Why I’m building RelayByte

I shipped my first native Mac app recently. I’m still getting used to that sentence.

I’ve built tools and side projects for years, but releasing Trayage under my own name felt different. There was an app someone could download, a website explaining it, and a way to reach me if something went wrong. All the work around it suddenly mattered just as much as getting the app itself to run.

That was the starting point for RelayByte.

Giving the apps a home

RelayByte is the brand I use for the independent apps I build. I wanted a shared home for them, while giving each app room to have its own name, identity, and purpose. I’m Kyle Reddoch, the developer behind it.

Trayage was the first. It came from a familiar problem: a Downloads folder full of things that were useful once and then stayed there. The app helps bring those files into view so you can review them and decide what stays.

Since then, I’ve been working on StylePort, a CSS and UserCSS manager for Safari on Mac. It’s still in development. I’ve also released Drift, a Chrome extension for sharing articles and selected passages to Mastodon.

They do different jobs, but each starts with something I want to work a little better.

Shipping gives you a longer to-do list

Getting Trayage out involved testing the download, purchase and license flow, updates, support pages, and privacy details. Those are the parts that don’t make for a particularly exciting screenshot, but they matter to someone deciding whether to install or buy an app.

I work in cybersecurity and IT, so permissions, privacy, and clear controls are already things I spend time thinking about. Building my own apps brings those questions into very practical decisions: what access does a feature need, what stays on the device, and how do I explain that clearly?

Then there are the other jobs. Writing the website. Working through an app’s identity. Preparing a release. Keeping the documentation useful. There’s quite a bit wrapped around a small app.

I wrote about some of that when I shared the Trayage launch in my weekly notes. I want to give that part of the work more room here.

What I want to write about

I already have a personal blog where I write about cybersecurity, IT, and life. Here, I want to focus on building the apps and figuring out the studio around them.

That could be a decision I made while working on StylePort, something I learned getting an app ready for release, or a smaller change that took more thought than I expected. I also want to talk about the business and support side as I work through it.

I’m still doing the day job, too. Finding room for another thing is part of the experience, and probably part of what I’ll end up writing about.

For now, Trayage is out, Drift is available, and StylePort is taking shape. RelayByte has a starting point, and I have plenty to keep working on.

This is where I’ll share how that goes.