# AI-Powered Web Development Agency NYC

Custom sites, headless CMS builds, Shopify themes. Shipped fast with Claude Code, the same operating model that built winstondigitalmarketing.com in 8 hours.

[Get an audit](/contact/) · [See how we built this site](/our-work/how-we-built-this-site/)

## The traditional web agency model is over for small business.

Three to six month builds. $50K to $200K budgets. Three rounds of stakeholder review on a homepage hero. Founders need production sites in days, not quarters.

Existing site builders (Squarespace, Wix, Webflow) hit a ceiling fast. Custom code without a senior engineering team is risk theater. The middle ground was missing until Claude Code closed it. Now an operator with a design sense and a clear brief can ship a production site that holds up next to anything an agency would build, in a fraction of the time.

## What we ship.

1. **Fully custom (vanilla HTML/CSS/JS or modern framework).** This site is the example. Production-ready marketing site, ~70 pages, full design system, schema, edge middleware, in 2 days. Best for marketing sites, content-heavy sites, and anything where a Content Management System (CMS) would be overkill. React, Astro, or vanilla, depending on what the brief actually needs.
2. **Headless on Contentful, Sanity, Strapi, or Payload.** Modern headless CMS for clients whose marketing team needs to author content directly. We build the front-end with Claude Code, model the content schema in your CMS, and wire them with a small set of templates. WordPress headless via Faust is on the table too.
3. **Shopify themes built with AI.** Custom Liquid themes shipped fast. Branded, performant, conversion-optimized. We use Claude to generate the component library, write the Liquid, and tune Core Web Vitals (CWV). Faster than any premium theme plus customization budget.

## How we work.

1. **Brainstorm and spec.** Same superpowers:brainstorming Skill that designs every Winston engagement. We capture the real problem before writing a line of code.
2. **Design system first.** Tokens, base CSS, components. Built once, used everywhere.
3. **Subagent dispatch per page or template.** One scoped subagent per phase. Quality stays high because no single subagent gets too tired.
4. **Verification gates.** Schema validation, Lighthouse, voice-rules grep, link audit. Every phase ships only if it passes.
5. **Hand-off in your stack.** GitHub repo for custom builds. CMS access for headless. Shopify partner account for themes. You own everything.

## Why this beats the alternatives.

|   | Traditional web agency | Squarespace, Wix, Webflow | Freelancer | /winston |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time to launch | 3-6 months | 1-2 weeks (limited) | 4-12 weeks | 2-7 days |
| Cost | $50K-$200K | $200-$2K plus your time | $5K-$30K | $10K-$30K |
| Ceiling | High but slow | Hard ceiling, locked in | Variable | High and fast |
| Custom design system | Yes | Templated | Maybe | Yes |
| Headless CMS option | Yes | No | Maybe | Yes |
| Shopify theme option | Yes | No | Maybe | Yes |
| Modern AI-search ready | Sometimes | No | Rarely | Default |
| You own the code | Sometimes | No | Sometimes | Always |

## What you get.

- Production website in your chosen stack: vanilla, React, Astro, headless CMS, or Shopify Liquid theme
- Full design system. Tokens, base CSS, components
- Schema.org structured data and JSON-LD across every page
- Sitemap, robots, redirects, and canonical setup
- Edge middleware for serving Markdown to AI bots (where applicable)
- Lighthouse and Core Web Vitals tuning
- GitHub repository with full commit history
- CMS access (for headless builds) or Shopify partner store transfer (for themes)
- A short loom or deck explaining how the site was built so your team can run it

## The stack.

Claude Code · Claude Skills · Cloudflare Pages · Vercel · Contentful · Sanity · Payload · Strapi · Shopify · Liquid · React · Astro · TypeScript · Tailwind · GitHub · Lighthouse · Schema.org · JSON-LD

## Who this is for.

Growth-stage companies, sub-$1M to $50M revenue. Founders who want a production site in days, not quarters. Marketing teams that have outgrown their site builder. Shopify merchants tired of paying for premium themes plus customization on top.

## Pricing signal.

- **Marketing site (fully custom, 10-30 pages):** $10K-$25K project
- **Marketing site (headless CMS):** $15K-$40K project
- **Shopify theme build:** $10K-$25K project
- **Add-on retainer (ongoing builds, scope as needed):** from $3K/month

## Frequently asked questions.

**Do you really ship a production site in days?** Yes. winstondigitalmarketing.com is the example. 28-page launch in under 8 hours, full 66-page site in 2 days. Most engagements scope similarly to your needs.

**What if we already have a CMS?** We build on top of it. Contentful, Sanity, Strapi, Payload, WordPress headless, all fine. We model your content if you don't have a clean schema yet.

**Can you do Shopify themes?** Yes. Custom Liquid plus AI-generated component libraries. Faster than buying a premium theme and customizing it, usually cheaper than a traditional Shopify dev shop.

**Do we own the code?** Always. GitHub repo, CMS access, Shopify partner account, all yours from day one.

**What about ongoing maintenance?** Optional retainer starting at $3K per month. Or you take it in-house. Your call.

## Related.

- [See the proof point: we built this site in 8 hours](/our-work/how-we-built-this-site/)
- [The broader Agentic Workforce engagement model](/services/agentic-workforce/)
- [Agentic Web for clients who want agent-ready infrastructure on top](/services/ai-marketing/agentic-web/)
- [Read the methodology playbook](/playbooks/how-we-built-this-site-in-6-hours/)

## Want a site like this for your business?

Tell us your stack and your timeline. We scope the build and ship it on the cadence that matches your launch window.

- [Get an audit](/contact/)
- [Or book a 30-min call with John](/contact/#book-a-call)