Hourly billing is broken.
It made sense when writing code was the slow part. Now agents write it in minutes, and billing by the hour rewards whoever is slowest. We price the output instead.
Line running · lights on
Spec in.
Software out.
Lights on.
The Johnny Labs Factory turns a written spec into tested, deployed software at a fixed price and a fixed date. AI agents run the line. Senior engineers inspect every change and sign every merge. The repo is yours from the first commit.
- Fixed pricequoted before we start
- Weeklypull requests you can run
- Human-signedevery single merge
- Yoursrepo, cloud and IP, from commit one
Why a factory
Typing got cheap. Trust didn't.
Verification is the real job.
Generating code is solved. Knowing it's right isn't. So we built the line around proving it: specs become tests, tests gate every station, and a senior human signs off last.
Lights-out is for widgets.
Some "dark factories" let no human read the code. That's fine for bolts. For the software that runs your business, we keep the lights on and a name on every merge.
How the line runs
Six stations. No black boxes.
Every work order moves through the same stations, and you can see where it is at any moment.
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01
Intake
You send a spec, a ticket list, or a messy doc. We turn it into a precise spec with acceptance criteria, then quote a price and a date.
You see: the spec, the quote, the date.
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02
Plan
An engineer designs the system and splits it into small work orders, each with its tests written first.
You see: the architecture and the work orders.
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03
Build
Agents pick up work orders in parallel, each in its own sandbox, and build until the tests pass.
You see: pull requests appear.
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04
Verify
Machines check the machines: tests, types, lint, security and dependency scans, performance budgets. Fail anything and it goes back to Build.
You see: green checks, or exactly why not.
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05
Inspect
A senior engineer reads the change against the spec and either signs it or sends it back. This is the station that never gets automated.
You see: a named reviewer on every merge.
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06
Ship
Merged work deploys to your staging every week and to production when you say so, with docs and runbooks updated as it goes.
You see: working software, in your cloud.
Quality control
Nothing leaves the floor without a stamp.
Every merge passes every gate. No exceptions for deadlines, and no exceptions for "it's just a small change."
Inspection report · WO-104
example
- Acceptance tests from the specpass
- Unit and integration testspass
- Types and lintpass
- Security scan, code and dependenciespass
- Secrets scanpass
- Performance budgetpass
- Accessibility checkspass
- Docs and changelog updatedpass
- Human review against the specsigned
Track your order
Like a parcel. Except it's your product.
No status meetings to find out where things are. Every work order has a live trail: what the agents did, what failed, who signed it, what it cost.
Fit
What the line is great at. And what it isn't.
Run it through the factory
- Web apps, portals and internal tools
- APIs, integrations and data pipelines
- AI features, with real evals
- Migrations, upgrades and rewrites
- Tests for the code nobody dares touch
- The backlog your team never gets to
Probably not the factory
- Research with no definition of done
- "We'll know it when we see it" (start with a Pilot)
- Hardware, firmware and safety-critical systems
- Anything where you'd rather it be cheap than right
Pricing
We sell finished software, not hours.
Two weeks · fixed fee
Pilot
The fastest way to find out whether the factory is for you. We take one real feature from spec to staging through every station, on your codebase or a fresh one.
- One feature, end to end, on your stack
- Full inspection reports and order trail
- A fixed quote for what comes next
- Fee credited to your first work orders
Per spec · fixed price
Work orders
Send a spec, get a price and a date. Pay for each delivered, signed-off batch. Changes become new work orders, priced before we build them.
- Quote before any work starts
- Pay on delivery of each batch
- Weekly staging deploys
- Late is on us (see below)
Monthly · reserved capacity
Line time
Your own slot on the line every month, for teams with a steady backlog. Queue work orders whenever you like; we ship them in your priority order.
- Reserved throughput every month
- A dedicated lead inspector
- Priority on urgent work orders
- Cancel with 30 days' notice
The guarantee
Late is on us.
Every work order comes with a date. If we miss it for reasons that are ours, you don't pay for that work order. No asterisk.
FAQ
Fair questions.
Is the line really AI, or people behind a curtain?
Really AI. Agents write the code and tests; humans write specs, design systems and inspect. Every order trail shows exactly which was which, and what the compute cost.
We don't have a spec. Can we still use the factory?
Yes. Intake turns whatever you have (a doc, a ticket list, a call recording) into a spec you approve before anything is built. If the idea is still fuzzy, start with a Pilot.
What stacks do you build on?
Mainstream ones: TypeScript, Python, Go, Ruby, the big clouds, Postgres and friends. We'd rather use your stack than ours, so your team can run what we ship.
Who owns the code?
You do, from the first commit. It lives in your repository and deploys to your cloud. There's no platform you have to keep paying for to run it.
How do you handle our code and data?
Agents work in isolated sandboxes with only the access a work order needs. We use models under terms that don't train on your data, and can run entirely inside your cloud and model accounts.
What if we change our minds?
Then we change the spec. The change becomes a new work order with its own price and date, approved before it's built. The factory makes change cheap; it doesn't make it free.
Why not buy an AI coding platform and do it ourselves?
You can, and some teams should. A platform gives you the machines; we run the whole line, own the result and stand behind the date. Plenty of teams do both, and we're happy to show yours how we work.
What happens after delivery?
You get docs, runbooks and a walkthrough, and your team takes over. Or keep a slot on the line for fixes and new features.
Send us a spec. Get a price and a date.
A doc, a ticket list or a voice memo is fine. We'll reply with what we'd build, what it costs, and when it ships.
Place a work order