Frequently Asked Questions

We do - AI coding agents are part of how we deliver in 10 working days. The question isn't whether to use AI tools, it's whether you have the experience to oversee the output. AI agents generate code fast; they can't make the architectural decisions that determine whether your codebase scales, stays consistent, or survives a team handover. At Rivetous, every line of AI-assisted code is reviewed against our engineering standards before it ships. You get the speed of AI delivery with the integrity of 15 years of production experience behind it.

Generic starter kits sell feature lists: Stripe is wired up, three auth providers are configured, OpenAI is ready to go. You pay for a bloated monorepo built for everyone, then spend weeks deleting the parts that don't apply - and months living inside someone else's structural decisions. Rivetous builds lean, purpose-built architecture for your specific platform, with a design system entirely in your brand. Nothing to delete. Nothing to wrestle into shape.

Traditional contracting means open-ended timelines, hourly rates, and a codebase that reflects whoever happened to work on it. Rivetous is a productised service: fixed scope, fixed price, fixed delivery timeline, with a consistent engineering standard every time. You know what you're getting before we start.

Our core packages are greenfield builds - we don't debug or refactor existing codebases. If you have an existing codebase you need architectural advice on, get in touch - we occasionally take on specialized work for established clients on a case-by-case basis.

Rivetous delivers bespoke frontend architecture as fixed-scope, fixed-price packages. You get a lean codebase built from scratch for your product: strict TypeScript, a design system in your brand, components documented in Storybook. Delivered in as little as 10 working days with a 30-day warranty.

Early-stage and scaling SaaS teams. Typically a CTO or technical co-founder who has a product to ship and no time to build the foundations from scratch. If you have been burned by a generic starter kit, an agency that over-ran, or AI tools that left you with fast but unscalable code, Rivetous is built for exactly that situation.

The bespoke work (the layouts, brand configurations, and code written specifically for your product) is assigned to you on full payment. The underlying architectural framework (our proprietary boilerplates, design tokens, and reusable patterns) remains ours. You receive a perpetual, irrevocable licence to use it within your deliverable for as long as you need. In practice: you can run it, extend it, hand it to any developer, and build your product on it indefinitely. You cannot strip it out and resell it as a competing development toolkit, which is what keeps the business model fair for everyone.

Brand guidelines or a Figma file, a clear picture of your core user flows, and your preferred hosting platform. That is it. We do not need a working backend, final copy, or complete design mocks. We scope exactly what we need during the kickoff call.

Yes. The Rivetous Foundation is Phase 1 for every engagement. You select up to 12 components from our catalog, and we deliver them fully themed to your brand with complete Storybook documentation. The SaaS Starter and Website Starter both require an existing Foundation.

If you don't provide an OpenAPI specification, we'll build the two example features assuming a reasonable API shape based on your requirements. However, retrofitting those features to match your actual API structure later will require an additional sprint to reconcile the differences. Providing an OpenAPI spec upfront ensures the delivered code aligns with your backend from day one.

You can absolutely start with just the Foundation. Many clients do. It is a complete, useful deliverable in its own right. The pipeline exists because it is the most effective path, not because it is mandatory.

No. After the Monday kickoff call, we run entirely asynchronously. Progress is tracked on a shared project board and you receive a recorded Loom walkthrough every Friday. Zero calendar disruption to you or your team.

Scope is locked at kickoff. That is what makes the fixed price and timeline possible. Minor clarifications are handled asynchronously. Significant scope changes are handled as a follow-on Add-On Sprint after delivery.

You get access to a shared project board from day one. Every task, every decision, every blocker - visible in real time. No status meetings required.

Any bugs in the delivered code, integration friction, or deployment queries are resolved at no extra cost within 30 days of final handover. It doesn't cover new features or scope that wasn't in the original brief.

Yes - via Add-On Sprints. These are fixed-scope engagements for adding more components to your kit, enhancing existing components with animations, or adding new feature modules to your SaaS Starter. Each sprint has a fixed price and timeline, just like the core packages.

You receive the full source code repository, Storybook documentation, a recorded architecture walkthrough, and a written migration/onboarding guide. Your team should be able to pick it up and ship a feature without needing to call us.