Tell us what needs to change. We’ll work out what it takes.

You know something in the business needs to change — an application nobody can safely touch, a process running on spreadsheets, an idea with no plan, a platform with no one to own it. Describe it in your own words. We work out what it takes, build it, and stay accountable for it afterwards.

Tell Us What’s Not Working See How We Work

You know something needs to change, but not what it takesManual work is taking time away from higher-value workTechnology matters to the business and nobody inside it owns it

Make Directory Development

make@directory:~$mkdir --info

<MK-DIR>

booting|

guest@make-directory:~$ ls ./what-we-solve

four problems we get called in for

Which of these sounds like your situation?

-rwxr-xr-xStabilize & Modernize

Something important is unreliable, undocumented, or inherited, and every change to it feels risky. Systems your team can change without holding their breath.

-rwxr-xr-xAutomate & Simplify

Work moves by hand — spreadsheets, re-keyed data, email approvals, reports someone rebuilds every month. Less manual work, fewer errors, and visibility into what is actually happening.

-rwxr-xr-xBuild & Launch

There is an idea, a requirement, or an opportunity, and no clear path from it to something people can use. A working production system, maintainable after launch and owned by someone.

-rwxr-xr-xScale & Operate

The technology matters to the business, and nobody inside it owns the technical decisions. A dependable technical organization without building the whole team internally.

guest@make-directory:~$ tree ~/environments

where this usually starts

Your industry matters less here than the situation you are in.

unowned-software/

Software nobody owns

The application still runs the business, but the developer who built it is gone and the same problems keep coming back.

|-- legacy-app.ts
|-- undocumented-deploy.sh
|-- access-inventory.md
`-- risk-register.md

disconnected-systems/

Systems that do not talk

Tools were bought one at a time, so staff move data by hand and the spreadsheets in between became the real system of record.

|-- integrations.ts
|-- sync-jobs.py
|-- reporting.tsx
`-- manual-steps.md

cloud-and-operations/

Cloud and operations drift

Infrastructure, backups, and vendor accounts accumulated over years, and no one is confident about what would happen in an outage.

|-- infrastructure.tf
|-- backups.md
|-- monitoring.ts
`-- vendor-map.md

idea-without-a-path/

An idea with no path

Everyone agrees it should exist. Nobody can say what it would take, what it would cost, or what it should be built on.

|-- requirements.md
|-- unknowns.md
|-- phases.md
`-- first-release.md

guest@make-directory:~$ cat ./our-work.md

what we build and operate

Work you can look at yourself.

Most of what we build runs inside someone else’s business, and those systems are theirs to talk about rather than ours. So here is our own: products, tools, and open source we build, ship, and maintain. The code is public if you want to see how we think before you talk to us.

PRODUCT

Modernizing COBOL without betting the business

CobolScope discovers what exists in a mainframe estate, assesses migration complexity, and supports the move. Sold to banks, insurers, and government. Currently in beta.

Legacy modernization at enterprise scaleOPEN SOURCE

A migration toolchain, built in the open

Analyze, transpile, integrate: dependency and call-graph analysis, a COBOL-to-Rust transpiler verified by differential testing, and a REST bridge that keeps compiled business logic reachable. Apache-2.0.

Static analysis, compiler work, integration patternsOPEN SOURCE

Cloud infrastructure as a typed graph

Strata models AWS, Google Cloud, and Azure on one canvas, imports live state and infrastructure-as-code, and runs validation, reachability, cost, and migration engines shared between the UI and an MCP server.

Cloud architecture, DevOps, AI toolingRESEARCH

Research into how software understands work

Make Directory Labs studies operational memory, human–AI collaboration, and computational models of work. Blackboard, an MCP-native operational context interface, is the active project.

AI/ML depth that is not bolted on

guest@make-directory:~$ cat ./how-we-work.md

understand -> recommend -> execute -> own

A practical path from unclear problem to owned system.

Understand

We learn the systems, the workflows, and the constraints before recommending anything.

Recommend

You get a plain-language read on what should change, in what order, and what it costs.

Execute

We build in working increments, with the decisions and tradeoffs kept visible.

Own

We keep the system documented, maintained, and improving as the business changes.

guest@make-directory:~$ cat ./ways-to-work-with-us.md

from a one-time read to embedded engineering

Five ways to work with us. Pick the one that matches how much you want to hand over.

-rwxr-xr-xAssessment

We work out what you actually need. One-time. The answer to “something needs to change, but I do not know what it takes.”

-rwxr-xr-xEssential

You set the direction. We execute. Dependable development for systems that work and need to keep working.

-rwxr-xr-xGrowth

You set the direction. We help shape it. A multidisciplinary team continuously improving what you run.

-rwxr-xr-xPartner

We help set the direction, and we own delivering it. Product, engineering, and technical leadership without building the department.

-rwxr-xr-xEnterprise

We operate as part of your organization. Embedded engineering under formal terms, alongside internal IT.

guest@make-directory:~$ cat ./fit-check.md

where we do our best work

You will get the most from us when software carries real weight in the business.

FITYour business depends on software but cannot justify a full internal team

FITTechnology affects your operations, revenue, risk, or customer experience

FITThe work continues past a launch date, and someone has to own the system

guest@make-directory:~$ ls ~/capabilities

how we solve problems

You describe the outcome. Choosing what to build it with is on us.

-rwxr-xr-xweb-apps.ts

Web applications: Portals, dashboards, internal tools, and workflow software for the processes that do not fit off-the-shelf systems.

-rwxr-xr-xwebsites.sh

Websites and content systems: Sites that stay fast, accessible, and maintainable, and that connect cleanly to the workflows behind them.

-rwxr-xr-xautomations.py

Automation, integrations, and AI: Connecting the systems you already run, and using AI where it removes real work rather than adding a tool to manage.

-rwxr-xr-xmobile-apps.app

Mobile: iOS and Android products for customer, field, and internal workflows — built, released, and maintained.

-rwxr-xr-xdesign.fig

Product and UX design: Interface and product decisions that make complicated work easier to complete correctly.

guest@make-directory:~$ ls ./insights | head -3

notes from the work

How we think about the problems we get called in for.

2026Website Redesign vs. Website Refresh: How to Decide Before You Spend

A practical guide for business owners deciding whether their website needs a full redesign, a focused refresh, or better ongoing support.

2026Building Strata: A Visual Infrastructure Builder for Cloud Teams

Why we built Strata, how it helps teams visualize AWS and cloud resources, and where the MCP-powered infrastructure workflow is headed next.

2026Before You Build an Internal Tool, Map the Workflow First

Internal tools work best when they are designed around the real workflow, not just the screens a team thinks it needs.

guest@make-directory:~$ mkdir ./what-needs-to-change

ready when you are

Tell us what is not working. We will tell you what it takes.

The customer friction, the slow internal process, the half-built idea, the unstable infrastructure, the system nobody owns — start with whichever of those you can see from where you sit. Sorting out what it actually needs is the first thing we do.

Start a Conversation See Ways to Work With Us

Not sure what you need?

Most people are not, and it is a normal place to start. An assessment gives you a documented read on what exists, what is at risk, and what it would take to fix — for less than a month of the smallest ongoing plan, and it is yours to keep whether or not you continue with us.

Start an Assessment