# Birch Labs

> Birch Labs is the freelance software practice of Wilson Birch, a full-stack developer. Based in Ottawa, Canada (Eastern Time), working remotely with clients across Canada and the US. Services include Native mobile apps, Custom web apps & SaaS, Shopify apps & storefronts, AI & LLM integrations, Data pipelines & scraping, and more.

Availability: Currently booking — reply within 48 hours.
Engagements: Contract and fixed-scope projects; Fractional technical lead or CTO; Team augmentation.

## Contact

- Email: wilson@birchlabs.ca
- [Project inquiry form](https://birchlabs.ca/contact): name, email, and a short description of the project
- GitHub: https://github.com/wilsonbirch
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/wilson-birch/

## Pages

- [Home](https://birchlabs.ca/): I build production software for founders and teams: AI-powered Shopify apps, custom SaaS, and motion-rich marketing sites. Ottawa-based, ship-focused.
- [Work](https://birchlabs.ca/work): Selected projects from Birch Labs: AI-powered Shopify apps, custom SaaS, marketing sites, and production code shipped end-to-end by one Ottawa developer
- [Services](https://birchlabs.ca/services): Native mobile apps, custom web apps, Shopify builds, AI integrations, and design-led marketing sites — built and shipped by a freelance developer in Ottawa.
- [About](https://birchlabs.ca/about): Engineer turned developer. I build production apps, AI pipelines, and marketing sites at Birch Labs — short-form contracts, real outcomes.
- [Contact](https://birchlabs.ca/contact): Pitch a project, ask a question, or just say hi. Short-form messages welcome — I reply within 48 hours with honest thoughts and a rough estimate

## Services

- Native mobile apps: iOS and Android from one codebase, shipped to the App Store and Google Play.
- Custom web apps & SaaS: Full-stack builds from schema to shipping.
- Shopify apps & storefronts: Polaris-grade embedded apps and custom storefronts, built on Remix.
- AI & LLM integrations: RAG, summarization, and agent workflows using Gemini, Claude, or OpenAI.
- Data pipelines & scraping: Scheduled scrapers that turn messy sources into clean, alertable data.
- Memberships & payments: Subscriptions, tiers, and paywalls on Stripe, including moving members off another platform.
- Community & moderation: Comments, reporting, and moderator tools that keep an online community healthy.
- Audio & video streaming: Podcast and video playback that picks up where listeners left off, on every device.
- Marketing sites: Hand-built sites that don't look like a template, with a CMS your team can edit themselves.
- Performance & SEO: Fast by default. Lighthouse 95+ and sensible on-page SEO come in the box.
- Accessibility audits: Find and fix WCAG issues before your users do.
- DevOps & cloud infrastructure: From CI/CD to autoscaling — the infra and ops glue that keeps teams shipping at any size.
- Vibe-code hardening: Your AI-built MVP works. I make it survive real users, real load, and a real team.

## Selected work

- [OneReview](https://onereview.app): Shopify app and backend serving 220+ stores. AI pipeline that scrapes, validates, and summarizes product reviews across the web using Gemini and Firecrawl, backed by Redis queues for async workloads. (CTO & Lead Developer, 2024; Remix, Node.js, Python, FastAPI, PostgreSQL, Redis, Docker, Gemini, Shopify Polaris)
- [CFL Fantasy Tools](https://github.com/wilsonbirch/cflfantasytools-api): Analytics platform for CFL fantasy players. Scrapes all nine clubs' depth charts every 30 minutes, diffs every change, and emails a team's subscribers the moment its chart moves, with EPA and fantasy projections built from play-by-play data. (Solo developer, 2026; React Router, GraphQL, Prisma, PostgreSQL, Puppeteer, Expo, Resend, Fly.io)
- [SALTY Retreats](https://www.getsaltyretreats.com/): Took the site to production: CI/CD and Vercel deploys, security headers and rate limiting, structured logging and error handling, a phased Vitest suite, and a cleaner folder architecture. Added accessibility linting and fixed WCAG issues, and consulted on Meta ad tracking, analytics and monitoring, and the technical feasibility of new features. (Technical Consultant, 2026; Next.js, Vercel, GitHub Actions, Vitest, Sanity, Sentry, PostHog, Upstash Redis, eslint-plugin-jsx-a11y, Meta Pixel & CAPI)
- [Marketing Website - Construction](https://solemn-oath.fly.dev): Design-forward marketing site for a residential construction company. Scroll-driven animations, a CMS-backed project gallery, and a lead form wired to notify the office in real time. A playground for pushing motion and interaction further than a typical small-business site. (Designer & Developer, 2026; Next.js, Framer Motion, Sanity, Tailwind)

## Optional

- [Full details](https://birchlabs.ca/llms-full.txt): every service, project write-ups, and background