ABOUT
About
A product studio and software design / development consultancy. Crafting products and services for the community.
The studio
Commune is a product studio and software consultancy. We build our own products and open-source tools, and help teams bring their ideas to life. Our work spans product strategy, design, development, launch, and scale.
How it works
We develop products within Commune, sharing tools, infrastructure, and lessons across projects. Common foundations let each product focus on the problem it solves. Products can stay part of the studio or grow into independent businesses when they’re ready.
COMMUNE SOFTWARE LLC
- Forward (opens in a new tab)
- pkgstats (opens in a new tab)
- starterpacks.net (opens in a new tab)
- Webmentions (opens in a new tab)
- Opengraphs (opens in a new tab)
- Launch Weeks (opens in a new tab)
- + 1 more
SHARED INFRASTRUCTURE
Tools, infrastructure, and lessons shared across projects.
SPUN OUT
Products can grow into independent businesses when they’re ready.
How it’s funded
Client work and product revenue fund Commune. We reinvest in our products, shared tools, and new ideas, giving the studio room to build for the long term.
The name
The name reflects how we work: sharing tools, ideas, and lessons across everything we build. Each product has its own identity, while contributing to a common foundation that helps the others grow.
Principles
- Great enough
- Care about the details that make software useful, usable, and dependable. Ship when it serves its purpose, then keep improving it through real use.
- Sawdust
- Building a product often creates useful tools along the way. We turn those pieces into libraries, infrastructure, and open-source projects that others can build on.
- Composable
- We design tools to work well on their own and together. Clear interfaces and reusable parts help them fit into existing workflows and adapt as needs change.
- Enumerate and execute
- Define what needs to happen, break it into clear steps, and follow through. Small, concrete actions turn ideas into useful software.
People
Ryan Hefner
Founder
I’m Ryan, the founder of Commune. I like taking an idea from a rough sketch to something people can use. Commune brings together the products I’m building, the open-source tools I share, and my work with other teams.