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The designEdit framework Early preview  ·  2026

Build your own business software, without the enterprise price tag.

Enterprise suites are out of reach, and renting a dozen apps that don't talk to each other gets old fast. designEdit is the foundation to build exactly what you need and run it where you choose. We build it with you, or your own developers can take it from there.

See what you can build Get in touch
The designEdit console on desktop showing an orders dashboard with sample revenue, a chart and order status, beside apps for events, delivery and users.
The same console on a phone, showing delivery windows for one day.

Shown: the same console across screen sizes, with sample data.

1
blueprint drives the screens, the API and the data
184
documented web components to build with, and the library keeps growing
2
backends ready today, Node and PHP. Any other can be built to the same contract and checked by the same test suite.
3
ready-made ways to run it: any server with Node or PHP, serverless on AWS Lambda, or your own network. A starting point, not a limit.
The idea

Stop renting software that almost fits. Build the one that does.

What you can build

If your business runs on it, you can build it.

The framework gives small and mid-sized businesses blueprints, web components, reusable packages, permissions, workflows and an API. What you make from them is up to you.

Working today

One framework. Very different apps.

Each of these is an app built on the framework, shown in our demo. Names, orders and figures are sample data. Demo access is available on request.

A weekly delivery calendar with morning and afternoon slots for each van and bookings against capacity.
Delivery. Delivery windows by van, with bookings counted against capacity.
A one-day event schedule laid out by room, with talks, workshops, breaks and capacity bars.
Scheduling. Sessions by room, with capacity on workshops and several ways to view the calendar.
An events dashboard with sample ticket sales, revenue, check-in rate and a ticket status breakdown.
Dashboards. Widgets you can rearrange, shown here with sample events.
An activity log listing record changes, role changes and password resets, with their outcome and who made them.
Accountability. Record edits, role changes and account actions in one activity trail.
The designEdit console with Delivery slots, a Shows record and the Image Editor open as floating windows over an orders dashboard.
Apps open side by side as windows. Delivery, an example show and the Image Editor, over an orders dashboard. Sample data.
The page editor with a page tree and a page built from Split Block, Blocks and CTA components, content modules in the workspace sidebar, and a phone-sized Preview and a File Manager open as floating windows.
Build sites the same way. A page tree, reusable content modules in the workspace sidebar, and your files and a live preview open alongside. Sample data.

Also in the framework

  • Approval workflows with a second sign-off
  • A tamper-evident audit trail
  • Private fields kept out of the public API
  • Roles and per-app access
  • Version history, preview and publish
  • Multi-language content
  • Email, Slack, Microsoft Teams and Google Chat notifications
  • File manager and image editor
  • Page tree, news and landing pages
On your phone

Your whole team, wherever the work is.

The console is built for small screens too. Calendars become agendas and day views, tables become lists, and dashboards stack into a single column, so people on the road or the shop floor can use the same system as the office.

An event schedule on a phone, shown as an agenda list with capacity on each session.
An orders table on a phone, shown as a list with a status on each order.
An orders dashboard on a phone, with its metrics stacked in one column.
Where it runs

Run it where you want. Your infrastructure, your call.

designEdit has two parts, a front end and a backend, joined by one contract. Use ours as they come, or swap either for your own. The options below are ready to go, not the limit.

Self-hosted on any server

Run it on Node, or on PHP with MariaDB: any cloud, a rented server or a machine in your own building.

Serverless on AWS

The Node version runs on Lambda, S3 and DynamoDB, with sign-in and account security handled by Amazon Cognito. No servers to patch or keep running, and AWS charges by usage, not by server. Our demo runs this way today.

Inside your own network

Run it for your own teams, off the public internet. Data stays in-house, with roles, per-app access and an activity trail built in.

Or any other stack

The backend isn't tied to these. The contract works with any language, and the test suite checks any backend over HTTP, so a different stack can be built to it and run the same console.

designEdit is commercial software from Design of a Decade Inc., licensed by agreement for each site or service. Your data stays yours.

How it works

Describe it or code it. Reuse everything.

Write a blueprint
Describe a record in one plain text file: its fields, its options, even its image sizes. The screens and the API are generated from it, so they change together.
Or write plain JavaScript
When a blueprint isn't enough, build the app yourself from a main.js or main.ts file, with no React, Vue or other framework required. Both run side by side in one console.
184 web components, and growing
Forms, calendars, charts, dashboards, editors and more, each one documented. Use them in the console or in a front end you build on this backend.
Reuse whole apps
Finished apps ship as packages. Name one in your project, or run de add website/news on the self-hosted stack, and it's in. Improvements reach your project when it moves to a new release.
A real toolchain
The de command-line tool builds, analyses and releases a self-hosted site, and one shared test suite checks any backend over HTTP.
Extend the backend
Add your own validators, actions, metrics and approval workflows, on Node or PHP.
You write this
shows/scheme.yaml (example, abridged)
title: Shows
itemName: Show
body:
  - { name: name, label: Name, type: text, required: true }
  - name: photo
    label: Photo
    type: image
    plugins: [image-editor]
    variants: ['1600x900 crop hero', '800x600 crop card', '200x200 crop thumb']
  - { name: price, label: Price, type: currency, currency: CAD }
  - name: status
    label: Status
    type: radiobuttons
    appearance: badge
    options:
      - { value: on_sale, label: On sale, variant: success }
      - { value: sold_out, label: Sold out, variant: danger }
      - { value: hidden, label: Hidden, variant: neutral }
  - { name: description, label: Description, type: textarea }
You get this
The edit form generated from that file, with a name, a photo listing three responsive variants, a price in Canadian dollars, coloured status pills and a description. The image editor showing one photo with three versions listed: Hero at 1600 by 900, Card at 800 by 600 and Thumb at 200 by 200, each with its own crop.
The form, the list and the API all come from that file. One upload, every size you need: declare a hero, a card and a thumbnail, and adjust the crop for each. Sample data.
Coming soon

Built to work with AI.

AI that builds with you

Modules and templates are plain files checked against a schema, which is what AI writes well and the framework can verify. Next up: describe the module or template you need, and AI drafts it.

An MCP server for everything you build

Every app you create will also get an MCP server, the open standard that connects AI assistants to business software, so they can work with your records directly, within the access rules you set.

More to come

This is the first look, not the whole story.

We'll add to this page as the work moves along. If you'd like a closer look at where it is today and where it's heading, we'd be glad to show you.

Ask for a walkthrough