main · 8a4f2c1Booking 30-min intros

Software thatships.Production-grade, end to end.

Novagen is an independent software studio. We build our own products end-to-end — and take on a small number of senior engineering engagements for teams building real, hard things.

TypeScriptNext.jsPostgresReact NativetRPCAWS · VercelStripeDatadog
Independent studio4 in-house productsClient engagements open
// what we build5 areas · end-to-end, no handoffs

Whole systems, taken from idea to running.

Our own products span two or three of these at once. Client work takes the same shape: we scope the API, write the frontend, and run the production. No handoffs, no delivery team.

01
Mobile apps

React Native and Expo for both Lustr and Vybe. Offline-first where the use case needs it, native modules where it doesn’t, and a build pipeline you can actually ship from on a Friday.

Lustr
in build · 2026
React Native · Expo · Supabase
Vybe
closed beta
React Native · Mapbox · Postgres
02
Web platforms

Multi-tenant SaaS, internal tools, and dense creator surfaces. Postgres-first, typed end-to-end, no magic. The kind of system you can read in an afternoon and still ship from on day five.

Meridian Studio
v0.4 · daily use
Next.js · tRPC · Postgres · Tailwind
03
Backend & quant systems

Explicit schemas, deterministic math, observable from line one. When the problem is "real money flows through this," LLMs sit on the cold path and computation does the work.

Meridian Trading
paper trading
Python · Postgres · ORATS · IBKR
04
Applied AI

Real LLM features inside real products. Retrieval, evals, structured outputs, guardrails. Versioned and observable, not a notebook with a pretty prompt.

Meridian Studio
AI command center
Anthropic · pgvector · Inngest
05
Cloud, CI/CD, observability

AWS, Vercel, Cloudflare. Terraform where it pays for itself, GitHub Actions for the rest. Sentry and a structured logger on day one — not when the alerts start.

Across the studio
4 / 4 projects
Vercel · Supabase · Sentry · GitHub Actions
// what we're building4 products · designed & built in-house

Four products, built in-house.

Designed, built, and run by Novagen, end to end. Click into any of them for the full picture — what it is, how it's built, and where it's headed.

Mobile · iOS & AndroidIn build · 2026

Lustr — premium auto detailing, on tap.

A mobile-first product for a real auto detailing business. Transparent pricing, frictionless booking, photo proof of work, retention loops that don’t feel like spam — built for customers who pick a detailer the way they pick a watch.

Mobilenative via Expo
Betapartner pilot
Q3 ’26public launch
React NativeExpoSupabaseStripeSentry
Mobile · Consumer socialIn build · 2026

Vybe — log the night, remember the year.

A social memory and venue logging app for 25–35-year-old urbanites. Log venues, rank them, see what your crew is doing tonight, earn real perks from the places you actually go. Editorial drops, not algorithmic mush.

Socialfriend-graph first
Closedbeta in cities
Partnervenue outreach
React NativeMapboxPostgresExpoInngest
Backend · Quant systemsPaper trading

Meridian Trading — deterministic options income.

An automated options income engine. ORATS-grade IV data, a 6-tier mathematical scorecard with hard gates, 8 risk checks with circuit breakers. Defined-risk premium selling, end to end. LLMs only for cold-path narration — the trading pipeline is math.

6 / 6scorecard gates
8risk checks
Paperlive · TBD
PythonPostgresORATSBlack–ScholesIBKR
// the studioindependent · accountable end-to-end
N
novagen.dev
Independent studioRemote-first

We're Novagen.

Novagen is an independent software studio. We design, build, and operate our own products — four of them today — and take on a select number of senior engineering engagements for clients who need production-grade work.

Every product on this site is built and run in-house. Every engagement is scoped in writing, with clear deliverables and a defined off-ramp. No subcontracted delivery, no surprises.

Building nowLustr · Vybe · Meridian Studio · Meridian Trading
FocusProduct engineering · production systems · operations
Open to1–2 client engagements at a time · senior engineering or fractional
Not open toAgency-of-record · template work · pure design
// engagement4 stages · no surprises

How we work.

01
Discovery week
Five days of audits, interviews, and a written technical plan. You keep the artifacts even if we never work together again.
02
Design + spec
Real prototypes, written specs, an explicit data model. Every screen reviewed against the API before any production code is written.
03
Build, transparently
Two-week sprints, demo Fridays, a shared Linear board, an open Slack channel. You see what we see — including the rough drafts.
04
Launch + steady-state
90-day stabilization included. Runbooks, dashboards, on-call rotation. Then retainer or clean handoff to your in-house team — your call.
// engagementsthree ways to work · scoped & off-rampable

No surprise invoices.

Three engagement models. Pick the one that matches your problem. Each has a clear scope, a written off-ramp, and a number agreed before we start.

01Advisory
Hourly or monthly retainer · ~8 hrs/week

Architecture reviews, hiring panels, fractional CTO for pre-seed founders, second-opinion on a vendor proposal.

  • Same-week start
  • Async-first · weekly syncs
  • Cancel anytime, no auto-renew
Book intro
Most common
02Build sprint
Typical: 6–14 weeks · fixed scope

Greenfield product, a hard rebuild, or a ship-or-die quarter. We scope, design, build, and hand off.

  • Paid discovery week (creditable)
  • Two-week sprints, demo Fridays
  • Full IP + source + runbook handoff
  • 90-day stabilization included
Send a brief
03Embedded
Fractional · 3 days/week

Slot in alongside your team for a quarter or a year. Senior engineer hours where you need them, when you need them.

  • Min. 3-month commitment
  • In your Linear, Slack, on-call
  • Quarterly review & off-ramp
Discuss fit
// faqthe questions every buyer asks

Questions, answered.

Every project ships with a written architecture doc, runbooks, and full IP/source handoff from day one. If Novagen disappeared tomorrow, your team (or any competent engineer) could keep shipping. We also keep a short bench of trusted senior collaborators — if a project needs more hands, we bring them in transparently and at cost.
Numbers are quoted per-project after the intro call, not on a public rate card — the right shape depends on scope, timeline, and how embedded you need us. Advisory is hourly or a monthly retainer, build sprints are fixed-scope, embedded is a monthly fractional rate. Every number is agreed in writing before any work starts. No surprises on the invoice.
Discovery weeks usually start within 7–10 days. Build engagements typically begin 2–3 weeks after a signed SOW. We take a small number of active builds at a time, so the calendar is honest — if we’re booked, we’ll tell you straight.
Mutual NDAs at the first conversation, no problem — send yours or use ours. You own 100% of the IP, source, and infrastructure. Always. No carve-outs, no “retained framework” nonsense.
Yes — most engagements are alongside an in-house team. We pair, we review PRs, we document. The goal is for your team to ship without us when we’re gone, not the other way around.
Rarely, and only with disclosure. We bring in vetted senior collaborators for specialized work (e.g. iOS native, ML infra) at cost, and only with your approval. No offshore body shops, no surprise hands on your codebase.
Mostly: anything we can’t hold to a production bar. We’ll happily inherit a Rails or Django codebase, but we won’t start a new project on something obscure we can’t support on-call.
A 90-day stabilization period is included. After that, retainer or clean handoff to your in-house team — your call. We’ll happily walk away if that’s the right outcome.
One conversation, no deck

Tell us what you're building.

30 minutes. We'll tell you whether we're the right team — and who is, if not.