PACE Steel Belt Systems is a specialist steel-belt and machinery engineering company in Bungay, Suffolk, serving industrial clients across the UK and internationally. JW Digital productionised and deployed their bespoke React/Next.js inspection PWA — building a secure Node.js proxy for the Anthropic AI key, packaging it as an installable app for field engineers, hosting it on Vercel, and providing ongoing hosting and maintenance.
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PACE Steel Belt Systems needed their bespoke field-inspection PWA taken from completed codebase to a secure, installable, hosted production app for engineers in the field.
The app is a mobile inspection and report-generation tool for field engineers on iPads and iPhones — multi-section equipment checklists, 1–5 severity scoring, per-item photo capture, AI-generated report summaries, branded report output and a 'Send to Office' email submission.
JW Digital's engagement was the productionisation and hosting layer: secure handling of the Anthropic AI key, PWA packaging, deployment and ongoing maintenance — turning finished code into a reliable tool engineers can install and use daily.
An AI-powered app cannot ship its provider API key in the client bundle — it has to be brokered server-side. The app also had to install cleanly as a PWA on field engineers' iOS devices and produce branded reports reliably from sites with variable connectivity.
It needed dependable hosting and a clear, maintainable deployment rather than a fragile one-off setup.
We deployed a small Node.js proxy server that securely holds the Anthropic API key and brokers AI report-summary requests, so no secret is ever exposed client-side.
We generated branded app icons and splash screens from the PACE logo, configured the PWA manifest and service worker for installable, offline-tolerant use, deployed the app and proxy on Vercel with correct environment configuration, and set up ongoing hosting and maintenance — with the option of a custom inspection subdomain.
Reviewed the completed React/Next.js app, PWA config, proxy and deployment requirements provided by PACE.
Built and deployed a Node.js proxy so the Anthropic API key is brokered server-side, never exposed to the client.
Generated branded icons/splash screens, finalised the PWA manifest/service worker and configured environment variables.
Deployed on Vercel, tested installation on iOS devices, provided the install URL and set up ongoing hosting & maintenance.
Productionisation and hosting: a secure Node.js proxy for the Anthropic AI key, PWA packaging (icons, splash, manifest, service worker), Vercel deployment with environment configuration, and ongoing hosting & maintenance. The app itself was developed by the client.
It is never shipped in the client bundle. A small server-side Node.js proxy holds the key and brokers requests to Anthropic, so the secret stays on the server.
A PWA installs to field engineers' iPads and iPhones without app-store distribution, updates instantly and works tolerantly on variable site connectivity — ideal for an internal inspection tool.
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