yeah, just to be clear, the program I linked is designed with the sole purpose of cutting finger joints with a single bit out of flat stock on a flat surface without the issue of rounded inside corners. The joint in the photo and if you follow the link were cut on a flat surface, from flat stock, with no handwork required for the basic joint itself, so it definitely does rely on z-axis movement for complex shapes like in the photo, but perhaps not for basic rounded finger joints. I’m sort of surprised that this sort of joint isn’t more commonly known - same goes for my local makerspace, where my friend who is staff there had heard of such a joint but hadn’t actually seen it done on their ShopBot.
I’m thinking that a tablesaw/box joint sled might be a better bet, but I am hoping to minimize manual labor and I don’t already have a tablesaw, so I likely need to buy something either way…I am hoping that “something” allows for some amount of automation.