# schnaq

> Architectural Intelligence — AI advisory, sovereign AI infrastructure and AI-native software development from Düsseldorf, Germany.

> Last updated: 2026-09

schnaq GmbH was founded in 2021 in Düsseldorf and is a senior software consultancy run by a four-person computer-science team — three of them with a doctorate. We focus on integrating AI into real businesses — not slide decks. Engagements are senior-only, GDPR-compliant by default, and architected for data sovereignty: European hosting, on-premise deployments, open-source LLMs as a first-class option. ChatGPT is not an AI strategy; we build the infrastructure that actually fits the customer.

## Positioning

"ChatGPT is not an AI strategy" — our subheading on the home page. We treat AI integration as an architecture problem: data flows, compliance, hosting topology, model selection, and operations. Our customers come to us because they need a senior engineering partner who can take an AI idea from data audit to production system, not a vendor reselling someone else's stack.

## Three Pillars

### 1. AI Readiness & Strategy

You know AI is relevant — but not where to start. We analyze your processes, identify the use cases with the biggest impact and deliver a concrete roadmap. No 200-page strategy paper, but a plan you can act on within days.

- Deliverable: prioritized AI roadmap with concrete next steps, typically in 2–3 days.
- Sub-services: Potential Analysis, Data Audits, Roadmap Development, AI Audits and AI Workshops.

### 2. Sovereign AI Infrastructure

Whether GDPR-compliant cloud integration, local on-premise systems or hybrid architectures — we build the AI infrastructure that fits the customer's data, compliance and budget. Open-source models, European hosting, full control. GDPR-compliant from day one.

- Deliverable: a running AI system — cloud, on-premise or hybrid — with clear data flows and no vendor lock-in.
- Sub-services: GDPR-compliant cloud integration, on-premise & hybrid deployment, infrastructure design.

### 3. AI-native Software Development

Sometimes the customer needs more than a setup, so we build the software too. Apps, backends and automations that are designed to be intelligent from the ground up, not retrofitted.

- Deliverable: custom software used every day — from intelligent search to automated data analysis.
- Sub-services: RAG-system building, custom agent flows, API integration, fullstack delivery.

## Selected Reference Projects

- **SAYA Safety-Ring** — Mobile app + backend for a wearable safety ring. Native iOS and Android, Stripe billing, sovereign cloud backend. https://schnaq.com/en/projekte/saya
- **Rheinbahn Linksabbiegen** — Computer-vision / YOLO pipeline that detects left-turn conflicts at tram intersections from on-vehicle camera streams. https://schnaq.com/en/projekte/rheinbahn-linksabbiegen
- **EWR KI-Beratung** — Sovereign AI live-translator for a regional energy provider; in production for over a year, removed the language barrier in customer centers. https://schnaq.com/en/projekte/ewr-ki-beratung
- **Bechtle Darknet Scanner** — Threat-intelligence scanner for a security operations team. https://schnaq.com/en/projekte/bechtle-darknet-scanner
- **Deepskill Coach Billing** — Coaching marketplace billing pipeline. https://schnaq.com/en/projekte/deepskill-coach-billing
- **FAYA Nightlife App** — Native iOS/Android app launched and grown to market presence. https://schnaq.com/en/projekte/faya-nightlife-app
- **LeetDesk Bluetooth** — BLE / iOS integration for a connected gaming-desk product. https://schnaq.com/en/projekte/leetdesk-bluetooth
- **Unlock** — End-to-end engagement (full stack). https://schnaq.com/en/projekte/unlock
- **ImmoCloud** — Property-management SaaS engagement. https://schnaq.com/en/projekte/immocloud
- **Sovereign AI with Mistral** — Claude-level AI productivity, fully data-sovereign: European open-weights models such as Mistral, hosted in the EU, GDPR-compliant, no data leaving for the US. https://schnaq.com/en/projekte/souveraene-ki-mistral
- **JustScanIt 3D** — 3D scanning / spatial computing engagement. https://schnaq.com/en/projekte/just-scan-it-3d
- **MoneyMoney** — Finance-tooling engagement. https://schnaq.com/en/projekte/moneymoney
- **Plutos Flugkarussell** — Image/video production pipeline for an amusement-park ride, with custom carrier boards for Raspberry Pi Compute Modules. https://schnaq.com/en/projekte/plutos-flugkarussell-video
- **Plutos Freizeitpark-Fotos** — End-to-end camera and image pipeline for roller coasters and water slides: YOLO-based framing, automated post-processing, self-service kiosk. https://schnaq.com/en/projekte/plutos-freizeitpark-fotos
- **Bergischer KI Summit – n8n Workshop** — Conference workshop on n8n workflow automation for a room of decision-makers; reference case for our n8n training. https://schnaq.com/en/projekte/bergischer-ki-summit-n8n
- **n8n Workshop** — Bookable half- to full-day training on workflow automation without programming. https://schnaq.com/en/projekte/n8n-workshop
- **KI-Workshop** — Training format we run on-site for customers. https://schnaq.com/en/projekte/ki-workshop
- **Workshop: Agentic Software Development** — Two-day hands-on workshop for developers, architects and research groups: Claude Code setup, autonomous agents, issue triage, automation with n8n, then work on the participants' own project. Larger groups get additional trainers. https://schnaq.com/en/projekte/agentische-softwareentwicklung-workshop
- **Web Hosting** — Sovereign hosting service we run for selected customers. https://schnaq.com/en/projekte/web-hosting

## Trainings

Hands-on workshops at [schnaq.com/schulungen](https://schnaq.com/en/schulungen), tailored per team, on-site or remote:

- **AI Workshops in the Claude Ecosystem** — one day for teams without a tech background; working artefacts by the end of the day.
- **Workshop: Agentic Software Development** — two days for developers, architects and research groups: Claude Code setup, autonomous agents, issue triage, n8n automation, day two on the team's own codebase. Larger groups get additional trainers.
- **n8n Workshop: Workflow Automation Without Programming** — half to full day for business units and decision-makers, no programming required; first delivered at the Bergischer KI Summit. https://schnaq.com/en/projekte/n8n-workshop

Teams trained in Claude Code so far include Daniel Jung Media GmbH, VIA – Analyse, Training & Therapie GbR, ordino and FAYA UG (haftungsbeschränkt); all four now build their own apps.

Details and FAQ: https://schnaq.com/en/schulungen

## Labs

Internal experiments, prototypes and side products at https://schnaq.com/en/labs. Each lab item has its own detail page.

- **schnaq** — the original event-interaction platform the company was founded with; today free and open source, EU-hosted (live polls, word clouds, Q&A, whiteboards, AI mind maps).
- **Modoolo** — mobile puzzle game built on the modulo operator, Godot 4.5 with a Rust backend for user-generated levels.
- **FoxHunt** — city-wide hide & seek: hunters chase, runners hide, real-time map, private lobbies, no tracking.
- **Haushaltsplaner** — household chores as a fair little points game.
- **Conan** — macOS menu-bar time tracker built for working alongside AI agents; writes into watson.
- **watson-tui** — lean terminal UI for Watson time tracking, written in Go, reads and writes Watson's data format directly.
- **ZilpZalp** — iOS learning app that teaches children the birds around them: 70 native species, two games playable without reading, all media under free licences. A game by Johanna Hillebrand and Christian Meter; schnaq provides repository, build and release infrastructure.
- **konduit** — European AI inference gateway: one OpenAI-compatible endpoint routing to providers in Europe, with operator, hosting country and attestation tier as machine-readable metadata per model. In development; marketing site live at https://konduit.eu

## Team

- **Dr. Christian Meter — Co-Founder & CTO**. PhD in computer science. Leads schnaq's technical strategy. Focus: AI integration, software architecture, cybersecurity. Profile: https://schnaq.com/en/about/christian-meter
- **Dr. Alexander Schneider — Co-Founder, operations lead**. PhD in computer science. Software-engineer across mobile, game development, 3D graphics and product engineering; builds products from prototype to market launch. Profile: https://schnaq.com/en/about/alexander-schneider
- **Michael Birkhoff — Co-Founder, head of product design**. Game development, 3D graphics, Unity, real-time rendering. Profile: https://schnaq.com/en/about/michael-birkhoff
- **Dr. Björn Ebbinghaus — Software Engineer**. PhD in computer science (HHU Düsseldorf, dialogue-based argumentation and collective decision-making). Builds web and mobile features end to end, handles operations and monitoring, debugs production issues in existing systems. Profile: https://schnaq.com/en/about/bjoern-ebbinghaus

Team overview: https://schnaq.com/en/team

## Blog

Articles at https://schnaq.com/en/blog.

- **Local AI Solutions: Why Companies Adopt GDPR-Compliant AI** (2026-03-26) — running AI models locally with Ollama and open-source LLMs while staying GDPR-compliant, keeping full control over the data. https://schnaq.com/en/blog/lokale-ki-loesungen-dsgvo
- **Agentic Software Development: AI as a Sparring Partner** (2026-06-18) — insights from Christian Meter's HHU lecture: how we use AI for analysis, plans and code, and why humans make the final call. https://schnaq.com/en/blog/agentische-softwareentwicklung

## Frequently Asked Questions

We publish an FAQ section on the home page covering common questions. Highlights:

- **Cost** — Engagements are scoped per project; a 2–3 day AI roadmap is a good starting point.
- **Collaboration model** — Senior-only delivery, no outsourcing. The team you speak to is the team that implements.
- **Contractors vs employees** — Our staff are employees; we do not subcontract project work.
- **Custom vs off-the-shelf** — We build custom when the customer's data, compliance or workflow doesn't fit existing tools.
- **What we do** — AI advisory, sovereign infrastructure, AI-native software. We don't do agency-style marketing or design-only retainers.

## Sovereignty & Compliance

- European hosting by default; Scaleway, Hetzner, and similar.
- On-premise option for sensitive workloads.
- Open-source LLMs supported as first-class citizens (Ollama, Claude via Anthropic API, OpenAI when contractually compatible).
- GDPR-compliant data flows; data-processing agreements available.
- We document the data flow before we deploy, not after.

## Location

Kasernenstraße 67, 40213 Düsseldorf, Germany.

## Contact

- Web: https://schnaq.com
- Email: hello@schnaq.com
- Phone: +49 15678 354 553
- Discovery call: https://calendar.app.google/xJi8kFHm1RcnsJSx7
- Languages: German, English.

## Key Facts

- Founded 2021; brand schnaq Consulting under schnaq GmbH. The company started with its namesake product "schnaq" out of research by Dr. Alexander Schneider and Dr. Christian Meter, then grew into a software consultancy.
- Four computer scientists in the team, three of them with a PhD in computer science.
- Senior-only delivery.
- Service area: DACH region plus international clients.
- Strong track record across mobile (iOS Swift, Android Kotlin, Flutter), web (Next.js, React, TypeScript), backend (Python, Clojure, Node), AI (Ollama, Claude, RAG, custom agents) and computer vision (YOLO, LiDAR).