About
A small lab, built on purpose.
This page is long by design: philosophy, background, and contact in one place—so you can read it once and decide whether this is your kind of software.
About
Lightbridge Lab exists to make software that works the way people expect it to work. Not in a magical sense—just quietly, reliably, and without demanding that you learn a new religion or surrender your data along the way.
The products here tend to share a few traits. They are local-first or offline-capable whenever possible. They favor clarity over cleverness. They avoid unnecessary abstraction, unnecessary accounts, and unnecessary cloud dependencies. When data has to leave your machine, it should be obvious, minimal, and under your control.
Philosophy
A few things I care about.
I care deeply about software that respects its users. None of this is radical. It just feels uncommon lately.
- Your data stays yours.
- Features exist because they're useful, not because they drive engagement.
- Telemetry, if it exists at all, is off by default.
- Software should keep working when you're offline (when that's possible).
- You shouldn't need an account just to get started.
- Good software takes time, attention, and ongoing maintenance. It's reasonable for software to cost money so the work can continue. What I'm not interested in is building systems designed primarily to maximize profit, attention, or lock-in.
Background
Independent software, built carefully.
Lightbridge Lab grew out of a long stretch of working inside large systems—federal programs, enterprise platforms, multi-year roadmaps, and teams where every decision carries real consequences. That experience shaped a clear preference: smaller tools, sharper boundaries, and software that earns trust by behaving predictably.
This lab is not a reaction against complexity so much as a response to it. When you've spent enough time inside sprawling systems, you learn which parts are genuinely necessary and which parts are artifacts of scale, incentives, or habit. Lightbridge Lab exists to keep the necessary parts—and discard the rest.
What informs the work here
- Experience with constrained systems — Building software in regulated, high-stakes environments teaches discipline: clarity matters, defaults matter, and ambiguity is rarely your friend.
- A bias toward small, understandable tools — Fewer features, fewer dependencies, fewer surprises. Software should explain itself through use, not documentation.
- Respect for users' time and autonomy — No dark patterns. No hidden data collection. No artificial friction designed to push upgrades or engagement.
- Long-term thinking — Tools should age gracefully. Versioning, data ownership, and exit paths are design concerns from day one.
About the builder
I'm Sebastien, and I've spent most of my career designing, building, and managing software systems that had to work—often under budget, security, accessibility, or compliance constraints. I've led teams, shipped platforms, maintained systems long past their "new" phase, and lived with the downstream effects of early design decisions.
Lightbridge Lab is where that accumulated experience gets applied more directly. No committees. No investor decks. Just a clear problem, a considered solution, and the patience to do it properly.
I'm not trying to build a personal brand or a startup empire. I'm interested in making software that feels solid in the hand—software you can rely on, understand, and keep using without constantly renegotiating its terms.
Why "Lightbridge"
The name comes from the idea that good tools reduce friction at moments of transition: from idea to execution, from draft to done, from complexity to clarity. A bridge doesn't eliminate the terrain on either side—it simply makes crossing calmer and more predictable.
That's the job these tools aim to do.
Design principle
Respect for users shows up most clearly in what the software does not ask for.
Contact
Say hello.
Questions, feedback, or thoughtful criticism are always welcome.