Softr Consulting
“You can just vibe code it now.”
You can. Then it has to handle permissions, real data, and eleven people using it at once — and that's where it falls over.
What Softr is — and why not just vibe code it
Softr is a platform for building internal tools and client-facing portals on top of a database you already have — Airtable, Google Sheets, or its own. You get real applications: user accounts, permission rules, forms, dashboards, and workflows, without building and maintaining a codebase.
AI coding tools have made a lot of people believe any software is now a weekend job. Generating a working screen is genuinely easy. That was never the hard part.
The hard part is everything underneath: who is allowed to see which record, what happens when two people edit at once, where the data actually lives, how you back it up, what you do when it breaks at 9pm, and who maintains it after the person who generated it moves on. Vibe coding is great. Vibe maintaining is where businesses get hurt — an internal tool nobody understands is worse than a spreadsheet.
Softr handles that layer for you — authentication, permissions, and data integrity are part of the platform, not something you have to remember to build.
Who this is for
Softr consulting is a fit if you recognise most of these:
- You run a core part of the business in a spreadsheet that's become dangerous
- You need clients or suppliers to see their own data — and only their own data
- Off-the-shelf software does 60% of what you need and you pay for all of it
- You were quoted a six-figure custom build for something that isn't that complicated
- You have a tool someone built that now nobody understands
Not a fit if: You need a public, high-traffic consumer product, or software with heavy real-time or offline requirements. That's a real development project — we'd tell you so.
What we build
Client portals
Customers log in to see their projects, orders, documents, and invoices — instead of emailing you to ask for a status update.
Lightweight CRM
Pipeline, contacts, and activity built around how you actually sell, when Salesforce or HubSpot is more system than you need.
Light ERP and inventory
Stock levels, purchase orders, suppliers, and fulfilment in one place — the operational core of a product business without an enterprise rollout.
Logistics and job tracking
Shipments, deliveries, or field jobs tracked from request to completion, with status visible to the people who need it.
Team and resource management
Internal directories, equipment registers, approval flows, and request systems — the small tools that quietly run a company.
Partner and supplier portals
Give suppliers or contractors a controlled window into the data they need, with no access to anything else.
How we work
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01
Define the actual problem
Most internal-tool requests are process problems wearing a software costume. We check whether you need a tool at all before quoting you for one.
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02
Design the data model
Tables, relationships, and fields first. Get this wrong and everything built on top of it is fragile — this is the step AI-generated tools skip.
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03
Map permissions
Who sees what, who can edit what, what happens on approval. Designed deliberately, because retrofitting permissions is painful and risky.
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04
Build and test with real users
We build the application and put it in front of the people who'll use it while it's still cheap to change.
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05
Document and hand over
You get documentation of how it works and how to change it. No black boxes — you own the tool and the understanding of it.
Common questions
Why not just build it with AI?
You can generate a prototype in an afternoon — genuinely useful for testing an idea. The problems come later: permissions, data integrity, backups, and the fact that nobody can safely change it six months on. Softr gives you that foundation as part of the platform.
Where does our data actually live?
In a database you own — typically Airtable or Google Sheets, or Softr's own. You can export it and you're not locked in. We'll walk through the specifics for your setup, including anything you need for compliance.
What does it cost compared to custom development?
Far less, and it arrives in weeks rather than months. Softr is a monthly subscription plus the build. The honest trade-off is a ceiling: for genuinely complex products, custom development is the right answer.
Can it handle our permissions? We have sensitive data.
Yes — that's one of its main strengths. User groups and record-level rules mean a client sees only their records and a contractor sees only their jobs. We design this before building anything.
What if we outgrow it?
Your data is in a standard database, so it can move. And you'll have years of real usage telling you exactly what a custom build needs to do — which makes that project cheaper and far less risky.
Replace the spreadsheet that's holding you together
A short call to work out what you actually need built — and whether you need it built at all.
Book a call