Digital Brain · the studio behind seven live products
Seven live products.
The fastest: six days.
The difference is the pipeline.
Digital Brain is a New Zealand software studio that builds complete products with AI agents doing most of the typing. Everything on this page is shipped and in use. The same pipeline is for hire.
- Brief: paint my 3D print before it hits the printer. Shipped as Layerpaint.
- Brief: scrapbooking without the mess or the supplies. Shipped as MyScrapbook Studio.
- Brief: help me manage my cat's kidney disease. Shipped as TendTail.
- Brief: a symptom diary my specialist would want to see. Shipped as GastroLog.
01 · Shipping record
Everything here is live. Go and use it.
Seven products, in the App Store and on the web. Open any one of them right now. The build times below run from the first day of work to the day the product went live.
LayerpaintWeb · 3D Paint a 3D model on screen, then print it in full color. Used by miniature painters and commercial print shops. started apr 2026 · first paying customers by july · three.js · stripe layerpaint.app ↗ MS-02 
MyScrapbook StudioWeb · Open beta Scrapbooking in the browser, with kits from real artists and print-quality pages. The biggest thing we run: a full design editor, a marketplace that pays the artists, subscriptions, and the machinery that keeps it stocked. Coming up on two years of continuous work. in build since aug 2025 · 4,253 code updates · 82 services · next.js · supabase · stripe myscrapbookstudio.com ↗ TT-03 
TendTailiOS · App Store Daily tracking for cats with kidney disease. Weight, fluids and lab results become charts a vet can read. started 1 jun · live on the app store 15 jun 2026 · 14 days · flutter App Store ↗ GL-04 
GastroLogiOS · App Store A meal and symptom diary built for gastroparesis. Logging takes seconds, and the report is one your specialist can use. started 10 jun · live on the app store 16 jun 2026 · 6 days · flutter App Store ↗ CC-05 
Cortisol CalmeriOS · App Store Eight daily habits linked to a steadier stress rhythm, run as one quick checklist with a single number to watch. started 14 jun · live on the app store 24 jun 2026 · 10 days · flutter App Store ↗ AM-06 
AmayaiOS · App Store Cycle and symptom tracking built for PCOS, where 28-day predictions don't fit. It records what your cycle actually does. started 18 jun · live on the app store 25 jun 2026 · 7 days · flutter App Store ↗ CH-07 
Chess ClockiOS · App Store Turns a phone laid flat into the clock for over-the-board games. Each half of the screen is one big button, so every slap counts. started 3 jul · live on the app store 10 jul 2026 · 7 days · flutter App Store ↗ 02 · The clock
Weeks, not quarters.
Same job, two clocks. Blue is what actually happened, counted from the first day of work to the day it was live and downloadable. Bronze is what a small agency typically quotes for the same thing.
Layerpaint
TendTail
GastroLog
Cortisol Calmer
Amaya
Chess Clock
One shared scale, in days. Blue bars are measured: first day of work to live. Bronze bars are typical small-agency quotes for comparable work — we didn't run their clock, so treat those as the going rate.
| Product | Digital Brain, measured | Typical agency quote |
|---|---|---|
| Layerpaint | 12 weeks to paying customers | about 9 months |
| TendTail | 14 days to the App Store | about 5 months |
| GastroLog | 6 days to the App Store | about 4 months |
| Cortisol Calmer | 10 days to the App Store | about 3 months |
| Amaya | 7 days to the App Store | about 4 months |
| Chess Clock | 7 days to the App Store | about 2 months |
MyScrapbook Studio is the long game, so it sits out of the race: a large platform in open beta, worked on continuously since August 2025. Speed is one gear; staying with something for two years is the other.
03 · Services
What we take on
Whole products
You describe what it should do; we build the whole thing. Design, the app itself, taking payments, getting it into the App Store or onto the web, and the page that sells it. The finish line is something your customers can actually buy, not a handover document.
IDEA → ON SALE, USUALLY IN WEEKSAI inside what you already run
A customer photographs a form and it fills itself in. A quote gets drafted from an email in seconds. A vague enquiry gets matched to the right product. One specific job in your business, done by software, and measured on whether it actually saved anyone time.
ONE JOB → WORKING IN YOUR SYSTEMThe weekly jobs nobody wants
Reports, data entry, chasing information, checking the same dashboard every morning. These get set up to run on a schedule, with AI doing the work and a person checking it before it counts. This studio runs on exactly that — it is how seven products get maintained at once.
RECURRING JOB → RUNS ITSELFWhat an app developer in NZ costs, and why 6 days is a real timelineWhat 7 shipped products taught us about app development cost
04 · How it runs
A fleet of agents, under senior direction.
Agents write most of the code. A senior developer sets the direction, reviews the work and owns what ships. The pipeline covers design review, testing, store submission, analytics and the marketing site, which is how a small studio carries seven live products and still answers email the same day.
The studio has worked this way in production since 2025. When we say AI-native, that's the whole claim.
05 · Received Wisdom
Most of what gets said about AI is said by people who don't ship.
We publish one argument at a time, and check each one against our own commits and store dates. Being wrong in public is cheaper than being vague.
06 · Contact
Have something that should exist?
ashley@digitalbrain.co.nzTwo lines is enough: what it is and who it's for. Replies come from the developer, not a form.