Building the tools
we need to exist.
The ones nobody was building right, so I built them with Claude: a Mac app that tames Gmail without touching a server, an open-source UI for the issue tracker coding agents use, and seven sites and apps for businesses and friends — three of them now changed by their owners with Claude Desktop. No web guy required.
Player 1: Brendan Patterson · AppStart LLC · 2026
The owner’s own agent, on their own computer. That’s the hand-off.
Tame your inbox.
Keep what matters.
A privacy-first Mac app that finds every subscription in your Gmail, unsubscribes where senders honor one-click, and files the rest — all on your Mac, with no server in the middle.
- Runs on your Mac
- No server, no account
- Free in early access
Tauri 2 · Rust · React · TypeScript · Gmail API
How to play
Fire your web guy. That’s me, on purpose: every site I build ships with a setup kit so the owner’s own AI agent can run it, change it and explain it back to them.
Step 1: Build it with Claude
I build the site or app with Claude Code doing the typing. Tests and gated deploys keep anything sloppy out of production.
Step 2: Package it for the owner's agent
My agent writes a setup kit for that exact repository: install the tools, sign in, clone, verify, open a local preview. Setup never deploys.
Step 3: The owner ships changes
They hand the kit to Claude Desktop on their own computer, then just describe changes. Preview, review, publish. I'm the last resort, not the help desk.
1UP · three owners already did it
- Vault Sports BoxLive changes · Claude Desktop · 2026
Live changes to vaultsportsbox.com, made by the owner's team with Claude Desktop.
- The AtlantiansLive changes · Claude Desktop · 2026
Live changes to atlantians.fun, made by the group with Claude Desktop.
- Acting Studio ChicagoLocal changes · Claude Desktop · 2026
Changes to a local copy of actingstudiochicago.com, made by the owner with Claude Desktop. Production cutover is next.
The screens
Eleven cabinets, numbered by ship order. A 1UP token means the owner runs it now.
- 01 · CiderPressLive
ProductTurn voice memos into living knowledge.
Appstart - 02 · EmailTamerLiveProduct
Tame your inbox. Keep what matters.
Appstart - 03 · Bead Me Up, ScottyLive
Open sourceA visual UI for Beads, the issue tracker for coding agents.
Appstart - 04 · Acting Studio ChicagoIn progress1UP
Client siteOwner-runA decade-old PHP site, rebuilt underneath.
Acting Studio Chicago - 05 · Vault Sports BoxLive1UP
Client siteOwner-runA bike-case storefront that machines can read.
Vault Sports Box - 06 · 523Soon523Client site
Large-print, plain-English retirement guidance.
523 - 07 · Dr. Jennifer RomesserLive
Client siteA psychology practice's site, in her own accounts.
Northern Utah Psychology & Consulting PLLC - 08 · TailgateIn progress
Client siteGame-day coordination for Notre Dame tailgates.
A Notre Dame tailgate crew - 09 · Next MoveIn progressNext MoveClient site
One concrete strategy for the stuck moment.
A friend's prototype - 10 · Fire Your Web GuyLive
MethodologySix steps, one AI agent, zero web guys.
Appstart - 11 · The AtlantiansLive1UP
Client siteOwner-runA guild hall for a tabletop RPG group.
A tabletop RPG group
Bead Me Up, Scotty.
Free and open source: a local web UI for Beads, Steve Yegge's graph-based issue tracker for AI coding agents. Board, detail drawer, dependency graph and focus view, writing changes straight back to bd.
- Stars
- 159
- Forks
- 50
- Contributors
- 11
- Open issues
- 21
GitHub, 27 Oct 2026 · 4 months, 10 days after the first commit on 17 Jun 2026
$ brew install brendan-appstart/tap/bead-me-up-scotty
$ scottyHigh scores
- projects shipped
- 11
- in the last twelve months
- commits
- 750+
- across twenty repositories
- outside contributors
- 6
- to Bead Me Up, Scotty
- owners shipping their own changes
- 3
- with Claude Desktop
- setup kits delivered
- 9
- Fire Your Web Guy, October 2026
Counted from the repositories on 9 October 2026. Rounded down. in the last twelve months · across twenty repositories · to Bead Me Up, Scotty · with Claude Desktop · Fire Your Web Guy, October 2026.
Player 1
I’m Brendan Patterson. Appstart is my studio — one person, a Mac, and Claude Code open all day. I build the tools I needed someone to build right: a Mac app that keeps your mail on your machine, an open-source UI for the tracker my coding agents live in, and websites for businesses and friends who were tired of waiting on their web guy.
Everything on this page was built in the last year. The part I care most about isn’t the building — it’s what happens after: the owner opens Claude Desktop, describes a change, checks the preview, and ships it. Three of them already do. That’s the whole idea behind Fire Your Web Guy.
Insert coin
Want a site you can run yourself? I build it with Claude, hand you the setup kit, and stick around as the last resort — not the bottleneck. Products, websites, the occasional iPhone app.