SHO / PUBLIC METHOD / REAL PRODUCT WORK

THE SYSTEM
BEHIND THE BUILD.

ShoStack is the engineering discipline I use in my everyday work building and maintaining SaaS and business software. Not a prompt pack created for resale. The real working method: inspect, architect, direct agents, verify and deliver.

Explore public ShoStack ↗ Start with an idea ↓

The public repo shares transferable methods, not private customer code, internal architecture or proprietary prompts.

SHOSTACK / WORK LOOP01—06

01Inspect realitySource, runtime, history
02Define authorityOwnership and truth
03Contract boundariesInterfaces and failure
04Build safelyPlan, implement, record
05Verify the claimTests, smoke, regression
06Deliver and learnMerge, handoff, improve

SPEC → SOURCE → EVIDENCE

00 / Before code

HAVE AN IDEA. CAN'T YET EXPLAIN THE PRODUCT?

That's where the ShoStack Rites of Passage begin. Bring an unfinished thought, a painful manual process, or a service you wish existed. A discovery agent asks useful questions one at a time, challenges assumptions, and helps shape what should be built — instead of pretending a single prompt will produce a complete SaaS.

01WHAT I KNOW

Start with reality.

Describe the people, friction, workflows or non-negotiable constraints you already understand. No technical vocabulary required.

02WHAT I THINK

Challenge the guess.

Pricing, adoption, features and architectural preferences stay hypotheses until a decision or test supports them.

03WHAT I DON'T KNOW

Discover together.

The agent explains trade-offs, asks the next consequential question and records decisions — including options you've rejected.

Nine revisitable rites connect the idea to real user journeys, feature-versus-product challenges, boundaries, an honest first experiment and eventually verifiable software delivery. Coverage grows over time, not through an overwhelming first-session questionnaire.

Open the Idea-to-SaaS starter ↗ Read the Rites of Passage ↗

A guided discovery method, not automatic market validation or a one-click production app generator. Business viability and release readiness still require evidence.

01 / Real product contexts

NOT A THEORETICAL STACK.

Different businesses, different engineering demands. These products provide the public context for my work. The method is shareable; each product's private implementation stays private.

LEARNING PRODUCTLIVE

Alamak.my

A Malay-language learning experience with reading, learning activities and evolving digital content.

ENGINEERING QUESTIONHow do changing learning and content features remain consistent and reviewable?

Visit Alamak.my ↗

ESTABLISHED SAASLIVE

Language Gym

An established language-learning platform with exercises and systems evolving while people continue using them.

ENGINEERING QUESTIONHow does evolving software preserve existing contracts and operational behaviour?

Visit Language Gym ↗

BUSINESS SYSTEMSLIVE

Aussie Campervans

Customer-facing campervan travel services with digital journeys closely connected to business operations.

ENGINEERING QUESTIONHow do customer journeys, workflows and integrations remain dependable?

Visit Aussie Campervans ↗

AI-NATIVE SOFTWAREACTIVE ALPHA

HiggsOcean

AI creative software under active development, with mock-first experiences, architecture work and backend integration planning.

ENGINEERING QUESTIONHow do frontend, backend and agent responsibilities stay aligned through development?

Active alpha · not presented as production-ready

The named products are contexts, not endorsements or performance benchmarks. This does not claim that one identical harness runs in every project, disclose client architecture, or assert commercial valuations.

02 / The engineering practice

AI WRITES CODE. ENGINEERING SHIPS PRODUCTS.

Real software needs source-of-truth decisions, contracts, regressions, operations and handoffs — not just a productive chat session.

INPUT

Product intent and actual reality

Business outcomes, repository evidence, runtime constraints and acceptance checks before implementation.

CONTROL

Contracts and authority

Clear boundaries between frontend, backend, agents and integrations, including what happens when things fail.

PROOF

Evidence-backed delivery

Relevant tests, negative cases, smoke checks and precise reports of what merged or deployed.

THE FULL METHOD

Inspect. Contract. Build. Prove. Repeat.

Read the documented workflow and adapt it to the repository you actually maintain.

Read the delivery guide ↗

03 / Free to explore

THE METHODS ARE PUBLIC.

The original open source methods, reusable starter specifications and free engineering lessons are available now. No imaginary paid product, unverifiable test claims or download gate.

01OPEN SOURCE