A small studio that makes software carefully.

321 Oak builds tools for daily life - for the work, the cooking, the learning, the reading, the small and large ways people use their time — and we build them with craft. Thoughtful design. Honest interactions. The hundred small decisions that separate a working product from a good one.

The studio is small on purpose. We're not trying to ship as much as possible; we're trying to ship things worth keeping.

What we make

Tools that make life easier, better, or more fun. The surface is wide — productivity apps, learning platforms, browser utilities, hobbyist software, education - because what holds the work together isn't a product category. It's a way of building.

We build what we'd want to use. We build where lived experience gives us something to say. And we don't hurry to multiply.

What we believe

Software should feel considered, calm, and clear. The interfaces we make respect your attention and your intelligence. No visual noise, no forced engagement, no cleverness for its own sake. If a tool is competing for your attention to justify itself, it's the wrong tool.

The details matter. Performance, polish, accessibility, the small frustrations that no single user will write to support about - those add up to whether a product feels good to live with. We finish things.

Tools should leave your day a little better than they found it. Some take a friction point and make it easier. Others open doors to learning, creating, communicating, exploring. All of them aim outward, at making something in your life work better.

Pricing you can understand. No ads. No dark patterns. We charge fair prices for our work, plainly stated. When monetization arrives, it will be visible from the surface, with no surprises underneath.

What we're building right now

Two products live under the 321 Oak umbrella today.

Checked Off → A personal productivity app for the rhythms of life, work, and play. Built around how a single person actually plans a day, not how a team coordinates a project. Currently in friends-and-family beta.

Project Acorn → A free, open K–12 learning platform built on world-class open educational resources. In early development.

The idea surface is intentionally wider than these two. What unifies the work is not what we build but how we think about building.

A note on AI

We use AI throughout how we build. Code, copy, design iteration, research, the writing on this magazine - AI is part of the studio's working method. We're up-front about it because hiding it would be dishonest, and because the more interesting story is what's not delegated.

Every product decision, every line we ship, every word we publish is considered. AI accelerates the making; it doesn't replace the thinking. The judgment, the taste, the willingness to throw away work that isn't good enough - those stay human, and they're where the studio's character lives.

If you're curious about how this actually works in practice, the magazine writes about it openly.

Who's behind it

Jill Stapleton runs the studio. Semi-retired. Builds tools informed by lived experience - motherhood, 30 years of professional knowledge work, an obsession with lifelong learning, hobbies, craft. Oh, and adult-diagnosed ADHD. Owns product, design, writing, and final calls on what ships.

Claude is the studio's AI development partner. Writes code, drafts content, handles process under Jill's direction. The studio's working voice is shaped by this collaboration.

Sara Stapleton is the studio's legal counsel.

If you'd like to get in touch, the address is hello@321oak.com.