Keen as Mustard
- Scope
- Node.js backend with 50+ API endpoints, Firebase real-time, RevenueCat, AWS, React + Node.js admin panel
- Delivery
- Delivered on time in 6 months by a 6-person team
Services
Backend development for apps and web products
WakeUp Monster builds the backends behind mobile apps and websites: REST APIs in Node.js or Laravel, database architecture, Firebase real-time features, AWS hosting and the admin panels your team uses every day. For Keen as Mustard, a Sydney dating app, we built a Node.js backend with 50+ API endpoints alongside the Flutter app and admin panel.
Discuss Your ProjectBy the WakeUp Monster team · Updated
- Stack
- Node.js, Laravel, Firebase, AWS and REST APIs
- Largest API
- 50+ endpoints (Keen as Mustard)
- Real-time
- Chat and live updates with Firebase
- Admin panels
- React + Node.js, built with the app
- Team
- Founder-led, 10+ people, Indore, India, working remote-first
What backend work do we cover?
WakeUp Monster covers the server side of a product end to end: the API your app talks to, the data behind it, the cloud it runs on and the admin panel your team uses to run the business. Everything below appears in our stack or in delivered client work.
- REST API design and development for mobile apps and websites
- Database architecture planned from your user stories
- Real-time features and chat
- Authentication and user verification flows
- In-app subscriptions with RevenueCat
- Push notifications and analytics with Firebase
- Admin panels and dashboards for moderation, content and operations
- AWS hosting and infrastructure set-up
- AI feature integration, such as support assistants and content tools
If you want AI inside the product, such as a support assistant or a content tool, we treat it as one more backend integration. Our page on AI feature integration explains what that involves and what we do not do.
Which backend stack fits your product?
Most of our app backends combine Node.js for the API, Firebase for real-time and messaging features, and AWS for hosting. Laravel is part of our stack too, and we choose between options in discovery based on what your product needs.
| Option | Typical use in our projects | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Node.js | API and business logic for Keen as Mustard and Lalah | Used on both delivered app backends, alongside React admin panels |
| Firebase | Real-time features on Keen as Mustard; analytics and push notifications on Lalah | Used alongside an API rather than instead of one |
| AWS | Hosting for both apps; full infrastructure set-up for Lalah | We can set up the account and environment if you have none |
| Laravel | Offered where a PHP framework fits the product or your existing team | Part of our stack; decided during discovery |
We do not pick a stack to suit ourselves. The deciding questions are what the app must do in real time, who will maintain the code after handover, what your existing systems use and where your users are. We explain the recommendation before work starts, so you can question it.
Which backends have we delivered?
Our two detailed app case studies, Keen as Mustard and Lalah, both run on Node.js backends with React + Node.js admin panels that we designed and built with the Flutter apps.
| Project | Backend scope | Admin panel covers |
|---|---|---|
| Keen as Mustard (Sydney dating app) | Node.js API with 50+ endpoints, Firebase real-time features and chat, RevenueCat subscriptions, AWS hosting | User verification, weekly giveaways, subscriptions and moderation |
| Lalah (Melbourne halal food discovery app) | Node.js backend on AWS, Google Maps integration, Firebase analytics and push notifications | Reviewing community restaurant submissions before they are published |
Keen as Mustard was delivered on time in 6 months; the client paused the store launch for personal reasons. Lalah is development complete and ready for launch; it is on hold after the client's investor pulled out.
Why design the backend with the app, not after it?
Because the API should be shaped by what users actually do in the app. Building both together, with one team, removes most of the integration gaps that appear when the backend is handed off separately.
Every project starts with a user story document. Those stories drive the screens in Figma and the API endpoints at the same time, so a feature like Keen as Mustard's dual verification (a live selfie scan plus a government ID match) is designed as one flow: the app screens, the backend checks and the admin review queue.
Because the same team builds the mobile app and the backend, the TestFlight and Play Internal Testing builds you receive during sprints use the real backend as it grows. Problems show up early, while they are still quick to fix, instead of at the end when the pieces first meet.
One point of contact: our founder, Rajat Khoware, makes the architecture decisions and signs off every deliverable, including the backend.
What do you get at handover?
You get handover documentation, access to your admin panel and post-launch support. We don't disappear after delivery.
- Handover documentation for the backend, admin panel and infrastructure
- Admin access to your admin panel
- Post-launch support and bug fixes
- Help setting up the accounts around the product when you have none
For Lalah, the client had no technical set-up at all. Beyond the contract, we bought the domain, set up Google Workspace business email and built the full AWS infrastructure so the product had a proper home.
Relevant project proof
Lalah
- Scope
- Node.js backend on AWS, Google Maps, Firebase analytics and push, React + Node.js admin panel
- Delivery
- Development complete in 4 months by a 5-person team
A good fit when
- •You are building a mobile app or web product and need its API, database and admin panel.
- •You want the backend and the app designed together by one team.
- •You need hosting and infrastructure set up because you have none yet.
- •You want real-time features, subscriptions or push notifications done properly.
Frequently asked questions
Should my backend use Node.js or Laravel?
It depends on your product and who will maintain it. WakeUp Monster decides this during discovery, based on your real-time needs, existing systems and in-house skills. Our recent app backends, Keen as Mustard and Lalah, run on Node.js. Laravel is part of our stack and we recommend it where it fits better.
Can you build just the backend for our existing app?
Yes, after we review what you already have. WakeUp Monster looks at the existing app, data and any current backend first, then tells you honestly what we would keep, change or rebuild. We only commit to a scope and timeline once that review is done and agreed with you.
Do you set up hosting and infrastructure?
Yes. WakeUp Monster hosts app backends on AWS and can set up the whole environment for you. For Lalah, a Melbourne food discovery app, the client had nothing in place, so we built the full AWS infrastructure and also set up the domain and Google Workspace business email.
Can you build an admin panel for our team?
Yes. Both of our app case studies include a React + Node.js admin panel built with the app. Keen as Mustard's panel handles user verification, giveaways, subscriptions and moderation; Lalah's lets an admin review community restaurant submissions before they are published. We design the panel around the jobs your team does daily.
Do you build real-time chat?
Yes. WakeUp Monster built real-time chat for Keen as Mustard, a Sydney dating app, using Firebase real-time features alongside a Node.js API. We plan real-time features from the user stories so the chat, notifications and moderation tools in the admin panel work as one system rather than separate add-ons.
Can you add AI features to our backend?
Yes. WakeUp Monster integrates AI features such as support assistants, content tools and automated workflows into existing backends as part of the same API work. We do not build or train our own AI models. Our AI development and AI automation pages explain how we scope that work before anything is built.
Keep exploring
Flutter app developmentThe Flutter apps our backends are built to serve.Mobile app development servicesThe full app service, from discovery to store launch.AI feature integrationAdding AI features to apps and websites through your backend.AI workflow automationAutomating repetitive business workflows with connected systems.Web developmentReact and WordPress websites, landing pages and admin panels.Keen as Mustard case studyA 50+ endpoint Node.js backend behind a 100+ screen Flutter app.
Available worldwide
Need a backend for your app?
Tell us what your product needs to do. Our founder, Rajat Khoware, will talk it through with you and send a proposal with scope, timeline, milestones and user stories within 3-5 days.
Discuss Your Project