Case study · 2026 · Side Project
Shopbird
Shopbird is a custom Shopify app for gating stores and launches: wholesale prices, members-only collections, early access and raffles. Every lock is enforced at checkout, so a shared cart link can't get around it.
- Role
- Founder & Design Engineer
- When
- Oct 2026 – now
- Status
- shopbird.app (Live)
Shopify App (Testing)
01
The problem
Shopify only allows stores to lock their entire site behind a single password, so many drop-based creators lose traffic and sales leading up to their next collection release. Releases also require a careful rollout of products, passwords, newsletters and more, a process that is both cumbersome and human error prone.
02
What I built
A checkout gate that actually holds
Written in Rust as a Shopify Function, so only shoppers who unlocked a product can buy it, on every Shopify plan.
Locks for anything in the store
Products, collections, pages, blogs or the whole store, with unlock methods from single-use codes and secret links to customer tags, age and location checks, and Klaviyo and Mailchimp lists.
Drops that run themselves
Scheduled launches move from teaser to preview to early access to public on their own, with first come, raffle and made-to-order selling modes.
An API for the rest of the stack
A REST API with scoped tokens, signed webhooks and Shopify Flow triggers, plus freemium billing and a clean uninstall that restores every product.
The brand and the admin design system
The brand, an admin design system on Polaris web components, and an Astro marketing site with an animated pixel aurora.
03