A one-person software firm in the UK

I write the code, set up the servers and answer the email myself. No account managers, no subcontractors, and a written quote within 5 working days of our first call.

How LanceTek works

  • You talk to the person writing the code

    Every call, email and change goes through me.

  • Prices are fixed per stage

    Agreed in writing before the stage starts.

  • You own everything

    The code, the servers and the accounts are in your name.

  • Off the shelf, where it fits

    If a £20-a-month app does the job, I will tell you, and not quote.

Handover guide, joinery job sheets
3. Restoring last night's backup
Backups run at 02:00 every night and are kept for 30 days on the office NAS.
To restore one, open the server's dashboard, choose the date and press Restore. It takes about ten minutes and nobody can use the app meanwhile.
If the server itself has failed, the encrypted offsite copy can be restored to a new machine. Section 4 lists the passwords you need and where they are kept.

The stack

Boring, well-documented tools that another developer can pick up. Each one is reviewed in the Journal.

  • BuildPython, Django, PostgreSQL, TypeScript
  • RunDebian, Docker Compose, Caddy
  • HostProxmox, TrueNAS
  • ReachTailscale
  • Automaten8n, Claude
  • WatchGrafana, Uptime Kuma

Read the tool reviews

The homelab behind it

One Proxmox machine and a mirrored NAS in my office. Client systems run here as staging copies before they go anywhere near yours.

Staging copies. Every update is tried on a copy of your system first.

Restore tests. Client backups are restored here once a month, on a schedule.

Agent sandbox. New AI agents run on sample data with no way out to the internet.