Welcome to Lazarus Labs. My name is Justin and I am a real human being. I use agentic coding (AI-powered coding tools) to build private web-apps, tools and websites for families and small businesses. I also offer private hosting for those who do not have the time or experience to deploy on their own server.
This means everything is yours to keep. The code is yours, and so is the data you bring in and out. The data never leaves your home/private server, or gets sold to a corporation because it is a privately hosted web-app rather than an App Store or Play Store product. If opting for a hosting service, your project is deployed on Vultr, an established cloud provider whose infrastructure is independently audited. The Security section has the details.
Everything works entirely remote and in writing: no chat bots, no phone calls, no negotiating. Request a quote and I'll respond with exactly how I can help. If it interests you, great! If not, that's okay too.
A family life app: shared calendars and routines, meal planning with
family dinner votes, groceries, and health data synced from Apple Health or
Health Connect (Android). Track calories and macros that auto-adjust based on your weigh-ins, and your workouts are automatically synced with the calories burned added to your daily target. There is also a built-in barcode scanner that checks a packaged food's label on the spot and flags things like seed oils, artificial dyes, and ultra-processed ingredients before they go in the cart. Daily Bible verses are built in for families who want
them. All privately hosted in your home.
Kids get supervised accounts and a mini game: finishing chores, reading
the verse, and staying active earns breadcrumbs, which add up through tiers from Slice to Breadmaster. Trusted families can connect as a
village with invite codes, share recipe shelves and encouragement across
households, and host shared village activities on the board that other
families RSVP to, with notifications passing between families.
I built dailybread for my own family and we run it in our house every
day. It's free and open source, installs to your phone's Home screen
like any app, and ships with hundreds of automated tests.
The family boardVillage events, RSVP'dDinner and groceriesMeals and targetsThe label, checkedHealth, syncedThe breadcrumb gameYour page
Light and dark theme shown with sample Family data. dailybread is
in active development, so these screens will keep changing as it grows.
A private streaming platform of your own: live video for the people you invite, and nobody else. The setup wizard turns a fresh install into your own channel: name it, pick its color flavor, and hand out invite codes so your audience can join without ever giving up an email address. Grab the stream key from your dashboard, plug it in to OBS, start streaming your games, and send your friends a link. You decide where it lives: public on your own domain, or kept entirely inside your home network. Live video, chat, moderation, clips, and a library of past
broadcasts with synced chat replay, for one streamer and an invited audience. Guest passes let someone watch and chat for half an hour without an account at all, and any single clip can be published as a public link when you want to share one moment outside the circle. Built for people who
want their own streaming channel without a public platform watching over it.
upperroom is free and open source under the AGPL. The full source is on GitHub, so you can read
every line, run it yourself, and change it.
Live, with chatThe channel homeAdmin controls
Shown with demo accounts and a test-pattern stream while it is in development.
Services
Pricing is public and there are never any hidden fees.
Custom solutions for you, your family, or your small business
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A scheduling tool for your ministry, a member directory for your club, an
inventory and expiry date tracker for your food truck, a private organizational app for your family, an interactive app for parties & events; anything you can think of that needs organization or calculation. Price varies based on complexity; the starting price covers the smallest tools, and your price is fixed in writing before anything begins. You get a live demo of the app while it is being built, the source code is delivered directly to you to self-host, and never publicly shared.
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Private Cloud Hosting
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No hardware required in your home or business. You still get the code, but I deploy it on a virtual private server that never mines or sells your data. You login to your app from your computer or phone. VPN configurations can also be set up. Security hardening and nightly backups are included.
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User/Employee Manuals
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Will multiple people and/or employees need to be trained on your tool or app? An extensive & detailed handbook / instruction guide (in PDF format) for new users AND administrators. Built with your branding / color choices.
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Data Migrations
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Already have your family's or business's data in spreadsheets, an old database, or another app's export? I write an automated migration that moves it into your new app, then prove it worked: record counts, side-by-side samples, and your approval before anything old is retired. Your original files are never touched(you send me a copy). Structured data is preferred, but I can work with scanned copies as well.
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Web Design
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A clean, fast website for your business, church, or portfolio, tested on phones and desktops before it reaches you. Same deal as everything here: you get the files, so your site is yours to take anywhere, with no site-builder subscription required to keep it alive. Lazarus Labs can host it for you, or hand it over with written instructions for the host of your choice.
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Also in development
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A physical device, shipped from me to you, containing your whole project and installation instructions. Plug into power and your router, host your app yourself in a few easy steps.
Pricing TBA
Where your app lives
Every project ends up in one of two lanes. Your final quote will determine your best fit.
Option 1: I build it, you host it
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Every project is delivered as source code that you own, with an extensive Linux self-hosting manual and the basic requirements for running it. Your app runs in a Docker container and starts with a single command.
While I build, you follow along on a live demo of your actual app that I keep updated through delivery, with progress notes along the way. When it's done, run it on your own 24/7 Linux machine, or a server you rent.
The manual is massively in-depth, written for people who have never touched Linux. It starts at installing Linux on a blank computer and walks every step in plain words with real screenshots: starting your app, reaching it from your phones, backing it up, and updating it. It also covers reaching the app while you're away from your home or business WiFi (a free VPN app like Tailscale, set up by you).
If you would rather have all of this set up for you, Option 2 is available.
Included with every project
Option 2: Cloud-Hosted & Maintained
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After your app is built, no hardware or self-installation is required. I deploy your app in a privately hosted virtual environment, and hand you the public address and your logins (including administrator permissions); nothing to install and nothing to maintain. Your instance is isolated from every other customer and backed up. Monthly pricing depends on the web traffic of your project.
In this option, your app and data lives on that server rather than in your house, and runs 24/7. It is never mined, sold, or shared, and you can export it to your home server and cancel your subscription whenever you want. The source code of your app will then be yours to keep and host elsewhere, as always.
Security is part of the service, at no extra cost:
Free Cloudflare protection in front of your app, absorbing attacks before they reach your server. A free web address is included, and your own domain is welcome too: it stays registered in your name, and connecting it is one copy-paste line at your domain provider.
A hardened server: key-only SSH access, a firewall closed to everything but Cloudflare, and automatic banning of repeated break-in attempts
HTTPS everywhere
Your instance isolated from every other customer
Nightly backups
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Example pricing
What a project might cost
Every project is quoted on its own, in writing, so this is not a price list. These examples are working apps, not websites like the option above: an app stores your information and does work for you, while a website mostly tells people about you. Here are three real-world examples:
A mobile dog washSmall-business exampleTap to view
You drive to people's homes and wash their dogs. Bookings come in by text and phone, your customers live in your head or a notebook, and you remind them yourself the night before. Here is what handing all of that to an app you own looks like, at three sizes.
A working booking app
A booking page showing your services, prices, and open times
A customer picks a time and it is held, so no two people book the same slot
An automatic confirmation email to them, and one to you
Your own private login with a simple list of every booking
The everyday version
Everything above, plus:
A client list with each dog's history, notes, and past washes
A calendar you can drag bookings around on
You set your own services, prices, and working hours
Gentle reminders sent automatically before each appointment
The whole operation
Everything above, plus:
A login for each van or washer, each seeing only their own stops
The day's stops ordered into a sensible route
Invoices and receipts for a customer, saved as a PDF
Your name and colors throughout, installable on a phone like an app
Two honest notes. Taking card payments, or connecting to an account only you can log into adds some complexity, and your quote will mention it. These are not app store / play store apps. They are private web-apps that are logged into via mobile or desktop browser.
This example exists as a working sample you can tap through right now. Bookings are pretend and stay on your device.
A household of five trying to keep everyone's schedules, chores, and who-does-what in one place, instead of a whiteboard nobody updates and a few separate group chats.
A shared family calendar everyone can see and add to
Daily routines and chores for each person, checked off as they go
A login for each family member, sized to their age
Private to your family and self-hosted, shared only with who you invite
dailybread, up in my public projects, is a free ready-made version of this, yours to self-host at home for nothing. This example is for a family who wants their own, built around how their household actually runs.
A small church officeChurch-staff exampleTap to view
A pastor and two volunteers keeping the member directory in one spreadsheet, the Sunday serving schedule in another, and prayer requests on sticky notes.
A member directory: families, contact details, who to reach in a pinch
A serving schedule for musicians, greeters, and teachers, a login each
Prayer requests kept privately, shared only with the people you choose
Yours and self-hosted, so the congregation's details never leave your hands
These are examples, not a price list. Your own quote may be different. When you are ready, the form below is how you get one.
How it works
From quote to an app you can open right from your phone's Home screen.
Fill out the form below
What should your project do? Who will use it? No technical language required. Be as detailed as you like.
Get a written quote
I reply with questions if I have them, then a fixed price tier and a clear
scope with a small free mockup if you would like to see what I have in
mind. You will know exactly what you are getting and what it costs before
anything starts, including a delivery window and a bug-fix period after
handoff.
Build
You get progress updates via email, and a live demo of your actual
app that keeps improving as the build moves.
You own the result
Delivered with the source code and your data in an open format, fully yours, no strings attached. Host it with Lazarus Labs, or run it at home with the written guide. Cancelling your subscription is always easy, and you can take your app and data home whenever you want. I do not keep anything and it is fully owned by you.
One-Person Team
Agentic coding isn't just typing requests into a machine. It is knowing exactly what
to ask for, recognizing the output, continuously making changes, re-testing, and refusing to ship
anything I have not tested and verified myself. Fixed scopes, automated
tests, and a review of every feature before it gets to you. You'll always be working with me, and not a chat bot or anyone else.
I have over two decades of experience with computer building, and have jumped head-first into the world of self-hosting. I have hands-on experience deploying open-source applications on my home network; A personal "NFlix" media server that is built from DVDs, a private password vault, music player app that plays all my CDs, and "dailybread", my first open source public project as part of my growing portfolio.
I have combined my self-hosting skills with my recent experience in prompt engineering & agentic coding to bring you Lazarus Labs - custom web tools, apps, or websites for you or your small business. I hope I can make something you love!
My multi-family app "dailybread" (shown above) ships with more than seven hundred automated tests, and
runs in my family’s household every day. The open source web-app is free for you to self-host at home, and a live demo is available upon request. Running it every day is what taught me the parts that matter most: backups that actually restore, updates that do not break the household mid-week, and tests that catch a bug before my family ever sees it. Every project I build for someone else gets that same treatment.
Why not just use an AI app builder?
Honest answer: maybe you should. Here is the actual difference, so you can decide for yourself.
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There is a wave of tools right now (Lovable, Bolt, and others) where you type what you want and an AI generates an app for you. They are fast and impressive for a demo, but with them you are the developer instead of me: you write the prompts, catch the bugs, and decide when it is good enough, and the app usually lives on their servers under their subscription. If you enjoy building things yourself and your idea is simple, one of them might be all you need, and I am not going to pretend otherwise.
What I sell is the finished product. You describe your project in plain words, I do the building, testing, and fixing, and the price is fixed in writing before anything starts. You end with the source code, your data in an open format, a self-hosting manual, and a support window after delivery. Self-hosting is not an afterthought here; it is the product, packaged to start with one command rather than an export you have to untangle. The one-time price includes that labor, and the person who tested every feature is the one who delivers it to you.
There is one more difference, and for me it is the deepest one. I believe the things we build for each other should stay human, or at least, as human as possible. AI is a powerful tool and I use it openly, but it will never be the one who cares whether you or your family receive an honest product. God gave us each other, not prompt boxes. Every project here is built, tested, and cared about by a person, and that person is still here after it gets delivered.
Principles
No ads, no analytics, no selling or mining any data. Ever.
You can always export your app, databases, etc, whether Lazarus Labs hosts it or you do.
Starting prices are public. There are no hidden fees.
I build with agentic coding tools and disclose this up front. The price advantage and quick delivery it creates goes to you.
Privacy
This site collects nothing except what you type into the quote form. No ads, no analytics, no trackers. The apps I build follow the same rule, and the data inside them belongs to you.
To keep things safe for both of us, there are kinds of data I will not take on:
Health or medical records covered by HIPAA.
Apps aimed at children under 13, which fall under COPPA.
Regulated financial records.
Card numbers. Payments always run through a dedicated processor like Stripe and nothing is ever shared or stored on servers I run.
The strongest protection I offer is simple: I keep almost nothing. If you self-host, your app and your data live on your own machine/server, and I have no access to them at all. I keep copies of written code for 30 days. Security is your responsibility.
If you choose to host with Lazarus Labs, your app runs in its own isolated instance on a hardened Linux server. Cloudflare sits in front of every hosted site to absorb attacks before they reach it, every connection is encrypted with HTTPS, and the server only accepts administration with a key file, never a password. The servers themselves run in data centers operated by Vultr, an established cloud provider whose infrastructure is independently audited against SOC 2, ISO 27001, and PCI DSS. Everything running on the server, and every promise on this page, is Lazarus Labs' own work and responsibility.
Payments always run through Stripe, so card numbers never touch a server I run. And when a project ends, everything is handed to you and my copies are removed, confirmed to you in writing.
The AI tools used to build your project are configured so your brief and your code are not used to train AI models. The finished app contains no AI features unless you ask for one, so the data inside it never touches an AI service at all.
If you have a security question this section does not answer, ask it through the form below. You will get a written answer from me, not a policy page.
F.A.Q
What happens to my code at the end?
Nothing. You hold the source code and your data from day one, and the
app keeps running wherever it is hosted. I do not hold onto it unless you request I keep a backup for a max of 30 days. Any developer can pick it up,
because there is nothing proprietary between you and your own product.
That is the point of the ownership promise, and why self-hosting is so great. And it works both ways: your
project is private by default, and publishing any part of it is your
decision.
How long does a project take?
Small tools take weeks, not the months or years a big agency quote implies. Your written quote includes a
delivery window, and you see real progress, with screenshots of your
actual product, while it is being built.
Do I need to understand SaaS or be tech savvy?
No. If Lazarus Labs hosts it for you, you just use the app on your phone or computer. If you
would rather keep it at home, then a computer with a running Linux installation is required. The written guide covers every step in
plain words, and the guided setup exists if you want me in your corner
the whole way.
How do the apps actually run?
Each app runs in Docker containers on a Linux machine, either your own
computer or the cloud server I set up. It is built from standard, open web
technologies and starts or stops with a single command. Nothing in it is
proprietary, so any developer can pick it up later.
What web address will my app have?
If Lazarus Labs hosts it, a free web address is included and your app is live on it from day one. If you want your own domain, like yourbusiness.com, you register it yourself for about $12 a year and it stays entirely in your name and under your control, the same as your code and data. Connecting it takes one copy-and-paste line added at your domain provider, following my written instructions; I handle everything else on my side, and I never need access to any of your accounts. If you ever leave, your domain goes with you. Self-hosters do not need a domain at all; the manual covers reaching your app from home and away.
You build with AI. Why should I trust the result?
Because you are not just trusting the tool, you are trusting the process
around it: a fixed project scope, automated tests, and my own testing of
every feature before delivery. This is NOT "AI Slop". And because you own the source, you are
free to have anyone else inspect or continue the work at any time after final delivery. The
speed advantage shows up in your price, and I disclose the method instead
of hiding it.
How is this different from Lovable, Bolt, or other AI app builders?
Those are do-it-yourself tools: you write the prompts, and you are responsible for the result, its hosting, and its upkeep. A fine choice if you want to build it yourself. What I offer is the done-for-you version: you describe the project once, I build and test it for a fixed written price, and you end up owning code that runs on hardware you control, with a real person to write to when something needs changing. The full comparison is further up the page.
Start your project
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