About
Half workstation, half workshop.
Mouse & Chisel is a software studio in Wake Forest, North Carolina. One principal engineer who can carry a product from design to production alone, with AI agents that give him the output of a team.
Founder and principal
Jim Matheson
Jim has built and run software for 27 years. His work covers the whole path: interface design, design systems, front end, back end, cloud infrastructure, analytics and release engineering.
In recent years he has led architecture for consumer products with web, mobile and API surfaces, and built the agent delivery systems that let a small team ship like a large one: specs agents can follow, review protocols, adversarial checks, and the evidence files that prove the work.
He studied at North Carolina State University. His e-learning work won Best in Show (Non-Vendor) at the eLearning Guild’s SolutionFest in 2013 and 2014.
Range
- Product and interface design, design systems, accessibility
- Web front ends: React, Next.js, micro-frontends
- Mobile: React Native and native iOS
- Back ends and APIs: Node.js, GraphQL, REST
- Cloud and infrastructure as code: Cloudflare, AWS, Terraform
- Sign-in and identity, security review
- Analytics design and governance
- Agent delivery: specs, review protocols, automated checks
Why the name
The mouse is the fast hand. It is the machine, and now the agents. It can produce more in a day than a team used to produce in a month.
The chisel is the cut you cannot take back: what to build, what to leave out, when it is right. That part is still a person’s job. We sell both, and we are clear about which is which.
By code and by hand
The chisel is not only a metaphor. The studio makes things in wood and leather too: builds, restorations and farm projects. The same habits apply at the bench and at the keyboard. Measure first. Make the cut once. Show the work.
The bench
We add principals slowly. A principal here has shipped across design, code and infrastructure, runs their own agents, and is willing to have every milestone checked by someone who did not write it.
Nobody joins on a handshake. We work one paid engagement together first. If it goes well for both sides, we talk about what comes next.
Have a system that needs a senior owner?
One call. Then a fixed quote in writing, with the checks that will close the work.