Chief

Product · Landing site · Product interface

No-code programming of JavaCard and PIV smart cards, for hardware-bound credentials an organization can issue and manage itself.

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Mockup: the Chief landing on a laptop beside the phone layout — Mockup the landing on a laptop and a phone

Chief dashboard: organization, smart card, certificate and member metrics above organization metrics and recent activity — **Studio · Dashboard**

About

Chief is a platform for programming JavaCard and PIV smart cards through a guided, no-code wizard. It handles the cryptographic steps so teams can issue hardware-bound credentials using their own readers and cards.

Chief sets up a certificate authority for the organization, generates each keypair on the card and signs its certificate, so the private key stays on the hardware. Administrators can revoke lost cards, renew expiring certificates and distribute CRL and OCSP updates.

Card Studio lets people design a card in 3D before programming it, and a library of pre-built applets covers web login, document signing, VPN, identity badges and physical access. The site describes Chief as an early-stage product.

Butts Studios designed the landing site and the product interface.

Details

What we made: Landing site · Product interface
Live: badgechief.com ↗
Captured: October 2026

Gallery

9 images. Tap any one to see it full size.

Chief landing page: Smart Card Programming Made Simple — Landing

Chief new application wizard: choose what you are building, from website login and building access to payment and transit cards — Studio · New application

Chief card record: a programmed card with its 3D preview and card information — Studio · Card record

Chief program card view: reader status, card preview and the five programming steps from initialize to complete — Studio · Program card

Chief assign card view: a detected card, organization, application and holder fields, and a validity period — Studio · Assign card

Chief Card Studio: Design your card in 3D, with artwork upload — Studio · Card Studio

Chief open source page: Our Path to Open Source — Open source

Chief on a phone: Smart Card Programming Made Simple, with Get Started and Try Card Studio — Landing, phone

Articles & notes

Published pages from Chief: write-ups, docs and data. Each opens on its own site.