tools for boilerplate, refactoring, and code review. Strategically, no — we don't ship AI-generated copy or AI-generated content unless that's explicitly the scope. We write what we write. If you want an AI integration in your product, we'll build it; we just don't sneak it in.
Where are your servers / where does data live?
Wherever you ask. Default is Cloud Run (Belgium) + Cloudflare R2 (EU). We've also built on Hetzner, AWS, and Fly.io. We don't host anything ourselves — you own the infrastructure.
Send us a note. We read every email.
We usually reply within a couple of hours during working hours. If your question is interesting, we'll add the answer to this page.
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