02 / Infrastructure engineering
Infrastructure & Backend Engineering
The infrastructure behind a dependable product.
Build the services, integrations, and data flows your product depends on. We start with the workload and operational requirements, then design a system your team can understand.
- Systems
- APIs · Backends · Cloud
- Approach
- Workload before architecture
- Delivery
- Build · Deploy · Handover
One product. Clear responsibilities across the whole system.
Owned-product example / Cardboom
Inspect the product behind the service.
Review the interface, then use the case study to discuss the workflow and the systems behind it. These are our portfolio products; your project needs its own scope and acceptance criteria.
Collector home, catalogue and set completion: 2–3 October 2026 web previews. Other screens: earlier native captures. Displayed estimates are not completed sales; feature availability varies by release.
Browse screen captions and originals · Cardboom
Collector home, catalogue and set completion: 2–3 October 2026 web previews. Other screens: earlier native captures. Displayed estimates are not completed sales; feature availability varies by release.
- Collector home — web preview, 3 October 2026
- Pokémon set catalogue — web preview, 2 October 2026
- Cardboom photo-based condition estimate and grading entry screen
- Cardboom card details with a dated interface price estimate
- Set completion — web preview, 3 October 2026
- Cardboom camera scan entry screen for identifying a trading card
Connect the systems that keep work moving
Infrastructure work can mean building a new application backend, connecting existing services, designing a data pipeline, or preparing a product for its next stage of usage. We map the boundaries between systems and define what happens when a dependency fails.
For a marketplace, those boundaries include catalogue data, listings, payment events, and account permissions. For an AI application, they include background tasks, provider calls, usage accounting, and stored outputs. Each product needs explicit rules for retries, duplicate events, and recovery.
- Application backends and API design
- Cloud architecture and deployment workflows
- Queues, background jobs, and service integrations
- Data pipelines and operational reporting
Make requirements measurable
We agree the expected workload, response-time goals, availability needs, and recovery expectations before selecting an architecture. Where the product already exists, measurements and incident history help identify the actual constraint.
A technical proposal should identify access boundaries, data handling, failure modes, and the cost assumptions behind the design. Load testing and recovery exercises are scoped to the agreed system. We do not attach an availability promise to a project before defining how it will be operated.
- System and dependency map
- Capacity and cost assumptions
- Access-control and recovery approach
- Test and rollout plan
Migration without losing the operating picture
For an existing system, we begin with an inventory of integrations and data owners. A bounded migration step can expose unexpected dependencies before a wider rollout. The plan should explain validation, reconciliation, and rollback.
Release documentation covers environments, configuration, deployment steps, and operational contacts. Ongoing support, monitoring ownership, and incident response are agreed separately from the initial build where required.
Product context matters
Brainbaby Labs’ portfolio spans AI workspaces and marketplaces. These products provide useful context for conversations about background work, permissions, and connected services. Our case studies describe the visible product scope; confidential architecture and operational evidence can be discussed for a relevant engagement.
Share the system you have, the problem you see, and the change you need. We can assess whether the first step should be an architecture review, an integration proof, or a defined implementation.
Infrastructure / Review a complete operation
What happens after the request reaches your backend?
An API connection is one part of a working system. Use our Craze City development example to examine the decisions behind a cosmetic purchase: who validates it, what is saved and what the user sees when work cannot finish.
Live example / This website
A project request becomes a saved record, then a team notification.
Our enquiry service connects the website to private storage and email delivery. The visitor receives a reference only after saving succeeds; notification runs separately so an email failure does not erase the request.
Validate the request
Check required fields, consent and submission limits before accepting a business brief.
Save one reference
Store the request privately. A retry with the same reference returns the existing receipt.
Notify and recover
Send the team notification, track provider acceptance and retry failures within a bounded delivery queue.
Production check · 3 October 2026: one labelled internal test was saved and its notification accepted by the email provider. This diagram explains the deployed flow; it is not live queue activity, an inbox-delivery check, an uptime measurement or a client outcome.
What happens when a request is repeated?
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Ask which operation must run once and which result a retry should return. The Craze City case describes an already-owned result rather than charging for the same item again. Your API needs rules that fit its own business action.
What happens when saving fails?
+
Identify the records that must change together and the result returned on failure. The case describes restoring previous values when its commit callback fails. That is a development implementation; durable recovery still needs a test against the system you will operate.
What will the release review demonstrate?
+
Specify the ordinary result, duplicate requests, interrupted saves and a fresh reconnect. Ask for observable records and a repeatable review, then agree who owns monitoring and recovery after handover.
What affects backend and cloud infrastructure costs?
+
Ask for two separate estimates: the work to build or migrate the backend, and the cost to operate it. Give the team a workload to estimate against:
- Requests and background jobs, including busy periods
- Stored data, uploads, retention and backup needs
- Production and test environments, regions and paid integrations
For an existing system, bring a dated usage report. Agree who pays provider bills and who handles monitoring, updates and recovery. A monthly estimate depends on its assumptions; it is not a fixed hosting price.
Compare build and operating costsOwned-product development example. Craze City is in development; this is not evidence of measured uptime, tested player capacity or a client outcome.
Before we build
Questions before starting your project.
Can you improve an existing backend or connect new APIs?
Begin with the workload, dependency map and the problem your team needs to solve. We can scope an architecture review, an integration proof or a defined implementation. For a migration, the plan should identify data owners, validation, reconciliation and rollback before a wider rollout.
How do you estimate software development cost and timing?
An estimate follows the user roles, workflows, existing systems, integrations and release requirements. Share your brief or current application so we can discuss the unknowns and a first milestone. The written proposal sets out assumptions, exclusions and the process for scope changes; a general price range is not a project quote.
Who owns the source code, designs and service accounts?
The project agreement defines source code, design files, data, accounts and third-party components. Handover should include the context needed to operate and change the system. Hosting, monitoring, maintenance and support responsibilities are scoped explicitly rather than assumed to be included in every build.
From planning to a useful conversation
Your software project brief template
Define the first release before comparing proposals. Write what you know, leave open questions visible, then download a brief you can edit and share with a development team.
Review your brief
Brainbaby Labs — Your software project brief template Main project type: Infrastructure & Backend Engineering 1. Outcome What problem should improve, and how will you recognise improvement? To be discussed 2. Users and access Who uses it? Which roles, devices or accessibility needs matter? To be discussed 3. One complete first-release journey From the first action to a useful result, including waiting and recovery. To be discussed 4. Existing systems and integrations What already exists? Who owns access? What still needs investigation? To be discussed 5. Release and budget constraints Target window, platforms, spending limit and known dependencies. To be discussed 6. Acceptance and ownership What demonstration proves completion? Who owns accounts, code and operations? To be discussed Questions to resolve with the development team - Agree deliverables, exclusions and acceptance criteria. - Separate build costs from hosting, provider usage and support. - Record ownership, handover and responsibilities after launch. Discuss this project carries your brief to the form in this tab, using browser storage for up to 30 minutes. Review and submit it yourself; nothing is sent yet. Use non-sensitive examples. Download a copy before leaving.
Discuss this project carries your brief to the form in this tab, using browser storage for up to 30 minutes. Review and submit it yourself; nothing is sent yet. Use non-sensitive examples. Download a copy before leaving.
Start a conversation
Tell us what you’re building
Share the outcome you need, the systems involved, and the constraints you already know. We’ll use that to discuss the right next step.
Start a project enquiry reach@brainbaby.ai See how engagements start