The problem
Every application eventually needs the same small utilities — generate a PDF, render a QR code or barcode, convert an Excel file, produce a UUID, diff two texts, convert an image. None of them justify building in-house, and stitching together a different vendor for each one means a different key, a different SDK, and a different bill every time.
Acrewity puts them behind one platform: one API key, one usage meter, one consistent request shape across all twenty-two services.
What I built
- A 22-service utility API platform in Node.js: document conversion, image processing, QR codes and barcodes, and developer tools, all sharing one request/response architecture.
- Multi-tenant authentication and usage metering — the unglamorous infrastructure that makes an API platform an actual business rather than a demo.
- The public website, developer documentation, and the account and API-key management UI.
- An official n8n Verified Community Node (
@acrewity/n8n-nodes-acrewity), so workflow builders can use every service without writing an HTTP request — reviewed and verified by n8n, not just self-published.
Decisions that mattered
The core bet was a reusable service architecture: every service plugs into the same auth, metering, validation, and error-handling spine, so adding service twenty-three costs a fraction of what service one did. That's the same instinct I've applied for years to internal platform work — build the second one cheaper than the first — pointed at a public product.
Where it stands
Live in production, from launch in December 2025 to a verified n8n integration — written AI-assisted, built and operated by one person.