Ship the bots that do the work.
thebots.lab is a small engineering studio that builds custom AI agents and workflow automation for teams who'd rather use them than build them. We design, deploy, and run the systems — you keep doing what you do.
Two modules. Production-grade.
We don't sell roadmaps or platforms. We build the specific thing your team needs, ship it in weeks, and keep it running.
Custom AI agents
Domain-trained agents that act on your behalf — not just chat about it.
We build narrow, reliable agents grounded in your data and tools. They draft, classify, route, decide, and call the systems you already use. Every action is logged, evaluated, and reversible.
- scope
- single workflow, single team
- context
- your docs · CRM · email · APIs
- surface
- Slack · web · email · webhook
- evals
- golden set + live monitoring
- sla
- 99.9% · we run it for you
Workflow automation
The repeating, low-judgment work — turned into infrastructure.
We map a week of your team's actual work, then quietly remove the parts that don't need a human. Built on durable runtimes, observable end-to-end, and connected to whatever you already pay for.
- scope
- 1–3 chained workflows
- runtime
- temporal / trigger.dev / cron
- integrations
- any sane HTTP API
- observability
- per-run logs + replays
- report
- monthly hours-saved digest
Three phases. No surprises.
We shadow one week.
A 30-min intro call, then a few short observations of how the work actually gets done. No surveys, no homework on your end.
Fixed scope, fixed price.
We hand back a one-page spec: what the bot does, what it doesn't, what it integrates with, and the price. Approve and we start.
Live in weeks, not quarters.
We deploy, instrument, and iterate against real usage. Then we run it. You get a monthly report; we get your feedback.
A small team that'd rather use software than fight it.
thebots.lab is three engineers in Portland. We started in 2024 after spending years watching good companies get sold the same expensive AI strategy and end up with nothing to show for it. So we built the opposite: small engagements, fixed scopes, working software in weeks. We've stayed small on purpose.
Boring on purpose
We ship narrow, observable, reversible. No magic, no autonomous swarms. Software you can audit and turn off.
We run what we ship
Every engagement includes ongoing operation. You don't get an agent on Friday and a goodbye on Monday.
Plain English over demos
If we can't describe what the bot does without jargon, we don't ship it. The slides come last, if at all.
Shipped infra at a logistics company for 7 years. Started the lab after one too many decks about 'AI transformation'.
Builds the bot. Reads the changelog so you don't have to. Holds strong opinions about eval harnesses.
Maps your week, deletes the parts that shouldn't exist. Will sit in your office for a day and take notes.
Describe the bottleneck.
We'll spec the bot.
Type one repetitive thing your team does. The model below — same kind of model we ship — drafts a quick technical sketch of what we'd build, how long it'd take, and what it'd save you.
Open a session.
30 min. No deck.
You tell us what's eating your week. We tell you whether we can help and how. If we can't, we point you to someone who can.