About the studio

A small team that ships.

LusitanIO is a small team of experienced developers. We build AI agents, websites, and operational systems for founders and small businesses — end to end, one project at a time.

Based in Portugal · Working worldwide · Replies in EN / PT
A short version

LusitanIO started after years of building software inside other people's companies. We kept noticing the same thing: the projects worth caring about were small, ambitious, and run by people who needed someone to actually finish the thing — not propose another roadmap.

So we made that the practice. Short engagements. Fixed scope. A small team of senior developers doing the work, talking to you directly, shipping something you can use within weeks.

The name comes from Lusitânia — the old Roman name for what's now Portugal. That's where we're based. We work across Europe and North America, and pick projects more for fit than for category.

What we believe

A few principles we keep coming back to.

Not a manifesto. Just the things we find ourselves saying in calls, on repeat, that we'd rather you knew up front.

  1. 01

    Small scope beats big plans.

    A short, narrow project finished well will teach you more — and earn more — than a six-month roadmap nobody reads. We lean toward smaller, more frequent deliverables.

  2. 02

    Boring tech, where possible.

    Postgres, queues, plain TypeScript, well-understood frameworks. We reach for the exciting stuff when it earns its place — not because it's on the slide.

  3. 03

    AI is a tool, not a strategy.

    The interesting question is never "where can we add AI?" It's "what work is genuinely worth doing, and which parts of it could a model help with?" That's a much shorter list, and it's the only one that ships.

  4. 04

    You own everything.

    Code, infrastructure, data, accounts, docs. We write the runbooks so you don't depend on us to keep the lights on. Lock-in is for vendors; we're partners.

  5. 05

    Say no early, often, and kindly.

    If we're not the right fit — too small, too specialised, wrong shape of problem — we'll tell you in the first call and point you somewhere better. It saves everyone time.

The team

Senior people, no layers.

Everyone at LusitanIO has shipped production systems for years — there are no juniors learning on your budget, and no managers between you and the people writing the code.

  1. 2026 →

    LusitanIO founded

    The studio takes shape. AI agents, websites, healthcare operations.

  2. Before that

    Years inside other people's companies

    Between us: AI & automation systems, production web platforms, and operations tooling — shipped inside startups and established companies alike.

  3. Always

    Builders first

    Side projects, open source, and the habit of shipping things end to end — long before it was the day job.

Outside the studio

When we're not at a screen.

Things that have nothing to do with software, but a lot to do with how we work.

  • Walks around the city

    Half our best ideas show up between Belém and Alfama. The rest show up in the kitchen.

  • Cooking, slowly

    Bread and braises. Things that reward patience and punish shortcuts — useful daily reminders.

  • Books on craft

    Anything by people who care about their work and write about it without ceremony.

Get in touch

Always glad to hear from good people.

A project in mind, a question, a friendly hello — all welcome. We reply to everything within a business day.

[email protected]

Replies within one business day