Palette Tools
Palette is the all-in-one platform helping filmmakers run their studio—from animation shops and YouTubers to in-house content teams. As CTO & Co-Founder, I'm building Palette from zero to one: leading architecture and product development, translating artist workflows into scalable technical primitives like versioning, attribution, and remixing, and owning engineering end to end.
What I Do
Technical Architecture
Designing the entire system from the ground up—choosing the right primitives for creative workflows, real-time collaboration, and media-heavy infrastructure.
Full-Stack Development
Owning the entire product surface from pixel-perfect UI with React and Radix UI to backend services on Node.js, all type-safe with TypeScript and Zod.
Engineering Leadership
Setting the technical direction, making key architectural decisions, and establishing engineering practices as we scale from zero to one.
AI Integration
Building AI-powered features with Google Gemini API—like Auto Setup, where users upload a script or describe a project and get a ready-to-edit structure in seconds.
Tech Stack
Frontend
- React with TanStack Start & TanStack Router for a type-safe, file-based routing experience
- Tailwind CSS and Radix UI for a consistent, accessible component system
- tldraw for the canvas-based frame-by-frame drawover and annotation tools
- TipTap for rich text editing across comments, notes, and descriptions
- Zod and React Hook Form for robust form validation
- Storybook for isolated component development and documentation
Backend & Services
- Node.js for server-side logic and API endpoints
- Mux for video ingestion, transcoding, and streaming
- Clerk for authentication and user management
- Stripe for subscription billing and payment processing
- SendGrid for transactional email delivery
- Google Gemini API for AI-powered features like Auto Setup
Data & Real-Time
- InstantDB for real-time, reactive data synchronization across clients
- Asset versioning system for tracking changes and promoting primary versions
- AWS S3 for scalable file and media storage
Tooling & Infrastructure
- Vite for fast builds and hot module replacement
- Vercel for hosting and edge deployments
- PostHog for product analytics and user insights
- pnpm for dependency management
- ESLint for code quality and consistency
Platform Highlights
Frame-by-Frame Drawover
Built with tldraw—draw over, comment, and tag teammates directly on video frames and stills.
Live Boards
Real-time collaborative boards powered by InstantDB, perfect for art walls and style guides.
Timeline
Visual planning and task assignment connected to assets and deliverables.
Versioning
Auto-track versions and changes, then promote the best as primary.
AI Auto Setup
Powered by Google Gemini—describe your project and get a ready-to-edit structure in seconds.
Video Streaming
Mux-powered video ingestion and adaptive streaming for seamless review workflows.
Palette Toolkit
Beyond the core platform, I'm building the Palette Toolkit—a developer SDK that lets studios build custom pipelines and integrations on top of Palette. This includes API access, custom AI agents, and self-hosting options for enterprise clients.