Selected work

Luna — a command-line research AI that predates ChatGPT

What is Luna?

Luna is a command-line research AI built to do everything. From reaching out to trusted sources such as wikis and Wolfram Alpha to answer user queries, to running programs on the user's machine. Built over a decade ago, before large language models went mainstream, Luna was one of the most fun projects we've ever built.

Among its many tools are web crawlers, port scanners, vulnerability analysers, global weather monitoring, a few Easter eggs, the option to save data for offline consumption, and so much more. It was the very embodiment of feature-creep.

How we did it

Mostly with Python. Luna's first implementation was written in pure Python, with a PostgreSQL database. Python, R, and now Rust have been the languages of choice for researchers — we could easily see why.

Luna was quite ahead of its time for something built over 11 years ago. We lived in the command-line — indeed, some of our oldest code shows just how junior we were at the time. We've since begun redeveloping Luna into a modular micro-services structure, but we've kept the original code from those days of old. It's open-source — find it on GitHub.

What it's good for

Teaching the next generation what's possible. The prevalence of AI has made some junior developers over-rely on it — why apply critical thinking when you can just ask the AI? Luna was built by hand, through and through, and its codebase is relatively easy to read; its tools are easily extracted and ported.

Origin story — a chess platform that lets you play for money

How it started

We've been building software for well over a decade, but Zugzwang only became a registered company on May 4, 2023. The word "zugzwang" is itself a chess term — from the German Zug (move) and Zwang (compulsion) — describing a brutal position where any move you make worsens yours.

Upon founding, we were a chess platform that let people play chess for money. The project is well built and the codebase is still live — but bringing it to market involved significant overhead, from Zimbabwe's frequent outages to fraud monitoring to betting licenses. It made more sense to restructure into a software company that carries the chess platform as one of its products.

Why we built it

Zimbabwe has a massive chess community and high unemployment. We figured chess lovers could make real money on a game that relies on skill rather than chance. As Starlink rolls out, we may revisit this idea with investor backing. If you'd like to discuss it, get in touch.

We're quite happy with what we did here. It demonstrates our capacity to build real-time applications that make significant impact. Maybe one day you'll find yourself immersed — and hopefully winning — on this platform.

Private LLM integrations — AI that never leaves your building

The idea

You can run AIs like ChatGPT offline, with requests never leaving your computer. The chief advantage is privacy — many people forget themselves when talking to AI, and that there's an organisation behind the product reading the usage data. Running models privately is especially useful for organisations that want a privileged conversation with AI without breaching their NDAs.

Another advantage is 100% availability, regardless of network. We build these models as standalone services or integrate them into any existing product, then fine-tune them — typically through transfer learning — to maximise their utility for your organisation.

• Unlimited queries. Once built, using them is free — no monthly subscription fees.
• No vendor lock-in. Dependable AI that isn't tied to a third party that could close, sell out, or go dark at a critical moment.
• Customisability. Fine-tuned to granular business needs, producing a model you couldn't get anywhere else.

Once you have your own homegrown AI, the possibilities are limitless — in-house tasks, paid access, or APIs that power apps and dashboards. Ongoing subscription fees don't make sense when you can own the model. Get in touch and we'll help you build yours.

Corporate systems — integrated business management tools

We've built a number of fully integrated corporate systems — the kind that tie accounting, operations, inventory and reporting into one quiet machine. These projects tend to result in unique, proprietary systems, some being the first and only of their kind.

Built on TypeScript and React with serverless back-ends, they're fast, secure, and designed to grow with the organisation. If you're looking to replace a patchwork of spreadsheets and disconnected tools with one coherent system, this is where we start.

Xau — an online classifieds platform

There's already a major player in Zimbabwe's online classifieds market. Xau is our answer — built to compete on speed and experience. We'll share more as it launches.

Built on a modern TypeScript stack, Xau is a study in fast, real-time marketplaces — the kind of product that looks simple and hides a great deal of engineering under the hood.