Build Engineered Automation, Not Brittle Scripts
Production-grade Python automation is an engineered system with logging, retries, and monitoring. A simple script is disposable code that runs on one machine and fails silently.
The difference is reliability. A production system is designed to handle API failures, malformed data, and network issues without manual intervention. It's a service that runs 24/7, not a file you execute on your laptop when you remember to. This is for business-critical processes where a silent failure costs real money.
We built an invoice processing pipeline for a 15-person accounting firm. PDFs arriving via email are now posted to QuickBooks as draft entries in 8 seconds, down from 6 minutes of manual work. The system processes over 400 invoices per month, and the error rate dropped from 9% to less than 1%.
What Problem Does This Solve?
Most custom automation starts as a Python script running on someone's laptop. It works for a while, but fails unpredictably. If the laptop is closed or the owner is on vacation, the process does not run. It has no structured logging, so when it breaks on row 147 of a CSV, you only find out when a coworker complains about missing data hours later. A single network hiccup can kill the entire run.
The next step is often moving the script to a server with a cron job. This is still brittle. The cron job might fail silently if the machine runs out of memory or an API key expires. There is no health check to confirm the process is alive. When the source data schema changes, the script breaks without alerting anyone, silently corrupting data downstream.
GUI-based workflow tools seem more stable, but they introduce new problems. Their per-task pricing models penalize volume. A workflow making three API calls per item can burn through a 10,000-task monthly limit in a week on a 200-item-per-day process. Debugging means clicking through a web UI, not querying structured logs, making it impossible to trace a single transaction through a complex workflow.
How Does It Work?
We begin by mapping your entire manual process to identify every potential failure point. For an invoice processor, this means handling malformed PDFs, failed OCR API calls, or invalid chart of account codes from QuickBooks. The architecture is a FastAPI service deployed on AWS Lambda, triggered by an S3 event when a new PDF arrives. We use Supabase for state tracking, which provides an auditable log of where each invoice is in the pipeline.
The core logic is built for resilience. Instead of one monolithic script, each step is a discrete, testable function. API calls to external services like the Claude API are wrapped with the tenacity library, which automatically retries on transient network errors for up to 60 seconds. All system events are logged as structured JSON using structlog, allowing us to filter for every action related to a specific `invoice_id`.
Code is not deployed manually from a laptop. We build a CI/CD pipeline using GitHub Actions that runs automated tests, lints the code for quality, and deploys to AWS Lambda on every merge to the main branch. The entire infrastructure is defined as code. This ensures we can redeploy the whole system to a new AWS region in under 15 minutes in a disaster recovery scenario.
A deployed system requires constant observation. We configure CloudWatch Alarms to monitor Lambda invocations, error rates, and duration. If the p99 latency exceeds 500ms or the error rate goes above 1%, a critical alert is sent to a dedicated Slack channel via webhook. This means we know about problems before your team does. The monthly hosting cost for this serverless setup typically runs under $50.
What Are the Key Benefits?
Your Process Runs, Even On Weekends
Production systems are deployed on AWS Lambda and monitored 24/7. They do not depend on someone's laptop being open or a cron job running successfully.
Fixed Build Cost, Not a Per-Task Meter
You pay a one-time fee for the system build. Your AWS hosting bill is based on usage, often under $50/month, not a per-task fee that penalizes volume.
You Get the Keys and the Blueprints
We deliver the full Python source code in your private GitHub repository. You are not locked into a platform; you own the engineered asset.
Alerts Fire Before Your Customers Complain
We configure CloudWatch alarms that post directly to a shared Slack channel. You will see an alert for a processing failure within 60 seconds.
Connects to Any API, Not Just a Pre-Built List
We use httpx to integrate with any system that has a REST API, including your internal tools, QuickBooks, and Salesforce. No waiting for a connector.
What Does the Process Look Like?
Week 1: Process Mapping and Access
You walk us through the manual process on a recorded call and provide read-only access to source systems. We deliver a technical spec outlining the automation architecture.
Weeks 2-3: Core System Build
We build the core Python application and CI/CD pipeline in a shared GitHub repo. You get access to see commits and progress in real-time.
Week 4: Deployment and Parallel Run
We deploy the system to a staging environment and run it alongside your manual process for one week. You receive a daily report comparing automated vs. manual outcomes.
Week 5+: Go-Live and Monitoring
After your approval, we switch the system to production. We monitor performance for 30 days, then hand over a runbook and documentation for ongoing maintenance.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How much does a production-grade automation system cost?
- Pricing depends on the number of systems it integrates with and the complexity of the business logic. An invoice processor connecting three systems (email, OCR, accounting) is a different scope than a simple data sync. We provide a fixed-price proposal after a 30-minute discovery call where we map the exact workflow. Book a discovery call at cal.com/syntora/discover.
- What happens when an external API you connect to changes?
- This is a common failure mode. Our monitoring will catch the increase in errors, and the structured logs will show which API is failing. For post-launch support, we offer a monthly retainer that covers a set number of hours for maintenance like this. Most API changes are minor and can be fixed in under two hours.
- How is this different from hiring a freelancer on Upwork?
- A freelancer typically delivers a script. Syntora delivers an engineered system with CI/CD, logging, monitoring, and documentation. The person you talk to on the discovery call is the senior engineer who writes every line of code. There is no project manager or handoff to a junior developer. This ensures quality and accountability.
- Can you automate a process that involves a desktop application?
- No. Syntora builds systems that connect services via APIs. We do not work with GUI automation, screen scraping, or tools like UiPath or Automation Anywhere. If your process requires clicking buttons in a legacy Windows application, our approach is not the right fit for your needs.
- What if the automation makes a mistake?
- The system is designed for human review. For the accounting example, invoices are posted as *draft* entries in QuickBooks for final approval. For a lead routing system, high-value leads would be flagged in a Slack channel for sales manager review. We build checkpoints into the process so the automation assists, not replaces, human judgment.
- What kind of access and credentials do you need from us?
- We need API keys or service account credentials for the systems we integrate with. We always request the minimum required permissions (e.g., read-only for data sources, specific write access for destinations). All credentials are encrypted and stored securely. We provide a checklist of required permissions during the kickoff.
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