How OpenCode Changed the Way I Build
Websites — and Helped Save My Business
Sometimes the problem isn't the work. It's the tools you're using to do it.
The Challenge
Running a small web development business means every hour matters. When you're building websites, developing custom functionality, troubleshooting code, working on SEO, managing client requests, and trying to grow the business at the same time, productivity isn't just a nice bonus. It's survival.
For a while, I found myself running into a problem that had very little to do with my ability to build. I was running out of runway. Not time. AI credits. And it was becoming a serious problem.
The Credit Trap
Like a lot of developers working with modern AI coding tools, I experimented with several different platforms and AI-powered development environments. At first, it felt incredible. The free tiers gave me plenty of room to experiment. I could make changes, ask questions, have AI analyze code, troubleshoot problems, and make fairly substantial edits without immediately worrying about cost. It felt almost unlimited.
Then the free tier disappeared. That's when the economics changed. I would subscribe to a service expecting that the paid plan would give me the additional capacity I needed to actually build my business around it. Instead, I quickly discovered that the subscription could still be surprisingly restrictive. There were times when I could burn through a substantial portion of my available credits during a single development session. Sometimes, I could make one significant round of edits to a project and suddenly find myself staring at a usage limit. That created a frustrating cycle. I wasn't necessarily finished with the work. The tool was finished with me.
The Workaround Became the Problem
So I started doing what a lot of developers probably do when they run into limits. I started switching. Different programs. Different models. Different modes. Different AI routes. I would move a project from one environment to another depending on which model or service still had room. And the important thing is, the quality of the work wasn't suffering. I wasn't cutting corners. If something needed to be done, I still wanted it done right.
The problem was that getting there could take exponentially longer than it should have. I'd have to move between environments. Re-establish context. Explain the project again. Try another model. Work around another limitation. Then go back to the original environment and continue where I left off. The work still got done. But the process became unnecessarily complicated and time-consuming.
And eventually I realized something: The corners weren't being cut. The corners were cutting me. That's an important distinction, especially in this new world of AI-assisted development. Just because a developer can accomplish something faster doesn't mean the quality of the work has been reduced. If a better tool allows me to properly complete something in an hour that might have taken four hours before, I'm not interested in intentionally making it take four hours just to prove I worked hard enough. The question isn't really how long something took. The question is whether it got done correctly. And that's a standard I try to hold myself to.
If a project needs something, it needs something. It doesn't matter whether that need comes up during the original development or months after the website launches. A business changes. Its needs change. Sometimes a website needs to change with it. I try to treat my clients the way I would want to be treated if I were in their shoes. If I owned the business, I'd want someone working on my website to care about the outcome — not simply whether the original clock had run out. That's not only how I want to treat customers. I think it's good business. When you start looking at a website from the client's perspective and thinking about what the business actually needs, you naturally become more focused on solving problems rather than simply completing tasks. And that's exactly why the tools I use matter.
The Solution
That's when I downloaded OpenCode. And my first reaction was basically: "Wow." OpenCode is an open-source AI coding agent designed to work directly with a development environment. It can operate through the terminal, desktop application, or IDE extension, and it isn't tied to one particular AI model provider. That difference was huge for me.
Instead of thinking about AI development as a collection of separate applications with separate credit systems, OpenCode gave me something much closer to what I had actually been looking for: A development environment where I could work with the code and choose how I wanted to power the AI behind it. That changed the equation.
From Fighting Credit Limits to Actually Building
One of the biggest changes was simply being able to stay focused. I could work inside the project. I could let the coding agent understand the codebase. I could make changes. I could inspect what was happening. I could test. I could troubleshoot. I could continue working instead of constantly asking myself: "How many credits do I have left?"
OpenCode's flexibility around providers and models was a major part of that change for me. For the first time, the AI tooling felt more like part of my development workflow rather than something I had to constantly work around.
The Results
OpenCode didn't just save my workflow. It started saving something much more important. My business. That's not an exaggeration. When you're a small web agency, productivity directly affects your ability to serve clients. If I can spend hours fighting development tools, that's time I can't spend improving a client's website. If I have to stop working because I've hit an arbitrary usage limit, a client's project doesn't move forward. If I have to jump between multiple platforms just to complete one task, I'm losing valuable development time. But when the development process becomes more efficient, something else happens. Clients benefit.
More Development Means More Value for Clients
The biggest benefit of OpenCode isn't simply that it makes my life easier. It's that it allows me to get more actual work done. More code reviewed. More features developed. More problems solved. More improvements implemented. More time spent thinking about the business problem I'm solving instead of figuring out how to get my development tools to cooperate. And that's exactly what I want for the businesses I serve.
Shelby Web Company isn't just about putting a website online. I build websites and digital systems that are intended to actually work for the businesses behind them — from performance and technical SEO to forms, integrations, business logic, and custom functionality. OpenCode has helped me move closer to delivering on that promise.
The Bigger Lesson
This experience taught me something important about AI and software development. The goal shouldn't be to find the tool with the flashiest interface. It shouldn't be to chase whichever AI model is getting the most attention this week. And it certainly shouldn't be to build a business around constantly watching an artificial credit meter. The goal is to build a workflow. A workflow that gives the developer flexibility. A workflow that lets the technology work for the business instead of forcing the business to work around the technology. That's what I found in OpenCode.
Why This Matters to a Small Web Agency
Large development teams can absorb inefficiencies. A small agency can't. When you're a small business, every bottleneck has a measurable impact. Every hour wasted is an hour that could have been spent building. Every project delayed affects the client. Every unnecessary subscription adds another expense. And every technical limitation can become a business limitation. That's why discovering OpenCode was more than finding another AI coding tool. It changed the way I work. And when the way I work improves, the service my clients receive improves with it.
The Result
I don't see OpenCode as a replacement for good development practices, good judgment, or human creativity. I see it as a force multiplier. The developer is still responsible for understanding the business problem. The developer still needs to understand the code. The developer still needs to test, verify, secure, optimize, and make the final decisions. But having a capable AI coding agent working alongside that process can dramatically increase what one developer can accomplish. For Shelby Web Company, that's incredibly important.
Because I'm not trying to build the biggest web agency in the world. I'm trying to build something that works. Something that helps local businesses get found. Something that helps them look professional. Something that helps them generate leads. Something that gives them technology they can actually depend on. And if better development tools allow me to do more of that work, then my clients win too.
OpenCode Became More Than a Tool
It became part of the solution. I went from constantly worrying about credits, switching between platforms, and trying to squeeze development work through restrictive usage limits… to having a development workflow that gives me considerably more flexibility. That has allowed me to spend less time fighting my tools and more time doing what I actually started Shelby Web Company to do: Build things that help businesses grow. And that's the real reason this matters. OpenCode didn't save my business because it's some magical piece of software. It helped save my business because it removed a bottleneck that was standing between me and the work I needed to do. And when a small business removes a major bottleneck, everything downstream can move faster. More work gets done. More value gets delivered. Clients benefit. And the business gets another opportunity to grow.
A Note From Shelby Web Company
Technology is changing incredibly fast. The tools I use today probably won't be the same tools I'm using five years from now. That's okay. I'm not interested in being loyal to a particular piece of software just because I've always used it. I'm interested in finding better ways to serve my clients. If something makes me more efficient, improves the quality of my work, gives me more flexibility, or allows me to deliver more value to the businesses I serve, I'm going to explore it. That's part of being a developer. That's part of being a business owner. And that's part of building a better web company.
— Dave Richardson
Founder / Lead Developer
Shelby Web Company
Shelby, North Carolina
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