Custos Designs

We build it before you buy it.

Most studios sell you a promise. We hand you the evidence.

A working product, a sealed specification you own, and the record of every decision that made it. The interview comes first, under a mutual non-disclosure agreement, and nothing about your venture is asked before that is signed.

Request an invitation See the process

The record4/34

venture.nameHarbour Books
venture.one_linerA members-only ordering desk for independent bookshops.
venture.backendNo, there is nothing running yet
users.rolesrecorded as undecided

Every answer you give lands in your record as you give it, in the words you gave it. What you could not decide stays marked undecided.

Built in this factory

Every number here is counted from the list below it.

There are no client quotes on this page, because the studio does not have any yet. What it has is its own built work, and every line of it is checkable. Most of it is in testers' hands and none of it is open to the public yet, and the counter that says so is counted the same way as the others.

Products built

With a native iOS app

In testers hands

Launched to the public

Salty Sanctum
Web + iOS/in closed beta
A platform for ocean-sports communities: find a verified instructor, book courses and trips, buy gear, and keep the safety records diving needs.
saltysanctum.com
Fish Slaps
iOS/in closed beta
An app for anglers: photograph the catch, and it names the species, says whether it can legally be kept, and how to cook it.
fishslaps.vercel.app
YachtPics
iOS/in closed beta
A delivery experience for marine photography: a broker receives a finished yacht shoot as a private native gallery and presents it to a buyer.
not public yet
A5 Foodies
Web + iOS/in closed beta
A local food app where diners rate the dish and the server rather than the restaurant, and the rating follows the server between jobs.
a5foodies.vercel.app
ResortOS
Web + iOS/in closed beta
Back-of-house software for a resort: the org chart, task boards with an accountability trail, shift coverage, and what the executives see.
not public yet
Nusa Spa
Web/in build
A community platform for licensed bodyworkers: build a profile, get found by clients, take bookings, and keep continuing education current.
not public yet

See all of it

The chain of custody

Walk the whole process

Four stations, in order, and each one leaves something behind. The paper trail is not a report we write about the work afterwards. It is the work.

Station one
Intake, under seal
Before a single substantive question, both sides sign a mutual non-disclosure agreement. Then you are interviewed one question at a time, in a deliberate order. Where an answer is too vague to build from, you are asked a better question there and then, rather than in a follow-up long after it would have helped.
Station two
The packet, sealed
Your answers compile into one document: what the thing is, who uses it, every screen and every state it can be in, the data behind it, the permission rules, and what finished means, stated precisely enough to be argued with. Sealing it fingerprints the exact text. After that, a change is a re-issue with its own record, never a quiet edit.
Station three
The build, witnessed
The build runs under a chain of standing checks. They read the work on every change and refuse the ones that break a rule this studio has already paid to learn: a permission gap, an error swallowed in silence, a promise in the copy nobody approved.
Station four
Handover, with the trail
At the end you have the product itself, the sealed document it was built from, and the record of what was decided and when. Nothing about this studio is required to keep it running, and nothing about it is a secret from you.

What you get

A complete design for your application, written the way we write our own: what it is, who uses it, every screen and every state it can be in, the data behind it, the permission rules, and what "finished" means, stated precisely enough to be argued with.

And, if you want it built, the whole system: the database and its permission rules, storage, sign-in, the application itself, the view the people running your business use, and somewhere for all of it to run. Not a front end waiting for a back end that never arrives.

Why not just use an AI website builder?

It is the right question to ask now, and the answer is structural rather than defensive. A builder is genuinely good at producing output. What it does not produce is any of this.

CustodyA builder gives you output. This gives you a record: what you were asked, what you answered, what was decided, and what was deliberately left open. When something turns out wrong later, there is a document to argue with instead of two memories.
A real application, on the phoneA web page in a wrapper is not an app. Native iOS is built here as its own product, in Swift, against the same backend as the web. The roster on this page says which products ship one, and which do not.
You own the specificationThe sealed document is yours. Take it to another studio, or build from it yourself, and it goes with you. That is the point of sealing it rather than keeping it.
Checks that outlive the buildSoftware rots quietly, and the rot is invisible until it is expensive. The chain of standing checks ships with the product, so the rules it was built under keep being enforced after everyone has gone home.

You see it running before you commit, and the packet is yours either way.

What an engagement is

An interview, a sealed specification, a build, and a handover. In that order, and nothing skipped.

There is no price on this page and no schedule on it either. Neither can be honestly known before the interview, and a number invented before the work is understood is worth less than no number. You get both in writing, from a person, once there is something real to answer about.

The first thing we sign protects you

The agreement is mutual and it comes before the first substantive question. It covers what you tell us about your concept, and it covers what we show you about how we work. Nothing about your venture is asked before it is in place.

One build at a time

This studio takes one build at a time. That is the entire capacity statement: no countdown, no waiting list, no invented scarcity. When intakes are open you can start one here, and when they are not, this page says so instead of pretending.

Who this is for

People with a real thing they need built and the patience to describe it once, properly. It is a poor fit if you want a quote from a paragraph.

What we will not tell you here

Nothing on this page quotes you, schedules you, or promises you a delivery. None of that can be known before the interview, and a number invented before the work is understood is worth less than no number. You will get real answers, in writing, from a person, once there is something real to answer about.

Questions, answered plainly

What is Custos Designs?

A product studio that designs and builds applications end to end: the web application, the native iOS app, the database and its permission rules, sign-in, storage, the view the people running the business work in, and somewhere for all of it to run.

What is the chain of custody?

The name for how the work is recorded. Every requirement is captured in a structured interview, the scope is sealed in a document you own, the build is witnessed by standing checks, and the handover includes the record of all three.

What does the non-disclosure agreement cover?

It runs both ways. It covers what you tell us about your concept, and it covers what we show you about how we work. It is signed before the first substantive question, and the exact text you accept is fingerprinted and stored with your acceptance.

Who owns what?

You own the sealed specification and the product built from it. The studio owns its own process and tooling, which is the half of the agreement that runs the other way.

What if I walk away after the packet?

You keep the packet. That is the point of it. The specification has value on its own, and it is yours whether or not the build happens here.

What does it cost?

Not answered on this page, deliberately. Nothing here quotes you, and a figure invented before the work is understood is worth less than no figure at all. You get a real one in writing, from a person, after the intake is read.

How long does it take?

Also not answered here, and for the same reason. A schedule guessed from a paragraph is a guess wearing a calendar.

Do you build native iOS apps?

Yes, in Swift, as first-class products rather than a web page in a wrapper. The roster on this page names which products ship one.

Is what I tell you safe?

The agreement comes first. Your answers are encrypted before they are stored, under a key that is not kept with the data. There is no analytics tracker and no session recording on this site, and you can ask us to delete everything at any time.