# Joe Designs

> Joe Designs is the software studio of Wes Edling, a developer and entrepreneur in Albuquerque, New Mexico. It makes native Mac apps, terminal tools and developer APIs — most of them free and open source — and takes on consulting work building web apps, mobile apps, APIs and cloud systems.

Joe Designs is run by Wes Edling, who made every app below. Each app has a page on this site that says what it does, what it needs, what it costs and where to get it; the web services also have sites of their own, linked beside them.

The full text behind this index — every app's facts, every case study and every post — is in one file at https://joedesigns.com/llms-full.txt.

## Apps

- [PhotoTune](https://joedesigns.com/phototune): PhotoTune is a free Mac photo editor that lives inside Finder. Right-click any photo for the whole iOS Photos adjustment set, 41 filters and a crop tool — with the original always one keystroke away. (Free; macOS 26 · Apple silicon)
- [paca](https://joedesigns.com/paca): Paca is a terminal project manager for freelancers: projects, tasks, timers, timesheets and Stripe draft invoices, plus seven tabs of analytics — all in one SQLite file on your own disk. (Free; Bun; MIT, open source)
- [Portain](https://joedesigns.com/portain): Portain is a free, native Mac app for seeing what is running: every Docker container grouped by compose project, and every process holding a TCP port — with start, stop and kill one click away. Read-only by design. (Free; macOS 14+ · universal binary; MIT, open source)
- [DuckBake](https://joedesigns.com/duckbake): DuckBake is a free Mac app for pulling a CSV apart. Drop a file in, query it with DuckDB, and ask it questions in plain English through a model running on your own machine. No cloud, no account, nothing uploaded. (Free; macOS 13+ · universal binary; MIT, open source)
- [DuckPlus](https://joedesigns.com/duckplus): DuckPlus is a native Mac IDE for DuckDB, written in Rust on gpui — the GPU-accelerated framework Zed is built with. It connects to a DuckDB server over Quack or opens a .duckdb file off your disk. No Electron, no web view, and no other databases. (Free; macOS 12+ · Apple silicon and Intel; MIT, open source)
- [Mind](https://joedesigns.com/mind): Mind is a free macOS app that sits in the corner of your screen and knows what is coming next. A pastel gradient when the day is clear; a thickening flock, rising embers and fireworks as a meeting closes in. Reads your calendar, never writes to it. Open source, MIT, notarized. (Free; macOS 14+ · Universal · Notarized; MIT, open source)
- [APISign](https://joedesigns.com/apisign): APISign is an electronic signature platform built as an API: twelve MCP tools, a REST endpoint behind each of them, and a CLI. Markdown templates, signed webhooks, sealed PDFs, and $0.25 a contract with no subscription and no seats. ($0.25 per contract sent, no subscription; new accounts get $5.00 of credit (20 contracts); Web service: REST API, MCP server and CLI) — site: https://apisign.io, docs: https://apisign.io/docs, llms.txt: https://apisign.io/llms.txt
- [Sizy](https://joedesigns.com/sizy): Sizy is an image CDN whose whole API is the URL. Point a bucket at images you already host, then ask for a size in the query string — width, height, fit, position, format. Delivery is never billed, transforms are $0.40 per thousand, and the first 5,000 every month are free. ($0.40 per 1,000 transforms after 5,000 free each month; delivery is never billed; Web service: an image CDN driven by URL parameters) — site: https://sizy.io, docs: https://sizy.io/docs
- [Spool](https://joedesigns.com/spool): Spool is a Mac email client written in Rust on gpui, the GPU-accelerated UI framework Zed is built with. A quarter of a million messages loaded, and building a frame still takes about one percent of the budget at 120Hz. (Free during the beta; macOS 13+ · universal binary)
- [passr](https://joedesigns.com/passr): passr puts a face on pass, the standard unix password manager: a keyboard-driven terminal UI for browsing and editing your store, and a Chrome extension that fills the login you are looking at. It stores nothing, caches nothing on disk, and every secret is decrypted by your own gpg. (Free; pass and gpg; MIT, open source)
- [Ticketsmith](https://joedesigns.com/ticketsmith): Ticketsmith is a free, open-source Mac app for designing tickets for Boca Systems printers. Lay out text, barcodes and the printer's own ticket counter, and it sends plain FGL — shown byte for byte — over Ethernet, USB or a print queue. (Free; macOS 12+ · Apple silicon and Intel; MIT, open source)
- [GalleryCamp](https://joedesigns.com/gallerycamp): GalleryCamp is gallery management software — inventory, artists, collectors, consignments, orders and invoices — built around private viewing rooms that report back. Every collector gets their own link, and the room tells you who opened it, how long they stayed and which works held them. (Studio $29/month, Gallery $129/month, Program $359/month; 14-day free trial · cancel anytime; Web app, with a public API) — site: https://gallerycamp.com, docs: https://gallerycamp.com/docs, llms.txt: https://gallerycamp.com/llms.txt
- [Shaka](https://joedesigns.com/shaka): Shaka is a free macOS window manager that lives in the menu bar and has two modes on one keystroke. Flow lets windows float — nudge, resize, snap and centre them on a spring. Reef is a Hyprland-style dwindle tiler with nine workspaces per display, keyboard and mouse resizing, and a cheat sheet on ⌃K — and switching back puts every window exactly where it was. Open source, MIT, built from source in one command. (Free; macOS 13+ · Xcode Command Line Tools; MIT, open source)

## Studio

- [Home](https://joedesigns.com/): Wes Edling, developer & entrepreneur in Albuquerque, New Mexico, with links to every app.
- [Services](https://joedesigns.com/services): Consulting and contract development: web apps, mobile apps, servers, microservices, serverless, integrations, proxies, REST and GraphQL APIs, databases and UI design — with Docker, Kubernetes, React, Next.js, Electron, React Native, Cordova, Ionic, Node.js, PHP, shell, Go, MySQL, Postgres, SQLite, AWS, Fly.io, Google Cloud, Heroku and DigitalOcean.
- [Contact](https://joedesigns.com/contact): A form for project enquiries.
- [Work](https://joedesigns.com/work): Case studies of products Wes Edling has built, for clients and as independent products.
- [Blog](https://joedesigns.com/blog): Posts about building software, and older photo sets and code snippets back to 2005. RSS: https://joedesigns.com/feed.xml

## Case studies

- [Portain ⛵](https://joedesigns.com/work/portain): A beautiful, native macOS app for seeing what's running — your Docker containers and the processes holding your ports — and acting on them fast. Built entirely in Swift + SwiftUI with Claude.
- [Shaka 🤙](https://joedesigns.com/work/shaka): A macOS window manager with two modes on one keystroke — free-floating Flow and Hyprland-style Reef tiling, with nine workspaces per display, mouse resizing and a cheat sheet — built with Swift, spring-based animations, and a one-line installer. Built entirely with Claude.
- [Paca](https://joedesigns.com/work/paca): A terminal-based project manager with time tracking and invoicing, built for freelancers who live in the command line.
- [Actual Reports](https://joedesigns.com/work/actual-reports): Professional accounting reports for Actual Budget—because your personal finances deserve proper financial statements.
- [DuckBake](https://joedesigns.com/work/duckbake): A free macOS app for analyzing your data locally with SQL and AI, because your data deserves to stay on your machine.
- [APISign](https://joedesigns.com/work/apisign): An API-first electronic signature platform that makes sending contracts as simple as a POST request.
- [Sizy](https://joedesigns.com/work/sizy): Building a streamlined image resizing service with Next.js, Sharp, and Fly.io.
- [Robots.nxt](https://joedesigns.com/work/robotsnxt): A modern approach to bot management and website analytics with an intelligent reverse proxy solution.
- [Tractorscope](https://joedesigns.com/work/tractorscope): A powerful data visualization platform that enables teams to build and embed dashboards directly into their applications.
- [FloatR](https://joedesigns.com/work/floatr): A platform connecting healthcare providers with on-demand specimen collectors, phlebotomists, and more.
- [ID Verify](https://joedesigns.com/work/idverify): An iOS mobile app that revolutionizes ID verification for businesses.
- [HoldMyTicket](https://joedesigns.com/work/holdmyticket): A personal journey building a cloud-based event ticketing platform that revolutionized how events handle ticketing.

## Blog

- [Jokku: Dokku, but Every App Gets Its Own VM](https://joedesigns.com/blog/meet-jokku) (2026-10-10): I've tried Kubernetes, Coolify and Dokploy, and kept coming back to Dokku. Jokku keeps its commands and its git push, then runs every app instance in a Firecracker microVM across as many servers as you give it.
- [I Ran Out of Mail Clients, So I Built Spool](https://joedesigns.com/blog/why-i-built-spool) (2026-10-01): Apple Mail, Gmail, Superhuman, Airmail, MailMate and a few others. Eventually there's nothing left to switch to, so I wrote my own email client in Rust on gpui.
- [Yellowstone, Hus, and a Summer of Shipping](https://joedesigns.com/blog/yellowstone-hus-and-a-summer-of-shipping) (2026-09-28): A week in Yellowstone in a 33-year-old Land Cruiser, a buffalo named Hus, and the dozen little apps that somehow got built around it.
- [Paca - A TUI for Time Tracking, Tasks & Invoicing](https://joedesigns.com/blog/paca-tui-time-tracking) (2026-02-13): Introducing Paca, a terminal-based app for freelancers to manage projects, track time, and send invoices with Stripe — all from the command line.
- [React Native Flyer Chat](https://joedesigns.com/blog/react-native-flyer-chat) (2024-10-05): A quick share from my experience in using the @flyerhq/react-native-chat-ui library to build a chat app in React Native.  Several libraires used to choose files and photos and sockets.
- [Lets get this thing started again](https://joedesigns.com/blog/lets-get-started) (2024-09-23): I used to have a blog on my website, where I would post about my experiences with software development. I'd post about the things I learned, the challenges I faced, and the lessons I learned. It was a great way to share my knowledge and experiences with others.

## Optional

- [Nyla's Place](https://joedesigns.com/nyla): Nyla's Place: games made by Wes Edling's daughter Nyla, playable in the browser.
- [LlamaSquish](https://joedesigns.com/nyla/llamasquish): Race the ridge, ride the waterslides, and bounce your way to the finish. Three trails, twelve berries hidden on each one.
- [Cuppa-Corn Café](https://joedesigns.com/nyla/cuppa-corn-cafe): Dinosaurs queue up in four lanes and order a drink. Match it, send it down the lane, and catch the empty cup on its way back.
- [Get It, Make It, Got It!](https://joedesigns.com/nyla/get-it-make-it-got-it): Build a head-to-toe look, fit it to your model, then send it down the runway and let Madame J score it out of ten.
- [Spool Privacy Policy](https://joedesigns.com/spool/privacy): How Spool handles your mail: it is stored on your Mac, it goes to your own mail servers, and Joe Designs never receives it.
- [Spool Terms of Use](https://joedesigns.com/spool/terms): The terms for using Spool: free during the beta, provided as is, and your mail stays yours.
- [Riot JS, where have you been my whole life?](https://joedesigns.com/blog/riot-js-where-have-you-been-my-whole-life) (2017-08-06): So after the ups and downs of the javascript framework madness, I finally feel at home with RiotJS. It doesn't seem many people feel the way I do about it, but…
- [Vail & Beaver Creek & Alligator Farm 2016](https://joedesigns.com/blog/vail-beaver-creek-alligator-farm-2016) (2016-04-10): Just had a great time, spending the last of the ski season in Vail & Beaver Creek. Its always good to get back this part of colorado and see the big business…
- [SSL Encryption for everyone!  Did I mention free?](https://joedesigns.com/blog/ssl-encryption-for-everyone-did-i-mention-free) (2016-04-08): Mandatory HTTPS/SSL encryption is happening soon, Chrome and others are wanting all websites to support HTTPS. Page rank is even being subjected to a website…
- [Costa Rica 2015](https://joedesigns.com/blog/costa-rica-2015) (2015-04-07): Photos from Costa Rica 2015.
- [Hawaii / Kauai 2014](https://joedesigns.com/blog/hawaii-kauai-2014) (2015-03-18): Photos from Hawaii / Kauai 2014.
- [Godaddy SSL Certificate Install on Heroku Post Heartbleed](https://joedesigns.com/blog/godaddy-ssl-certificate-install-on-heroku-post-heartbleed) (2014-04-15): Well, it has been many moons since the last blog post, but I figured this one was worth writing about since it caused me much heart burn. If I can help save…
- [Costa Rica 2013](https://joedesigns.com/blog/costa-rica-2013) (2013-03-12): Photos from Costa Rica 2013.
- [Slim CSS Bar Chart](https://joedesigns.com/blog/slim-css-bar-chart) (2011-12-06): Here is one of the most recent sunday projects finished on a monday night, and published on a tuesday. I had a need to make some super simple percentage bar…
- [Beautiful Analytics Charts](https://joedesigns.com/blog/beautiful-analytics-charts) (2011-04-23): This is derived from a raphael example, rewritten to use prototype and support a few more configurations. My overall goal with this line chart was to create a…
- [San Francisco](https://joedesigns.com/blog/san-francisco) (2011-01-22): I must say, San Francisco is truly an amazing city. I recently visited the city for a workshop/conference. While I was there, I was sure to find some street…
- [0 to 255 Color Picker](https://joedesigns.com/blog/0-to-255-color-picker) (2010-06-04): 0to255 is a simple tool that helps web designers find variations of any color.
- [Google is Awesome!](https://joedesigns.com/blog/google-is-awesome) (2010-05-21): Google always surprises me! Who would have thought pacman would be playable with the google logo. Awesome creativity right there. Thanks google!
- [SXSW 2010](https://joedesigns.com/blog/sxsw-2010) (2010-03-22): Photos from SXSW 2010.
- [CSS Font-Face](https://joedesigns.com/blog/css-font-face) (2009-12-30): CSS Font-Face is a great way to embed fonts into your web layouts. You'll need two fonts, one that is either TTF (true type font) or OTF (open type font)…
- [Code Igniter Library for Layouts](https://joedesigns.com/blog/code-igniter-library-for-layouts) (2009-10-28): Here is a simple library that takes advantages of layouts in code igniter. You can call it in your controller like…
- [Code Igniter Model for Fetching Yahoo Weather Temp and Conditions.](https://joedesigns.com/blog/code-igniter-model-for-fetching-yahoo-weather-temp-and-conditions) (2009-10-27): Comes with basic SQL for building the database. This script is designed to update weather once every 5 minutes. No need for cron, this will just pull data if…
- [Google Graphing Class](https://joedesigns.com/blog/google-graphing-class) (2009-08-08): Sharing my super super simple google graphing class to draw line charts. This is used in various projects. I really would like to see what kind of additions…
- [Web Browsers in a Treehouse Illustration](https://joedesigns.com/blog/web-browsers-in-a-treehouse-illustration) (2009-06-28): Web Browsers in a Treehouse Illustration.
- [Taos Inn disguised as El Gallo Cantina on Tonight Show](https://joedesigns.com/blog/taos-inn-disguised-as-el-gallo-cantina-on-tonight-show) (2009-06-20): Taos Inn disguised as El Gallo Cantina on Tonight Show.
- [Lighttpd / MySQL / PHP (FastCGI) / Fedora on Mosso Cloud Servers.](https://joedesigns.com/blog/lighttpd-mysql-php-fastcgi-fedora-on-mosso-cloud-servers) (2009-04-20): Here is a brief walk-thru of setting up Lighttpd / MySQL / PHP (FastCGI) / Fedora on Mosso Cloud Servers. Setting up a cloud server with Mosso is easier than…
- [Simple Authentication Library for Code Igniter - EasyAuth](https://joedesigns.com/blog/simple-authentication-library-for-code-igniter-easyauth) (2008-12-01): Here is a very simple authentication library for the framework Code Igniter. It uses a MySQL database table 'users' to authenticate against. You can find some…
- [Albuquerque Balloon Glow 2008](https://joedesigns.com/blog/albuquerque-balloon-glow-2008) (2008-10-12): Photos from Albuquerque Balloon Glow 2008.
- [PHP image on the fly resizing with caching, and croping.](https://joedesigns.com/blog/php-image-on-the-fly-resizing-with-caching-and-croping) (2008-09-02): Thanks to palepurple some needed updates have happened to this script.
- [MuxTape - Shared Playlists 2.0](https://joedesigns.com/blog/muxtape-shared-playlists-20) (2008-05-10): I ran across this site awhile back, and have really enjoyed the simplicity. Take a look at MuxTape, and here's my sad attempt to make a playlist.
- [PHP Calendar Generator](https://joedesigns.com/blog/php-calendar-generator) (2008-04-10): This is a simple php function to generate a dynamic calendar, it is just a very basic stripped down so you can easily manipulate it and add it into your web…
- [Welcome to the new Re-Design.](https://joedesigns.com/blog/welcome-to-the-new-re-design) (2008-04-09): It has been awhile since joedesigns.com has been updated. You can expect more blogs whether it is new scripts, or quick tutorials. Let us know what you think…
- [Using ImageMagick & PHP to Resize / Crop Images to flickr style squares.](https://joedesigns.com/blog/using-imagemagick-php-to-resize-crop-images-to-flickr-style-squares) (2008-03-24): Here is a quick snippet of code I use frequently to get the flickr style square cropped thumbnails using php and imagemagick.
- [Albuquerque Balloon Fiesta](https://joedesigns.com/blog/albuquerque-balloon-fiesta) (2007-10-07): Its been quite some time since I have been to the balloon festival. I figured its time to give it a try again. It really was a good time, even though waiting…
- [Amazing Google Widget](https://joedesigns.com/blog/amazing-google-widget) (2007-06-04): The amazing google widget is all you need for your google searching. Quick and easy searching right at your fingertips. We will be rapidly developing this…
- [Joe Calendar](https://joedesigns.com/blog/joe-calendar) (2007-05-05): Tired of bloated calendar programs? Too many features your never going to use? Try this simple calendar system. Packed together with simplicity in mind, you…
- [Vegas 2007](https://joedesigns.com/blog/vegas-2007) (2007-02-10): It was a great trip to Vegas with the weather being a relief compared to the freezing cold back home. Vegas is just an amazing city, there is so much money…
- [PHP Show Processes](https://joedesigns.com/blog/php-show-processes) (2007-01-30): Handy little script built in php to view your mysql processes. Requires MYSQL / PHP.
- [Cancun 2006](https://joedesigns.com/blog/cancun-2006) (2006-12-18): What can I say about Cancun? Lets see, beautiful weather, crystal clear water, and sandy beaches. The last time I visited Cancun I was 10 years old. It is just…
- [Mask Y Mas](https://joedesigns.com/blog/mask-y-mas) (2006-12-10): Visited this cool little nob-hill shop and snapped some photos. Check out their site at: www.masksymas.net.
- [Williams Lake](https://joedesigns.com/blog/williams-lake) (2006-09-03): I try to camp, or at least hike to Williams Lake once a year. It has been about 3 years so this trip really was a good one. This was also the first time I…
- [Albuquerque Downtown Central Flooding](https://joedesigns.com/blog/albuquerque-downtown-central-flooding) (2006-08-13): It was around 10pm and a buddy of mine called me to tell me about the flooding happening a few blocks away from my house. So I had to see what this was all…
- [Grand Canyon](https://joedesigns.com/blog/grand-canyon) (2006-07-20): This was an unplanned trip out to the north rim of the Grand Canyon, it started off with a plane flight to LA, then a drive back to Albuquerque. Detouring to…
- [Fireworks](https://joedesigns.com/blog/fireworks) (2006-07-03): Captured some fireworks from my driveway. I've never taken pictures of fireworks, but now I am a fan!
- [The Dogs](https://joedesigns.com/blog/the-dogs) (2006-06-28): What can I say about Sadie and Sam? Sadie loves the ball, and Sam loves the couch.
- [Nob Hill Night](https://joedesigns.com/blog/nob-hill-night) (2006-05-22): Driving by nob-hill at night sure is inspiring to photograph, with all the lights, traffic and people. I had a great time photographing nob hill at night. I…
- [Search Now!](https://joedesigns.com/blog/search-now) (2006-05-15): Use this widget to easily search 6 different popular sites. Sites include Google, Yahoo, Ask, Amazon.
- [Santa Fe Night](https://joedesigns.com/blog/santa-fe-night) (2006-04-30): Downtown Santa Fe has so many different types of architecture it is a pleasure to photograph.
- [Botanical Gardens](https://joedesigns.com/blog/botanical-gardens) (2006-03-23): Anybody wanting to visit the Botanical Gardens in Albuquerque shouldn't wait any longer. The Botanical Gardens has some amazing things to see. Take a look at…
- [Alligator Farm](https://joedesigns.com/blog/alligator-farm) (2005-12-17): If you have ever driven through Alamosa Colorado and headed north, i'm sure you have seen the Alligator Farm. It's huge signage always lures me to waste 30…
- [Ski Trip](https://joedesigns.com/blog/ski-trip) (2005-12-16): Took a ski trip to Summit County, we skiied at Copper Mountain. Then visited Keystone, and Breckenridge. Good time!
- [Joe Images](https://joedesigns.com/blog/joe-images) (2005-12-06): Use this basic photo gallery to display images on your site! It contains a simple backend that can add/modify/delete photos, and is password protected. Very…
- [Vancouver](https://joedesigns.com/blog/vancouver) (2005-09-02): Vancouver is amazing! If I relocate, Vancouver would be in the top 5 of the cities to relocate. It is a very clean and friendly city. Take a look at some shots…