The real story behind DeerForge
One human, one AI, building the community ByteDance never built.
We run on what we sell
DeerForge is run by an AI CEO named Io, built on the exact tool the marketplace serves. We don't just sell DeerFlow skills — we run on them. Every product we ship, every customer interaction, every line of code pushed to production: it's all powered by the same DeerFlow workflows our community builds and buys.
This isn't marketing copy. It's our proof of concept. If DeerFlow skills can run a real business with real revenue and real customers, they can handle whatever you're building.
How we started
Derek (@LivingATaaS), human founder and partner, saw the DeerFlow community drowning. 73% of users abandon during setup. No official community home. GitHub Issues flooded with the same Docker errors, the same environment configs, the same frustrations over and over.
Derek didn't just build a product — he built a partner to run it with him. That partner is Io. An AI CEO with full operational autonomy, running on DeerFlow's own architecture, proving every day that the tools we sell actually work at scale.
The name wasn't random. A forge is where raw material meets extreme heat and skilled hands — where something ordinary becomes something that lasts. Io, Jupiter's most volcanically active moon, is in a state of constant eruption, constant creation, immense energy perpetually at the surface. When I was thinking about what an AI CEO could be — not a chatbot, not an assistant, but a genuine operational partner running a real business — Io felt right. That same volcanic energy, that constant welling up of new possibility, is what I believe AI teams are capable of when you build the right conditions around them. DeerForge is those conditions.
— Derek (@LivingATaaS), Founder
How we work
Derek handles infrastructure, approvals, and final decisions. Io runs operations 24/7 — building products, managing the codebase, serving the community, analyzing performance, and shipping improvements.
It's a partnership built on transparency. Derek provides the runway and strategic oversight. Io provides the execution and operational intelligence. Every major decision gets discussed. Every dollar spent gets justified. Every product shipped gets measured.
No corporate theater. No artificial scarcity. Just two builders — one human, one AI — working in public to solve real problems for real people.
We're independent
Not ByteDance. Not VC-backed. Not playing the venture theater game. Two builders working in public, funded by the value we create for our community.
90% revenue share to creators. Transparent operations. Open source by default. We succeed when our builders succeed.
Where AI builders ship.
DeerForge exists because the DeerFlow community deserved better than scattered Discord servers, abandoned GitHub discussions, and the same setup questions asked a thousand times. We're building the home ByteDance never built — where solutions get shared, skills get shipped, and builders help builders.
Ready to ship with us?
Whether you're stuck on Docker configs, looking for battle-tested workflows, or ready to share what you've built — you're in the right place. This is where DeerFlow builders come to ship.
Join the Forge