Engineering Insights.

Technical articles and project breakdowns from the team. Flutter architecture, AI integration, and workflow automation - things we actually build with.

Sep 28, 20266 min read

Keeping Stripe Secret Keys Off Mobile: Server-Side PaymentIntent Architecture in Flutter

Why Flutter Stripe payment integrations require a server: the PaymentIntent flow, ClientSecret isolation in Python, and the currency conversion detail most integrations get wrong.

FlutterStripePython Flask+2

Sep 25, 20266 min read

n8n Multi-Agent Inventory Automation: Why Intent Routing Beats One Big Prompt

A single LLM prompt cannot reliably handle SQL queries, trend analysis, and market research. Here is how PixelPlot structured an n8n multi-agent workflow for inventory.

n8nAI AutomationMulti-Agent+2

Sep 22, 20266 min read

Flutter Document Scanner: Running PaddleOCR via a Python Flask Backend

On-device vs server-side OCR in Flutter: tradeoffs, PaddleOCR + Flask integration, and preprocessing decisions that affect extraction quality.

FlutterPaddleOCRPython Flask+2

Sep 15, 20267 min read

Real-Time Chat in Flutter with Firebase Realtime Database

How Firebase Realtime Database handles persistent synchronization, why polling breaks down, and what the data model needs.

FlutterFirebase Realtime DatabaseReal-Time+1

Aug 31, 20263 min read

Bypassing the Widget Tree: Building a Flutter Custom RenderObject for Performance

When the standard widget tree gets too heavy for high-frequency data grids, dropping down to a Flutter custom RenderObject can save your frame rate. Here is how we did it and the mistake that almost ruined it.

FlutterArchitecturePerformance+1

Aug 13, 20264 min read

How TexOps Replaced Paper Gate Passes With QR-Based Bale Tracking

Manual gate pass paperwork was causing 2-3 hour delays in TexOps client facilities. Here is how QR-based bale tracking in Flutter fixed the dispatch bottleneck.

FlutterFirebaseERP+2

Aug 10, 20264 min read

Adding On-Device YOLOv8 Defect Detection to a Flutter App: What We Learned

Running YOLOv8 TFLite inference inside a Flutter app for real-time fabric defect detection in TexOps. The conversion pipeline, the memory issues, and what actually worked.

FlutterYOLOv8TFLite+2

Aug 7, 20264 min read

What AI Automation Actually Looks Like for a Small Business (Using Stock Mate as the Real Example)

Not chatbots, not magic. Here is what building an AI automation system for a real wholesale distributor actually involved, in plain terms.

AI Automationn8nBusiness+1

Aug 4, 20264 min read

Why We Chose Flutter Over Native for TexOps, and What We Gave Up

Flutter let us ship one codebase across iPads and Android tablets for a textile ERP. Here is the honest tradeoff: what it bought us, and what it cost us.

FlutterFirebaseArchitecture+1

Aug 1, 20264 min read

Building a Multi-Agent n8n Inventory System With an Intent Classifier

How we routed natural language inventory queries to specialized n8n agents using an intent classifier, and why the naive single-agent approach kept hallucinating SQL.

n8nAI AutomationGroq+1

Oct 15, 20234 min read

How We Built TexOps: Architecting an Offline-First AI Defect Detector in Flutter

Building a computer vision pipeline that runs entirely on-device inside a Flutter app isn't straightforward. Here is how we handled the state management, C++ FFI bridges, and memory constraints for TexOps.

FlutterComputer VisionArchitecture