Build Custom AI Automations That Run Your Operations
You can find an AI automation expert at a specialist consultancy that builds custom systems from scratch. Syntora delivers production-grade AI tools for small businesses without an engineering team.
The scope is not just connecting apps; it is replacing a business-critical manual process with production code. This is for operations like processing complex documents, qualifying inbound leads, or triaging support tickets where an off-the-shelf tool's logic is too simple and its failures are too costly.
We recently built a document processing pipeline for a 12-person recruiting firm. They were manually reviewing 400 applicant resumes per month. We deployed a system using the Claude API that extracts key data in 8 seconds, cutting a 6-minute manual review process down to a few clicks for final approval.
What Problem Does This Solve?
Many small businesses first turn to visual automation platforms to connect their apps. These tools are great for simple notifications, like posting a new sale to a Slack channel. The trouble starts when you try to run a core business operation on them. A workflow that qualifies a lead by checking your CRM, enriching the data, and checking a suppression list can burn 5-10 tasks per lead. At 100 leads per day, a single workflow can generate a massive monthly bill.
A 20-person logistics company faced this issue with their shipment request process. A customer fills out a web form, which triggers a workflow to extract data from the attached invoice PDF and enter it into their ERP. Their no-code platform's OCR module had a 15% error rate on varied invoice formats. There was no way to flag low-confidence extractions for human review, so every failure required an administrator to manually find the error and fix the ERP entry, defeating the entire purpose of the automation.
These platforms are fundamentally not built for high-reliability tasks. Their pricing models penalize complex logic. They lack proper error handling, retry mechanisms, and detailed logging needed for auditable, business-critical systems. When your core operations depend on a shared, multi-tenant platform, you cannot control for performance or guarantee processing integrity.
How Does It Work?
We begin by mapping your entire manual workflow into a series of Python functions. This logic is wrapped in a FastAPI service, creating a private API that you own completely. We deploy this service on AWS Lambda, which means you only pay for compute time. For most workflows, this results in hosting costs under $20 per month.
For the logistics company, we replaced their fragile OCR module with a direct integration to the Claude API. Our system first attempts to extract invoice data; if Claude returns a confidence score below 95%, the document and its extracted data are sent to a simple web interface for a human to approve in one click. This two-stage process reduced their data entry error rate from 15% to under 0.5%. The average processing time, including the API call, is 8 seconds per document.
We connect this core logic to your other systems using `httpx` for asynchronous API calls. This allows the system to communicate with your CRM, ERP, or industry-specific platforms without blocking. We write integration code that respects rate limits, handles authentication securely, and includes retry logic with exponential backoff. The complete source code is delivered to your company's private GitHub repository.
For observability, we implement structured logging using `structlog`. Every step, API call, and outcome is recorded in a Supabase database, creating a permanent audit trail. We configure alerts to send a Slack message if the system's API error rate exceeds 2% over any 5-minute window, allowing us to address issues before they impact operations.
What Are the Key Benefits?
Live in 2-4 Weeks, Not Quarters
A typical scoped build moves from discovery to a production-ready system in under 20 business days. You see results immediately, not after a long implementation.
Fixed-Price Build, No Per-Seat Fees
We quote one flat price for the entire build. After launch, you only pay for minimal cloud hosting costs, not a subscription that grows with your team.
You Own The Code and Infrastructure
We deliver the full source code to your GitHub and deploy on your AWS account. There is no vendor lock-in. You can modify or extend it at any time.
Monitoring Built In, Not Bolted On
Every system includes logging and proactive alerting. You get a Slack notification if an integration fails or error rates spike, not a silent failure.
Direct Integration With Your Core Tools
We build direct API integrations to your CRM, ERP, and other essential platforms. Your team's workflow doesn't change; the manual work just disappears.
What Does the Process Look Like?
Week 1: Discovery and Architecture
You provide documentation of the current process and temporary API credentials. We deliver a fixed-price proposal with a technical diagram outlining the system.
Weeks 2-3: Core System Development
We build the automation logic in Python. You receive access to a private GitHub repository to track progress and view the source code as it is written.
Week 4: Deployment and Parallel Testing
We deploy the system to your cloud infrastructure. You receive a staging environment to test the automation with live data before it replaces the manual process.
Post-Launch: Handoff and Support
After 30 days of included monitoring, we hand over the system. You receive a runbook detailing the architecture, logging, and common maintenance tasks.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How is the project price and timeline determined?
- Pricing is a fixed fee based on scope. The main factors are the number of systems to integrate, the complexity of the business logic, and the quality of existing API documentation. A typical project to automate a single, well-defined business process takes 2 to 4 weeks. After a 30-minute discovery call, we can provide a detailed proposal with a firm price and timeline. Book a call at cal.com/syntora/discover.
- What happens if an external API like Claude is down?
- The system is built for resilience. If an external API call fails, the code automatically retries up to three times with a delay between each attempt. If it still fails, the task is moved to a 'dead-letter queue' and a Slack alert is sent with the transaction details. This ensures no data is lost and a human can intervene to re-process the request once the external service is restored.
- Why not just hire a freelance developer or full-time engineer?
- Hiring takes months and a generalist developer may lack experience with production infrastructure or specific AI APIs. Syntora specializes in building and deploying these exact systems. Because the founder is the builder, there is no overhead. You get a senior engineer's focus to deliver a production-ready system in weeks, not quarters, and without the long-term cost of a full-time salary.
- What if our business process changes after the system is built?
- The code is yours and is documented to be understood by any Python developer. For minor changes, your team can modify the open-source code. For more significant updates, we can scope a new fixed-price engagement. We also offer an optional flat monthly maintenance plan that covers dependency updates, security patches, and minor logic adjustments to keep the system aligned with your process.
- What kind of access do you need to our systems?
- We follow the principle of least privilege. For the initial discovery, we often only need documentation. For the build, we require API keys with the minimum necessary permissions for the specific systems we are integrating. All credentials are shared via a secure password manager and access is fully revoked upon project completion, unless you opt into a monthly maintenance plan.
- Do you use our business data to train your own AI models?
- Absolutely not. Your data is your property. The systems we build run on your infrastructure and process your data via API calls to providers like Anthropic (Claude), which have zero-retention policies. Your data is never stored on Syntora's systems, never seen by anyone else, and is never used for any purpose other than running your specific automation.
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