Product studio without agency bloat
Big agencies are slow to decide, and a single freelancer can struggle with the full breadth of a product. A studio-sized team sits comfortably between the two.
Projects run on milestones rather than an open-ended discovery phase. Every phase ends with something you can click, test, or release.
If that sounds like your situation, Arcode is set up for companies evaluating software development agencies. Custom software delivery across web, mobile, AI, and backend systems, owned by senior engineers.
What you get
- Custom software products
- Clear scope and timelines
- Senior engineering quality
- Post-launch support
- One studio accountable for the result
- Design and engineering on the same schedule
- Support available after launch
How engagement works
As your software development agency, we run a shared backlog, design reviews, and engineering sprints, and you keep one point of contact throughout.
- 01
Discover
Goals, constraints, data sources, and success metrics, all settled before we touch architecture or prompts. Nothing here waits on a handover between separate teams.
- 02
Design
System design, AI/tool boundaries, interface direction, and interaction prototypes. On software development projects we favour practical architecture over trendy defaults.
- 03
Build
Modern stack, clean architecture, evaluated AI behavior, and iterative demos you can react to. The work for teams in Berlin stays tied to the outcome you asked for.
- 04
Launch
Ship, monitor, harden, and keep improving models, tools, and product after go-live. You see progress on the critical path every week.
How we build it, and why
The stack is chosen per project, not applied from a template. For software development agency work these are the defaults, and the reason each one is on the list.
- TypeScript
- types across the whole stack, which catches the class of bug that only shows up in production
- Next.js
- server rendering and static generation in one framework, so marketing pages stay fast and app routes stay dynamic
- NestJS
- structure and dependency injection on the backend, which keeps a growing API from turning into a pile of route handlers
- Cloud
- managed infrastructure sized to the traffic you actually have
- AI
- model-backed features scoped to the parts of a product where they measurably help
What the first weeks look like
- Week 1
Scope and architecture
Users, data, integrations, and constraints, ending in a written plan for the software development that you approve before anyone opens an editor.
- Weeks 2-3
Design the critical path
The screens that carry the product, prototyped and clickable. Design and engineering review together, so nothing gets drawn that cannot ship.
- Weeks 4-8
Build in weekly slices
Every week ends with something on a real URL. custom software products lands early, because the rest of the plan depends on it working.
- Launch
Ship, measure, hand over
Release, monitoring, analytics, and a documented handover, so your team can carry it without calling us.
Weighing up your options
There are three realistic ways to get this built. Each is the right answer for someone.
A solo freelancer
Cheapest per hour and fine for a contained task. The risk on software development is breadth — one person covering design, backend, infrastructure, and launch usually means one of them is weak, and there is no cover when they are unavailable.
A local agency in Berlin
Same timezone and a face to meet, which genuinely matters for some teams. You are also paying Berlin startups hiring for shipping speed and modern stacks. rates for the whole team including the layers that never touch your software development, and a local shortlist is a small shortlist.
Arcode
A small senior team. The people who scope the software development write the code, you get weekly demos instead of status decks, and the engagement ends when the thing is live and handed over.
Work we have shipped
Brain Blog
Frontend · Gatsby · Strapi
Custom Gatsby blog with Strapi CMS, built for fast content publishing and a clean reading experience.
Freelance content product pairing Gatsby performance with Tailwind styling and a Strapi-powered editorial workflow.
- · Gatsby static generation
- · Strapi blog integration
- · Tailwind-driven layout
- · Fast content browsing
Gatsby · Tailwind · Strapi
Dumbiez
Frontend · NFT product
NFT comics platform for exploring and interacting with digital comic collectibles.
Independent Next.js product for browsing and engaging with NFT comics, styled with Tailwind and shipped on Vercel.
- · NFT comics browsing
- · Interactive collectible UX
- · Responsive Next.js UI
- · Vercel deployment
Next.js · React · Tailwind · Vercel
StudioX Localization
Frontend · i18n
UI polish and language translation pages for the StudioX product experience.
Contract contribution implementing UI fixes and localization pages with Next.js, React, and Tailwind to improve accessibility and multi-language use.
- · Language translation pages
- · UI accessibility fixes
- · Next.js page delivery
- · Clearer multi-language UX
Next.js · React · Tailwind
Working with teams in Berlin
Berlin startups hiring for shipping speed and modern stacks. We work with clients in Berlin remotely and keep overlapping hours in CET/CEST. We usually collaborate in German/English.
How we work with Berlin teams
Berlin is three to four hours behind us, so there is a full shared afternoon. Berlin teams tend to move fast and decide in writing, which suits the way we run a backlog.
What Berlin clients usually need
Berlin is the most startup-weighted market we work in outside the US: early-stage products that need to be live before the next raise, and AI features added to products that already have traction.
Contracts, data, and compliance
We invoice in EUR with reverse-charge VAT. GDPR is scoped into the build, with EU-hosted data by default and a DPA provided as standard rather than on request.
