We build your software.All of it.
Zello Labs is a full-cycle software engineering partner.
One team scopes, builds, tests, deploys and documents your product, across custom software, Gen AI, cloud infrastructure and technical advisory. You own everything we ship, outright.
What we take on
- Prototypes that fall over
- Code nobody understands
- Integrations failing quietly
- Migrations that stall
Four disciplines, one accountable team.
Code has never been cheaper to produce. Being accountable for it in production is the part that did not change. We don't sub out the hard parts and we don't hand over mid-build: the people who scope it are the people who ship it, and the people still answering for it a year later.
- 01Custom software
- Product engineering, spec to launch
- APIs and third-party integration
- Legacy system modernisation
- QA, testing and documentation
- 02Gen AI
- AI-built codebases made production-grade
- LLM products and internal copilots
- Build-versus-buy strategy
- Evaluation, monitoring, cost control
- 03Cloud & infrastructure
- AWS, GCP and Azure migration
- CI/CD pipelines and DevOps
- Security review and hardening
- Cost and architecture audits
- 04Technical advisory
- Technical due diligence
- Architecture and design review
- Build-versus-buy analysis
- Fractional CTO support
Custom software development
Web and mobile applications, internal tools, and customer-facing products, on a stack we choose together: one your team can still maintain after we're gone.
- Product engineering from spec to launch
- API design and third-party integration
- Legacy system modernisation
- QA, testing and documentation. Included, never billed separately
Gen AI development
Two halves of the same job. We build LLM products and internal copilots, and we take over the ones already built with AI: the prototype that demos well and falls over with real customers, or the codebase nobody left on staff understands. Tests, security review, documentation, then it is yours to run.
- AI-generated codebases taken to production: tests, security review, documentation
- LLM-powered products, internal copilots, and model fine-tuning
- AI strategy: what to build, what to buy, and what not to build at all
- Evaluation, monitoring, and cost controls once it's in production
Cloud & infrastructure
Infrastructure that doesn't page you at 2am. We design, migrate, and operate cloud environments built for the load you have, not the load a vendor wants to sell you.
- Cloud migration (AWS, GCP, Azure)
- CI/CD pipelines and DevOps
- Security review and hardening
- Cost audits. We have turned engagements down when the fix was a config change, not a rebuild
Consulting & technical advisory
An outside technical opinion before you commit budget. Architecture review, vendor evaluation, or a second opinion on a build-versus-buy decision.
- Technical due diligence
- Architecture and systems design review
- Build-vs-buy analysis
- Fractional CTO support
Nothing here is under NDA.
Agency case studies arrive with the names withheld and the numbers unverifiable. These are ours, and the status beside each one is what we would tell you on the call. One runs our business today. Four are on the bench.
Running now
- Pulse: status boardLive
- Snag: repo triageIn build
- Reckon: query layerIn build
- Tare: cost watchIn build
- Redline: load harnessIn build
- zellolabs.ioLive
Pulse
An agency status update is a person retyping what they already know into an email. It is slow, it looks different each week, and between updates you are guessing.
Each project we run has a row, and each status carries the date it was last true. Anyone with the link reads it without asking us first.
It runs our own shop today. The four tools below have rows on it, and so does this website. You get access to this board, not a client-facing copy of it.
On the bench
Four tools we are building for ourselves, each one a job we do by hand today. None is finished. Open a file for the whole entry: where the name came from, the week it is meant to save you, and the part that is still missing.
One team from week zero to handover.
Nobody new takes over halfway. The engineers on the scoping call are the engineers at launch.
- 01 · Week 0
Scoping call
A full hour, because half of one isn't enough to understand a real system. You describe the problem; we ask the questions that usually get skipped: budget, constraints, what “done” looks like, and what happens if it slips. You leave with a straight answer on whether we're the right people for it.
Book week 0 - 02 · Week 1
Scope, then a written proposal
The scoping happens here, not on the call. You get a written scope, the pricing model that fits the work, and a delivery date. If we are not confident in that date, we tell you before you sign, not after.
- 03 · Weeks 2–N
Build, in the open
A weekly update in the same format every week: status, done, next, blockers. Plus dashboard access to the same board we use internally.
- 04 · Launch
Handoff
Documentation, credentials and a walkthrough, delivered by the engineers who scoped it in week 0. Not a PDF from someone you have never met. Ongoing support is available, never required.
Practices, not a badge wall.
Here is what is in place today and what is still in progress, with nothing moved between the two columns to make the left one longer.
Already in place
Access and credentials scoped per engagement, and revoked at handover, not left standing.
Code review and test coverage on everything we ship, including the parts a client would not think to ask about.
IP and data ownership written into the contract before work starts, not clarified after the fact.
In progress
Ask where each stands on the scoping call. We'll tell you plainly, not “soon.”
An exact number, in writing, before work starts.
Three ways to buy. We recommend one on the scoping call and put the number in writing before anything starts, so you will not see a figure for the first time on an invoice.
Fixed-scope project
A defined deliverable, priced as one number with one delivery date. Best for a specific product, migration, or integration with clear boundaries.
Dedicated team (retainer)
An ongoing team embedded with yours, billed monthly and scoped in 2-week increments. Best for continuous product development alongside your own team.
Cloud & infra support
Ongoing operation, monitoring, and incident response for systems already in production. Best for teams who need reliability without hiring an ops team.
Exact numbers come after a scoping call. If we are not confident in a date, we say so before you sign anything.
Questions worth asking before you hire anyone.
The ones we get asked most, answered the way we would answer them on the call.
Pricing & scope
Working together
Technical
After launch
Bring us the whole problem.
Book a one-hour scoping call. No deck, no pitch: you describe the problem, we ask the questions that usually get skipped, and you get a straight answer on whether we're the right people for it. Scoping comes after, in writing.