05 WORDS
Judson Dunne
I love building things.
10 TOTAL
My work
The most important projects and builds to me. The rest are in the projects section below.
- 10
- projects shipped
- 10k+
- people using them
- 04
- platforms: iOS, Android, web, watch
- Locava
- RidgeSync
- base.
- Lewis
- Pathfinder 3D
- Neural Net Observatory
- SpaceOna
- Insight Lab
- Misty Mountain Forge
- throttlekit
01 / SOCIAL PLATFORM · iOS & ANDROID
Locava
Locava helps you discover and share the coolest spots around you, from hidden swimming holes to scenic overlooks. Join thousands exploring amazing places.
- 10,000+
- organic users, zero paid acquisition
- ~50%
- weekly retention at peak
- 8,000+
- places posted by users
02 / AI AGENT · REAL ESTATE
Lewis
An AI agent that works a real-estate agent’s dormant lead list over text, with a policy engine between the model and every irreversible action.
- 68k
- lines of TypeScript in the product
- 13
- standing rules between the model and anything irreversible
- 47
- test files, one reproduction per compliance bug
03 / HYBRID TRAINING · iPHONE & APPLE WATCH
base.
A hybrid-training app for iPhone and Apple Watch that holds strength, endurance and nutrition in one adaptive plan, driven by live health data.
- 18
- micronutrients tracked, not just the three macros
- 6
- health signals banded against your own baseline
- 5
- surfaces: dashboard, food log, coach, workout, endurance
04 / TRIP PLANNER · iOS, WATCH & WEB
RidgeSync
An all-in-one backpacking trip planner. Use RidgeSync to plan mileage and elevation, camping sites and water sources, and much more.
- 3
- platforms: web, iPhone and Apple Watch
- 7
- trail datasets built from raw OpenStreetMap
- 100%
- of a planned trip works with no signal
05 / BUSINESS · BLACKSMITHING
Misty Mountain Forge
The blacksmith shop I built at fourteen and ran for three years, on the Ottauquechee River.
- Age 14
- built the forge myself
- Hundreds
- of pieces forged, listed and shipped
- 3 years
- run as a business
My projects
What I do when I’m not at a screen
TRIATHLON
Ironman 70.3
Ironman 70.3, 1 of 8
04
Achievements
2025
Seed round raised
Locava
Hired and led a team of eight: two full-time engineers and six interns.
2025
1st place, Big Idea Pitch Competition
Dyer Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Lafayette College
$1,500 prize for Locava, with Will Gottfried ’27 and Ethan Melgar ’27.
2024
1st place, Lehigh Valley Hackathon
Lehigh Valley, PA
24 hours, built and shipped on the theme of helping the local community.
2023
Best Visual Design, Rivalry Hackathon
Lafayette College × Lehigh University ACM
With Jack Marich ’27 and Kevin Nusom ’27.
Independent coverage
The Lafayette · April 18, 2025
New student-made app to highlight local spots
“Locava CEO Judson Dunne ’27 began working on the app last academic year.”
Lafayette, the alumni magazine · 2025
App alert
“Dunne collaborated with fellow students to build a location-based social platform for finding restaurants, swimming spots, and travel recommendations.”
Lehigh Valley Economic Development Corporation · April 10, 2025
Innovation Showcased at Lehigh Valley Pitch Competitions
“Locava, by Judson Dunne, Will Gottfried, and Ethan Melgar, won first place and a $1,500 cash prize for their travel-centric social media app.”
Dyer Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Lafayette College · April 2025
Big Idea Pitch Competition: 2025 winners
“Locava, by Judson Dunne ’27, Will Gottfried ’27, and Ethan Melgar ’27, won for their social media platform idea that allows users to find new places, share genuine experiences, and explore live never before.”
Dyer Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, Lafayette College · April 10, 2025
8th Annual Big Idea Competition
“Judson Dunne ’27, Will Gottfried ’27, and Ethan Melgar ’27 won first place and a $1,500 prize for Locava, a travel-centric social media app.”
Lafayette College ACM chapter · 2024
Rivalry Hackathon
“Best Visual Design: Judson Dunne ’27, Jack Marich ’27, Kevin Nusom ’27.”
How it was built
Write-ups of the engineering behind the products above: shared API contracts, offline-first architecture, OpenStreetMap pipelines and rate limiting.
Typed contracts between a mobile client and its backend
Locava's API shapes live in a versioned package that the backend and both clients import. Here is why that package exists, what it cost, and what it caught.
TypeScript · Zod · API design · 4 min
Building offline-first trail maps from OpenStreetMap data
OpenStreetMap names trail segments, not hikes. Turning one into the other took a second data model, a routing engine, and a build pipeline that has to be reproducible.
OpenStreetMap · Geospatial · PMTiles · 4 min
Three rate limiters, and the millisecond where each one changes its mind
Fixed window, sliding window log and token bucket, implemented from scratch and benchmarked. The interesting part is the boundary, and the bug I got wrong first.
TypeScript · Rate limiting · Algorithms · 4 min
Instrument before you launch
Locava had logging, crash tracking, traces and a warehouse before it had a launch date. It is the most useful ordering decision I made, and here is what it actually bought.
Observability · OpenTelemetry · BigQuery · 3 min
what I build with
Only things I’ve actually shipped something with. Every entry carries a dot for each project it went into. Pick one to see what it is made of.
64 technologies · 9 projects
Languages
- TypeScript, used on Locava, RidgeSync, base., Lewis, Pathfinder 3D, Observatory, throttlekit
- JavaScript, used on Locava, RidgeSync, SpaceOna, Lewis
- Python, used on Observatory, Insight Lab
- Rust, used on Pathfinder 3D
- Kotlin, used on Locava
- Swift, used on Locava, RidgeSync, base.
- SQL, used on RidgeSync, Locava, base.
- HTML/CSS, used on Locava, RidgeSync, SpaceOna, Lewis
AI & ML
- GenAI workflows, used on Insight Lab, Locava, Lewis
- LLM agents, used on Lewis, Insight Lab, Locava
- On-device ML (ML Kit), used on Locava
- Vector search / embeddings, used on Locava
- Backprop from scratch, used on Observatory
- NumPy, used on Observatory
- Azure ML, used on Insight Lab
Backend & data
- Node.js, used on Locava, RidgeSync, Lewis
- Fastify, used on Locava
- Express, used on Locava
- REST, used on Locava, RidgeSync, Lewis
- GraphQL (Apollo), used on Locava
- Firestore, used on Locava
- Redis, used on Locava
- PostgreSQL, used on RidgeSync, base., Lewis
- Supabase, used on RidgeSync, base., Lewis
- Zod, used on Locava
- Drizzle ORM, used on base.
- BigQuery, used on Locava
Cloud & infra
- Google Cloud Run, used on Locava
- Cloud Tasks, used on Locava
- Cloud Build, used on Locava
- GitHub Actions, used on Locava, throttlekit
- Vercel, used on Lewis, Pathfinder 3D, Observatory
- Firebase, used on Locava
- Wasabi (S3), used on Locava
Frontend & mobile
- React, used on Locava, RidgeSync, SpaceOna, Lewis
- Next.js, used on Locava
- React Native, used on Locava, RidgeSync, base.
- Expo Router, used on Locava, RidgeSync, base.
- watchOS, used on RidgeSync, base.
- HealthKit, used on base.
- Vite, used on RidgeSync, Lewis, Pathfinder 3D, Observatory
- Tailwind, used on RidgeSync, SpaceOna, Lewis
- TanStack Query, used on RidgeSync
- Design systems, used on Locava, SpaceOna, Lewis
Maps & geo
- Mapbox GL, used on Locava, RidgeSync, Pathfinder 3D
- Valhalla routing, used on RidgeSync
- Turf.js, used on RidgeSync
- PMTiles, used on RidgeSync
- OpenStreetMap pipelines, used on RidgeSync, Pathfinder 3D
- Shortest-path algorithms, used on Pathfinder 3D
- Terrain-RGB elevation, used on Pathfinder 3D
Graphics & systems
- WebAssembly, used on Pathfinder 3D
- WebGL2, used on Pathfinder 3D, Observatory
- Three.js, used on Observatory
- Web Workers, used on Pathfinder 3D, Observatory
- GPU profiling, used on Pathfinder 3D
- Binary formats, used on Pathfinder 3D, Observatory
Testing & observability
- Jest, used on Locava, throttlekit
- Playwright, used on Lewis, Pathfinder 3D, Observatory
- Vitest, used on Observatory
- Regression suites, used on Locava, RidgeSync, Lewis
- OpenTelemetry, used on Locava
- PostHog, used on RidgeSync, base.
- Crash & usage telemetry, used on Locava, RidgeSync
let’s build something together
I’m looking for full-stack engineering roles, or anywhere I can bring my experience building and scaling products to a team that wants to put something real in front of real people. I always answer other founders.