Building the tools we need to exist.with Claude, then handing the owners the keys.
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. This is the showcase.
Brendan Patterson · AppStart LLC
OPENALL NIGHT
- Built with Claude
- Packaged for the owner's agent
- The owner ships changes
- Open all night
EmailTamerTame 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. Your mail is read and sorted on your machine.
No server, no account. Nothing is uploaded. Nothing is deleted.
Free in early access. Gmail and Google Workspace today; Outlook next.
Tauri 2 · Rust · React · TypeScript · Gmail API
Fire Your Web GuyEvery site leaves with the keys.
A website shouldn’t need its builder on call. Every site I build now ships with a setup kit so the owner’s own AI agent can run it, change it and explain it back to them.
Build it with Claude
I build the site or app the normal way — with Claude Code doing the typing, tests and deploys gated so nothing sloppy reaches production.
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.
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.
Three owners already did it. Here are the receipts.
- ReceiptClaude Desktop · 2026Vault Sports Box
Live changes to vaultsportsbox.com, made by the owner's team with Claude Desktop.
Live changesThe story - ReceiptClaude Desktop · 2026The Atlantians
Live changes to atlantians.fun, made by the group with Claude Desktop.
Live changesThe story - ReceiptClaude Desktop · 2026Acting Studio Chicago
Changes to a local copy of actingstudiochicago.com, made by the owner with Claude Desktop. Production cutover is next.
Local changesThe story
The menuEleven projects, shipped in the last twelve months.
Real screenshots, captured from the live sites. Owner-run plates are the ones whose owners make their own changes.
Client sites
7 plates
Vault Sports Box
Owner-runA bike-case storefront that machines can read.
Client siteVault Sports Box
Acting Studio Chicago
Owner-run locallyA decade-old PHP site, rebuilt underneath.
Client siteActing Studio Chicago
Dr. Jennifer Romesser
LiveA psychology practice's site, in her own accounts.
Client siteNorthern Utah Psychology & Consulting PLLC
The Atlantians
Owner-runA guild hall for a tabletop RPG group.
Client siteA tabletop RPG group
Tailgate
In progressGame-day coordination for Notre Dame tailgates.
Client siteA Notre Dame tailgate crewNext Move
In progressOne concrete strategy for the stuck moment.
Client siteA friend's prototype523
Coming soonLarge-print, plain-English retirement guidance.
Client site523
Products, open source & the method
4 platesEmailTamer
LiveTame your inbox. Keep what matters.
ProductAppstart
Bead Me Up, Scotty
LiveA visual UI for Beads, the issue tracker for coding agents.
Open sourceAppstart
CiderPress
LiveTurn voice memos into living knowledge.
ProductAppstart
Fire Your Web Guy
LiveSix steps, one AI agent, zero web guys.
MethodologyAppstart
Every plate links to its build story: what was built, the stack, and where the hand-off stands. 523 is shown without a link or a screenshot until its owner has reviewed the copy.
Bead Me Up, ScottyOpen source. On the house.
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
- 158
- Forks
- 50
- Contributors
- 11
- Open issues
- 21
GitHub, 24 Oct 2026 · 4 months, 7 days after the first commit on 17 Jun 2026
$ brew install brendan-appstart/tap/bead-me-up-scotty
$ scottyBy the numbers, counted from the repositories.
- 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.
Behind the counterHi, I’m the web guy.
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.
Last callWant 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.