Agents running
7live●
32.78°N · 79.93°WCHARLESTON · SOUTH CAROLINAfamily owned · est. 2023● small & selective
Agentic AI,built porchside.
Palmetto Interactive is a small, family-owned Charleston studio bringing serious engineering to local businesses — practical AI and automation, custom web applications, and the open-source developer tools we build along the way. We stay small on purpose and choose our projects carefully.
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Tasks shipped · '26
312YTD
Selected recent work.
Most of it ships under someone else's name.
We work at the studio scale — three to five engagements at a time, six months average, mostly under NDA. Click a row, or a node on the timeline, to see what we actually did.
XU '06
OpenPages → IBM
Morgan Stanley
Stardog · Field CTO
Palmetto Interactive
20062014202320242026 nowengagementmembl · flagship20 yrs · openpages → morgan stanley → stardog → studio
2026● featuredmemblopen-source developer suiteSweetgrassLanternMarsh→
2026carolinahunterhd.comlead-generation siteWebSEOAnalytics→
2026Web Application Services — Confidentialweb application · under NDAFull-stackWeb→
2025 — 2026FinTech Advisory — Stealth Startupfintech · technical advisoryAdvisoryArchitectureAI strategy→
2024Chalets by the Lakeunified booking platformWebAutomationStripe→
2024Shelter Fitnesscustom applicationFull-stackPostgresStripe→
2023 — 2024Oswald Cookewebflow · crm · it strategyWebflowCRMCloudSecurity→
What we're building when nobody's billing.
membl is our own bet — a suite of open-source developer tools for agentic engineering, built in the open from Charleston and dogfooded on every client project. Three projects, one workflow: planning, agent execution, and verification.
membl
open-source suiteThe suite that ties planning, agent execution, and verification into one developer workflow — Sweetgrass, Lantern, and Marsh working together.
- · planning → execution → verification
- · three open-source projects
- · dogfooded on every engagement
- · built in Charleston
Sweetgrass
open sourceA visual planning surface for tracking and coordinating agent-driven projects.
- · kanban boards · project dashboards
- · agent queue management
- · memory context views
- · PR-aware project flow
Lantern
open sourceThe local runtime for repeatable coding-agent sessions across worktrees, terminal panes, audit state, and orchestration tools.
- · local agent-session execution
- · worktree management
- · audit state tracking
- · repeatable orchestration
Marsh
open sourceSelf-hosted GitHub Actions execution for agent-authored changes, with isolated runners and local cache infrastructure.
- · ephemeral runners
- · GitHub queue integration
- · local cache control
- · isolated job execution
Big value for small business —
Wall Street skills, Main Street service.
Four disciplines, one small team, one zip code. We bring twenty years of production engineering to the businesses around us — practical AI, custom software, and honest advice — and we stay small on purpose.
01
Custom AI & agentic for SMB
Practical AI for small and mid-size businesses: intake automation, back-office copilots, and agents that take real busywork off your team's plate — scoped to a number you can defend, rolled out safely, and handed off with runbooks your team can follow.
- · intake & back-office automation
- · copilots trained on your business
- · human-in-the-loop where it matters
- · runbooks · safe rollout
02
Web applications
Custom web applications that replace the patchwork of off-the-shelf tools you've outgrown — booking, billing, portals, dashboards — built fast, kept fast, and supported with monthly care plans.
- · custom apps · portals · booking
- · replaces vendor SaaS sprawl
- · payments · analytics wired in
- · monthly care plans
03
Strategy & advisory
Plain-English guidance for owners and teams making their first real AI decisions. Short reviews, simple roadmaps, and honest advice — including when the answer is "don't build it."
- · plain-English technical reviews
- · one-page roadmaps
- · build vs. buy guidance
- · fractional CTO support
04
Developer tooling
The craft behind the studio: we build and share open-source developer tools — Sweetgrass, Lantern, and Marsh — and that daily practice keeps our engineering sharp for every client project.
- · open source: Sweetgrass · Lantern · Marsh
- · CLIs · daemons · local-first tools
- · built in the open on GitHub
- · dogfooded on client work
How we work, in plain language.
A studio process, not a consultancy process: no long paperwork, no free spec work — a clear plan, a fast prototype, and working software at the end. We're selective about what we take on, and we're friendly about it.
Phase 01
Requirements gathering
It starts with a quick call — that one's on us. From there, the first paid phase: we review your challenge fully, learn how your business actually runs, and develop the plan. Discovery is real engineering work, so it's paid work — and it's where the value starts.
duration · paid · after a quick callPhase 02
Plan & rapid prototype
No long paperwork. We set the plan and the targets, then get a working prototype in your hands fast and iterate on it with you until it's right.
duration · days, not monthsPhase 03
Deliver results
Prototype to results, fast. We ship working software — not a deck — wire in what it needs to run without us, and stay on for care if you want us. Every engagement ends with something running.
duration · to working softwareQuestions, answered plainly.
What we do, where we are, how we price, and how to start. If your question isn't here, the form below reaches a human in Charleston.
What does Palmetto Interactive do?
Palmetto Interactive is a Charleston, South Carolina AI studio for small and mid-size businesses. We build practical AI and agentic automation, custom web applications, and high-performance websites and Shopify stores for Lowcountry businesses — plus plain-English AI strategy and advisory. We also make membl, a suite of open-source developer tools (Sweetgrass, Lantern, and Marsh).
Where is Palmetto Interactive located and what areas do you serve?
Our studio is in Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, in the Charleston metro area. We serve businesses across the Lowcountry — Charleston, Mount Pleasant, North Charleston, Summerville, Goose Creek, Daniel Island, Johns Island, James Island, West Ashley, Isle of Palms, Sullivan's Island, Folly Beach, and Kiawah — and work with clients across the Southeast and remotely.
How much does it cost to work with Palmetto Interactive?
It starts with a quick call, which is free. From there, engagements begin with a paid requirements-gathering phase: we review your challenge fully and develop the plan. Then we move straight to a rapid prototype and iterate — no long paperwork — and deliver working software fast. We give honest ranges up front, and nothing is allowed to be a surprise on the invoice. We don't work for free — discovery and planning are real engineering work — but we're friendly about it.
What makes Palmetto Interactive different from a typical AI agency?
Big value for small business: we bring Wall Street engineering skills to Main Street. We're selective about who we work with — we don't work for free, we don't take small or low-value engagements, and we don't do basic IT services. What we do take on, we take seriously: a clear plan, a rapid prototype, and working software your business keeps.
Do you only build AI, or also websites and online stores?
Both. We bring the same engineering standard to websites, Shopify builds, and paid-advertising programs for Charleston-area businesses as we do to our AI work — fast, modern sites with conversion-focused builds and ongoing care plans.
How do I start a project with Palmetto Interactive?
Use the contact form on this site or email [email protected] with what you are trying to do and what is in the way. A human in Charleston reads every message, and the average reply time is under 24 hours. We start with a quick call, and if we are a good fit for each other, a paid requirements-gathering phase kicks things off. We stay small and take a limited number of engagements at a time.
Start a project.
We take three new engagements a quarter. Tell us what you're trying to ship, and what's in the way. The form below is read by a human in Charleston.