How a regenerative branding studio moved its entire infrastructure to open source

rootpath.studio is a co-creative studio founded by Esaú Gozalo, working with small teams in service of community to cultivate brand identity and creative capacity. The studio's philosophy is built around co-creation, open-source tools, and business systems that don't extract value from the people they serve.

Open-source wasn't just a preference for Esaú — it was a consistency requirement. A studio that helps clients build regenerative brands while running on extractive SaaS infrastructure is a contradiction. His tools needed to match his work.

Like most small studios, rootpath.studio had accumulated a set of standard SaaS tools: cloud file storage, a collaboration suite, email through a major provider, and a design tool that had become the industry default. Each one worked well enough. But each one also meant data living on someone else's server, pricing that increased with usage, and an implicit dependency on companies whose interests weren't aligned with rootpath.studio's.

Beyond the values issue, there was a practical one. Esaú works closely with clients on brand development — sharing documents, collaborating on files, communicating across projects. He needed infrastructure his clients could actually use with him, not just internal tooling. The collaboration layer had to be reliable and accessible to non-technical folks.

We deployed five open-source systems on a dedicated VPS, configured to work together as a coherent infrastructure rather than five separate installs.

Nextcloud became the foundation — file storage, folder sharing, calendar, and contacts. Client project folders live in Nextcloud, shared with clients through access-controlled links. No Google Drive, no Dropbox.

OnlyOffice was integrated directly into Nextcloud for real-time document and spreadsheet collaboration. Clients can open and edit documents in the browser without installing anything. The experience is comparable to Google Docs, running entirely on rootpath.studio's server.

Mailcow replaced the previous email provider with a fully self-hosted mail server. SPF, DKIM, and DMARC were configured and verified before cutover so email delivery was reliable from day one. Esaú's team now sends and receives email from infrastructure they own.

Matrix with Element replaced third-party messaging for both internal communication and client communication. Esaú's Matrix address is now publicly listed on the rootpath.studio website — clients can reach him directly through the self-hosted server. End-to-end encryption is on by default.

Penpot replaced Figma for design work — a self-hosted, open-source design and prototyping tool that covers the full workflow rootpath.studio uses with clients.

In addition to the five core deployments, we implemented an automated backup strategy covering all services, configured monitoring and alerting, and documented the full environment. Ongoing support covers updates, backup verification, and incident response.

rootpath.studio now runs its full collaboration and communication infrastructure on a server it owns. Files, documents, email, messaging, and design work all happen on rootpath.studio's infrastructure — none of it sits in a third-party database.

The practical results were straightforward: the tools work, clients can use them, and the per-seat SaaS costs for four separate platforms are gone. The less tangible result matters more to Esaú: the infrastructure now genuinely reflects how the studio works and what it stands for.

His Matrix address is publicly listed on the rootpath.studio website. The footer of his studio reads: *"Designed with love, patience, and open source tools."* The infrastructure behind it now says the same thing.