01 / Who we are
Built for people we can look in the eye
Prairie Code is a software workshop based in Lawrence, Kansas. It is run by Miles Bassett, a software engineer who spent years building systems for Fortune 500 companies, government agencies, and international financial institutions before coming home to build for people he could look in the eye.
The workshop exists because most of what passes for software development today is not built to last, not built to serve, and not built to be owned by the people paying for it. We wanted to do the work differently. So we do.
Our mission
To build software and AI tools that strengthen the people and institutions who use them — with the honesty, durability, and care of old-fashioned craftsmanship.
Our vision
A generation of Kansas and American businesses, labs, and institutions running software they own, understand, and trust — independent of any single vendor, and serving humans rather than extracting from them.
02 / How we work
The commitments we hold to
On every project, without exception. This is the workshop's standard, written down.
01
Quality over quantity
We take on fewer projects so we have the time to do each one right. Finished work is finished, including the parts no one will see.
02
Ethical by construction
We will not build surveillance tools, dark patterns, attention traps, or systems whose business model depends on degrading the user. We will tell you if what you are asking for crosses that line.
03
Human-strengthening
Good software expands what your people can do. It does not replace their judgment or atrophy their skills. AI is a tool in the workshop, not a replacement for the humans you serve.
04
Built to last
We build for durability. No planned obsolescence. No dependency on tools we expect to die. Code you can still run and modify in five years.
05
Independence first
You own the code, the accounts, the data, and the knowledge. We train your team to operate and extend what we build. Our engagements end by design — if you want us back, you hire us back by choice, not by lock-in.
06
Platform-agnostic
We use the best tool for your job, not the tool that pays us a referral. We will tell you when the right answer is an open-source stack you host yourself — and we will set it up that way if it serves you better.
07
Honest counsel
We are a partner, not an order-taker. If we think you are about to build the wrong thing, we will say so before we take your money. Sometimes the best advice is to not build anything at all.
08
Coram Deo
Hidden work done as carefully as visible work. The standard is held whether anyone is watching.
03 / Why we work this way
The hidden joints, finished with the same care
Our standards are rooted in our faith. We are Christians, and we understand our work as service rendered first to God and then to the people He has placed in our care. The old craftsmen finished the hidden joints of a cabinet with the same care as the visible ones, because God sees the whole of the work, and the work is offered to Him. We try to hold to the same standard in software. You will see the results of that conviction whether or not you share it. The quality is the proof.
We know this will not resonate with every client, and that is fine. The clients we are meant to serve will recognize the ethic, even when they come to it from a different tradition. What we promise everyone, regardless of belief, is that the standards are real, they are held consistently, and you will be treated honestly from the first conversation to the last handover.
Let us know what you are building
If your project fits what we do, we would like to hear about it. If it does not, we will say so and try to point you somewhere better. Either way, you will get an honest answer.