For startups
Backend & APIs
The backend is where a product decides what is true. Vortex Digital designs APIs, data models, and integrations so web and mobile clients stay thin and the behavior stays consistent.
- REST
- Data modeling
- Auth
- Integrations
What we build
These are the kinds of backend systems a startup product usually needs. The exact surface is scoped per project.
HTTP APIs
REST-style resources for the clients you have, with validation errors a UI can show. GraphQL or another style only when it fits the product.
Domain services
The rules for creating, changing, and refusing records, close to the data rather than copied into every client.
Integrations
Third-party APIs for payment, email, files, or the internal system the product cannot avoid.
Background work
Jobs for anything that should not block a request: mail, imports, retries, and scheduled checks.
Challenges we address
Backend pain is usually inconsistency, quiet failure, or a schema nobody can explain.
01
Each client has its own rules
Web and mobile disagree about what is allowed. The API becomes the authority, and the clients follow it.
02
The database cannot answer the product's questions
Tables that mirror a demo screen do not survive the second feature. Modeling starts from the domain.
03
Integrations fail silently
A timeout that looks like success corrupts trust. Failures are logged and surfaced.
04
Nobody can call the API without asking
Contracts and examples are part of delivery, so the next client does not reverse-engineer behavior from trial and error.
Our technical approach
Model the data, expose a small contract, validate inputs, and document the parts other people must call.
01
Planning
List the operations clients need and the invariants that must always hold.
02
Data modeling
Schema, constraints, and a migration path. Write down what a record means.
03
API design
Resources, status codes, and error shapes. Authentication and authorization on every operation that needs them.
04
Integration and jobs
Outbound calls with timeouts and retries that are safe to repeat. Background work for the slow parts.
05
Reliability notes
What happens when a dependency is down, and which checks tell you the API is unhealthy.
Service capabilities
REST API design
Resources and actions a client can call without guessing. Versioning or compatibility rules when more than one client exists.
Authentication and authorization
Who is calling, and whether that caller may touch this record. Checks live on the server.
Database design
Tables or documents that match the domain, with indexes for the queries the product actually runs.
Input validation
Reject bad payloads at the boundary and return an error the client can explain to a person.
Third-party integrations
Adapters around external APIs so a vendor change does not leak through the whole codebase.
API documentation
A contract the next developer can read: endpoints, auth, and example errors. Not a novel.
Typical deliverables
These are examples of what a proposal can include. Scope decides which ones you receive. None of them is an automatic part of every inquiry.
- An API surface for the operations in scope
- Schema and migrations for that surface
- Auth rules for the roles in scope
- Integrations and jobs named in the proposal
- Contract notes for the teams calling the API
Technologies and tools
Names below come from the working catalog in the site configuration. A project may use some of them, or a different set, once the product is known. Listing a tool is not a certification, a vendor partnership, or a promise that every engagement includes it.
Backend
- Node.js
- Python
- Go
Data
- PostgreSQL
- MySQL
- Redis
Questions founders ask
Do you only build REST?
REST is the default when clients need a straightforward contract. Another style is a project decision, made because the product needs it, not because it is fashionable.
Can you add an API in front of a system we already run?
Yes, if we can see how that system behaves and what must stay unchanged. The proposal says whether we wrap it, extend it, or replace a piece.
How are breaking changes handled?
By naming the clients and agreeing how they move. A breaking change is a planned release, not a surprise in a Friday deploy.
What does reliable mean here?
Failed dependencies are visible, unsafe retries are avoided, and someone can tell the API is unhealthy. It is not an uptime guarantee.
Will you write the documentation?
Yes, for the contract in scope. Internal trivia that only the author needs does not count as documentation.
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