Ask us anything. We'll actually answer.

The whole foundation, already wired: a fast Astro static site, the security headers most sites forget, search-engine structured data, WCAG 2.1 AA accessibility, Core Web Vitals tuning, cookieless privacy-first analytics, and a spam-protected contact form. The full acronym-heavy parts list lives on the Features page if you want it.

Yes. Every Lodestar Engine site is provisioned into a private GitHub repo owned by the client (or by us on the client's behalf with transfer-on-request). No license fees, no vendor lock-in, no obligation to keep using us for maintenance after launch.

Yes. Lodestar Engine produces a static `dist/` directory that runs on any static host — Cloudflare Pages, Netlify, SiteGround (our default), S3 + CloudFront, even GitHub Pages. We default to SiteGround + Cloudflare because the combined cost is under $20/month for a typical SMB site.

You get them. Behind-the-scenes fixes — security headers, accessibility, schema — land in your repo automatically. Bigger changes show up as a review prompt you accept or skip, file by file. Anything that's genuinely yours — content, config, branding — is off-limits to the sync; Lodestar Engine never overwrites it.

Yes — every Lodestar Engine site ships a clean Markdown mirror of each page, a structured AI-agent directory file, and an explicit content-use policy, so AI assistants can read and cite it correctly instead of guessing from raw HTML. If you want the full technical rundown on how AI-search optimization works, <a href="https://www.bytesunlimited.com/services/ai-search-optimization/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer" class="text-[var(--color-brand-primary)] hover:underline">Bytes Unlimited has a deep-dive<span class="sr-only"> (opens in new tab)</span></a>.

GEO stands for Generative Engine Optimization — structuring a site so AI assistants and answer engines (ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews) can read, understand, and cite it accurately, the same way SEO does for traditional search rankings. It's what powers the AI-search readiness built into every Lodestar Engine site.

On managed plans, we monitor for dependency vulnerabilities (Dependabot + Socket.dev), apply security patches, rotate any expiring credentials, and keep Lighthouse scores within agreed thresholds. Unmanaged sites get the same starter code but you (or another developer) handle ongoing maintenance.

Default stack: SiteGround shared hosting (where your built files live) + Cloudflare in front (DNS, WAF, CDN, automatic SSL via Universal SSL). Both are wired into the deploy workflow. Combined cost is typically under $20/month for SMB-sized traffic.

Existing managed clients have SLA-bound response windows in their engagement letter (typically 1–2 hours during business hours). Genuine emergencies — site down, data breach, ransomware — are routed faster. New inquiries via the contact form get a reply within one business day.

Every client gets a shared channel in our Slack workspace — direct access to the people doing the work, not a ticket queue or a support address that routes to nobody. It is the fastest way to reach us, and it keeps the whole history of a project searchable in one place instead of scattered across email threads. Business hours are Mon–Wed, Fri 9 AM – 5 PM ET, and Slack messages outside those hours get picked up the next business morning.

If you want it, yes — we will set up a Trello board for your account so you can watch requests move from submitted to in progress to done, and add new ones yourself without waiting on us. Entirely optional; plenty of clients would rather just send a Slack message and let us handle it. We run the same kind of board internally per client for tasks and billing either way, so the board is a window into work we are already tracking, not extra process invented for show.