Blog

Notes on running a software business alone

Guides on clients, invoicing, support and coding agents for solo developers, plus Mac tips and how the NabuSuite apps are built.

NabuOne

Solo business

How to run a software business on your own: the whole job, start to finish

Writing the code is one part of a one-person software business. The rest is clients, quotes, invoices, support, servers and knowing whether you made money. Here is a setup that covers all of it without a stack of subscriptions.

4 November 20265 min read

A grid of four terminal panes, each running a coding agent on a different task

NabuOne

Coding agents

How to run multiple Claude Code agents in parallel without losing track

One agent is a helper. Four agents working at once is a team — if you set it up right. Worktrees, task sizing, notifications and the layout that keeps you sane.

6 October 20264 min read

A Mac menu bar dropdown with a separate volume fader for each app

NabuTools

Mac audio

How to control the volume of each app on a Mac

macOS gives you one volume slider for everything. Here is why, what you can do with the tools already on your Mac, and how to get a real per-app mixer.

6 October 20264 min read

NabuOne

Marketing

An AI marketing agent for indie developers: what to hand over, and what to keep

Marketing is the job most developers put off. An agent can take most of it: the plan, the drafts, the schedule, the numbers. Here is how to split the work so the agent does the grind and you keep the judgment.

4 November 20262 min read

NabuOne

Marketing

How to market your app on social media without getting your accounts flagged

Automation is how most small accounts get restricted: the same reply forty times, likes at machine speed, posting at 3 a.m. Here are the rules that keep an account in good standing, whether a person or an agent is doing the work.

4 November 20263 min read

NabuOne

Clients

Do solo developers need a CRM? What to track, and what to skip

A CRM sounds like a sales-team tool. For a solo developer, a small one is the difference between remembering every client and losing work to a forgotten follow-up. Here is the minimum worth keeping.

4 November 20264 min read

NabuOne

Invoicing

How to add a Stripe payment link to an invoice (and get paid faster)

Clients pay sooner when paying takes one click. Here are the two ways to put a Stripe link on an invoice, which one to use for client work, and the details that stop payments going astray.

3 November 20263 min read

NabuOne

Invoicing

How to price freelance software work: hourly, fixed price or retainer

Most freelance developers undercharge because they price from what feels polite instead of from what they need. A simple way to find your floor rate, and when to quote by the hour, the project or the month.

3 November 20264 min read

NabuOne

Invoicing

How to chase a late invoice without losing the client (with email templates)

Most late invoices are forgotten, not disputed. A polite, scheduled follow-up gets them paid. Here is the schedule, four email templates, and the habits that mean you rarely need them.

3 November 20264 min read

NabuOne

Invoicing

Time tracking for freelance developers: a setup you will actually keep

Time tracking fails when it is a chore. Track by project, start the timer where you already work, fix the gaps on Friday, and use the numbers to bill accurately and quote better.

2 November 20263 min read

NabuOne

Support

Treat App Store and Google Play reviews as support tickets

A one-star review is often a support request with nowhere else to go. Read reviews like tickets, reply in the store, fix the cause, and close the loop with the reviewer. Here is the routine.

2 November 20263 min read

NabuOne

Servers

Error tracking and uptime monitoring for indie developers

You should hear about a crash or an outage before your users do. The small monitoring setup a solo developer needs: error tracking, uptime checks, sensible alerts, and a link from every error to the people it hit.

1 November 20263 min read

NabuOne

Comparisons

HubSpot alternative for solo developers: when a big CRM is more than you need

HubSpot is excellent for sales and marketing teams. A one-person software business needs something different: clients, deals, invoices and support in one place. How to decide, and what to look for instead.

1 November 20264 min read

NabuOne

Comparisons

Zoho One alternative for a one-person software business

Zoho One bundles dozens of business apps under one licence. For a company with many roles it is great value. For a solo developer it can be a lot of software to learn. How to choose, and what an alternative should cover.

31 October 20263 min read

An app design taking shape on a canvas while an AI agent places components, cursor labels showing who made each change

NabuDesign

Design with agents

Designing UI with AI coding agents: give them a canvas, not just a prompt

Agents are great at writing code and bad at guessing what you want it to look like. Letting them design on a live canvas first changes the whole loop.

6 October 20264 min read

A closed laptop at night with a terminal session still glowing and working inside it

NabuOne

Coding agents

How to keep Claude Code running after you close the terminal

Close the window and your agent dies mid-task. Here is why, and five ways to keep a coding agent working while you walk away — from tmux to a session daemon.

6 October 20263 min read

A Mac keyboard with Command, Shift and number keys glowing, and an annotated screenshot floating above

NabuTools

Mac tips

Every Mac screenshot shortcut, plus how to annotate and redact them fast

The five shortcuts worth memorising, the hidden settings that change where screenshots go, and how to blur sensitive details properly before you share.

6 October 20263 min read

A Mac storage bar exploding into colourful blocks of folders, caches and files

NabuTools

Mac maintenance

How to free up disk space on a Mac: 12 places your storage actually went

"System Data" is eating 200 GB and you have no idea why. Here are the twelve places space really disappears on a Mac — and what is safe to delete.

6 October 20264 min read

A MacBook with a spinning beach ball and a glowing CPU graph spiking behind it

NabuTools

Mac performance

Why is my Mac so slow? How to find what's actually eating your CPU and memory

Spinning fans, a beach ball, a battery that drains by lunch. Here is how to find the real culprit in a few minutes — and the usual suspects, explained.

6 October 20264 min read

A MacBook connected to an external monitor, with the volume indicator crossed out

NabuTools

Mac audio

Mac volume keys not working on an external monitor? Here's why — and the fix

Plug in an HDMI or DisplayPort monitor and your volume keys show a crossed-out speaker. It is not a bug. Here is what is happening and four ways to get control back.

6 October 20263 min read

A native desktop app window beside a browser tab, with a receipt between them

NabuSuite

Engineering

What we gave up by not shipping a web app

Native and local-first are choices with a bill attached. Here is what is actually on it.

5 August 20261 min read

A grid of terminal panes, each with a small coloured status light

NabuOne

Architecture

Five agent harnesses, one honest status light

Knowing whether an agent is working, stuck, or waiting on you is harder than it sounds when every harness reports differently.

1 August 20262 min read

A glowing daemon process holding terminal sessions alive behind a closed app window

NabuOne

Architecture

Your sessions should not live in the window

Closing a terminal tab kills whatever was running in it. That is a decision, not a law — and NabuOne makes the opposite one.

21 July 20262 min read