Build Production-Grade Automation, Not Brittle Workflows
Custom code provides production-grade reliability for core business processes when no-code platforms fall short of your operational requirements. For business-critical workflows where errors directly impact revenue, custom automation offers maintainability, auditing, and observability that visual, no-code tools cannot match.
Custom code automation provides production-grade reliability for core business processes, offering maintainability and observability that no-code platforms often lack. Syntora engineers custom systems using technologies like Claude API and AWS Lambda to solve complex data extraction and processing challenges.
Syntora focuses on custom systems for complex tasks like automating data extraction from financial documents, qualifying high-value sales leads, or intelligently triaging customer support requests. We engineer maintainable codebases that include robust error handling, detailed logging, and proactive monitoring from day one. Unlike no-code solutions, you own the entire codebase and the infrastructure it runs on, ensuring complete control and auditability.
While Syntora has not built a deployed system for a recruiting firm, we have deep experience building document processing pipelines using Claude API for sensitive financial documents. The same technical patterns and architectural considerations apply to handling resumes or other industry-specific documents. The scope of a custom build depends on the complexity of your documents, the volume of data, and the required integration points with your existing systems.
What Problem Does This Solve?
Visual automation platforms are great for connecting two systems with a simple trigger-action rule. The problem starts when you run a core business function on them. They lack robust error handling. When a third-party API has a momentary outage, the entire workflow run fails silently, losing the data. There is no automatic retry or dead-letter queue.
A regional insurance agency with 6 adjusters learned this the hard way. They used a visual builder to route new claims from a web form to their claims management system. The platform’s connector for their industry-specific software had a 5-minute sync delay. But worse, if the claims system's API was down for maintenance, new claim submissions from the website would fail and vanish. This resulted in 10-15 lost claims per month.
These platforms also penalize complexity. A workflow with conditional logic, like checking a customer's status in a CRM before sending an email, requires branching paths. These paths cannot merge back together, forcing you to duplicate every subsequent action. This inflates your monthly task count and creates a brittle, unmanageable diagram that no one on the team understands.
How Would Syntora Approach This?
Syntora approaches custom automation engagements by first understanding your exact problem and data requirements. For a document processing task, the initial step would be to collaboratively define a strict JSON schema for the data you need to extract from your specific document types.
We would then engineer targeted prompts for the Claude API to perform optical character recognition (OCR) and data extraction, ensuring consistent output tailored to your documents. The core logic of the system would be deployed as a serverless function, for example, on AWS Lambda, triggered by events like a file upload to an S3 bucket or a new entry in a queue.
The system would use asynchronous API calls to Claude, allowing it to process multiple documents concurrently. To ensure reliability, we would implement exponential backoff retry logic for API calls. Should an attempt fail after a defined number of retries, the problematic file would be moved to a dead-letter queue, and an alert would be sent, preventing data loss.
All processed data, along with relevant metadata, would be stored in a Supabase Postgres database. This creates a permanent, auditable record showing when each document was received, processed, and the exact data extracted. Structured JSON logs, generated using `structlog`, would be sent to AWS CloudWatch for real-time monitoring and debugging. This level of observability is a critical advantage over no-code platforms.
Syntora would deliver the complete, production-ready source code, including infrastructure-as-code scripts, to your company's GitHub repository. A typical engagement for this complexity of document processing system would take approximately 4-8 weeks from discovery to deployment, depending on the number of document types and integration requirements. You would need to provide example documents, access to relevant stakeholders for requirements gathering, and designated cloud accounts for deployment.
What Are the Key Benefits?
Go Live in 2 to 4 Weeks
A scoped, fixed-price project gets your custom system into production quickly. No lengthy implementation cycles or ongoing configuration sprints.
Your Asset, Not a Subscription
You pay for the build, not per-user or per-task. After launch, you only pay for cloud hosting and optional flat-fee maintenance.
You Get the Keys and the Blueprints
We deliver the full Python source code, documentation, and a runbook to your GitHub. There is no vendor lock-in. It's your system.
It Fails Predictably, Not Silently
With built-in alerting via AWS CloudWatch and dead-letter queues, you know immediately when something breaks. No more discovering failed jobs days later.
Integrates with Your Legacy Systems
We connect directly to your proprietary ERP, CRM, or industry-specific platforms via their APIs, without waiting for a pre-built connector.
What Does the Process Look Like?
Week 1: Discovery and Architecture
You provide credentials for your tools and 5-10 sample documents. We deliver a technical specification document and a system architecture diagram for your approval.
Week 2: Core System Build
We write the primary Python code for data processing and API integrations. You receive an invitation to a shared GitHub repository to track daily commits and progress.
Week 3: Deployment and Testing
We deploy the system to a staging environment in your AWS account. You receive a testing dashboard to validate results with your own data before we go live.
Week 4: Handoff and Monitoring
We deploy to production, set up monitoring alerts, and conduct a final walkthrough. You receive a complete runbook detailing how to operate and maintain the system.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What factors determine the project's cost and timeline?
- The primary factors are the number of systems we need to integrate and the complexity of the business logic. A system that connects two APIs with simple data transformation takes about 2 weeks. An AI agent that requires state management and interacts with multiple external services can take 4 weeks. We provide a fixed-price quote after our initial discovery call.
- What happens if a service like the Claude API is down?
- The system is designed for resilience. The AWS Lambda function will automatically retry the execution. Our Python code also includes exponential backoff logic for API calls. If an API call fails after 3 retries, the job is moved to a dead-letter queue for manual inspection and an alert is sent. No data is lost.
- How is this different from hiring a Python developer on Upwork?
- We deliver a production-ready system, not just a script. This includes infrastructure-as-code for deployment, structured logging, monitoring, alerting, and a runbook for maintenance. The person who builds the system is the same person on the discovery call. We provide two weeks of post-launch support to ensure everything runs smoothly.
- Who pays for and owns the cloud infrastructure?
- You do. We deploy the entire system into your company's AWS account. You have full ownership and control. This means you pay AWS directly for consumption, which is typically under $50/month for our builds, and you are never locked into our services for hosting or maintenance.
- What if our business logic changes in six months?
- Because you own the complete codebase, any competent Python developer can update the logic. The code is documented and follows standard practices. We also offer a flat-rate monthly maintenance plan that covers minor logic changes, dependency updates, and adjustments for third-party API changes.
- We have no engineers. How do we manage this long-term?
- The systems we build require minimal maintenance. They are monitored automatically, and alerts are sent if human intervention is needed. For clients without technical staff, our optional maintenance plan provides peace of mind. We handle all updates, monitoring, and troubleshooting for a flat monthly fee. Book a discovery call at cal.com/syntora/discover to discuss.
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