Web first, native later
You prep on a laptop over months; the on-playa surface is a phone. So we shipped a fast, responsive web app now and deferred native until the field app needs it.
How we build Campmate
Every choice, measured against the playa.
We build Campmate through one lens: Burning Man, burners, and the camps that serve them. Here is what that means in practice, and why we made the calls we did.
The lens
What every decision is measured against.
Playa-native, not playa-adapted
Black Rock City has no street addresses (it is 7:30 and E), no reliable signal, and it disappears every September. We assume that, instead of papering over it.
Offline-tolerant on playa
If it needs bars to work, it fails exactly when it is needed most. The surfaces that lose signal are built to work without it.
Privacy-respecting
Medical info, incident reports, lock combos, minor records, tax forms: encrypted, access-controlled, audit-logged. Tight access control is a feature.
Portable identity
Your reputation and profile travel with you, across camps and years, not locked to one camp.
Camp autonomy
Templates and guardrails, not rigid process. Camps run on the Ten Principles, not on KPIs.
Easy on the commons
We never hammer the Burning Man API with your traffic, never publish what their rules say to mask, and keep working when upstreams are down.
The choices
What we built, and the reasoning behind it.
We mirror the Burning Man API
We keep our own refreshed copy of the camp/art/event directory. Your traffic hits us, not them; and if their servers are down during the pre-event rush, Campmate still works.
Auth that fits burners
Many burners are phone-first and may not check email for weeks, so phone is a first-class way in, not an afterthought. Email never blocks you.
Offline-first where signal drops
Shift check-in, arrivals, strike, vendor delivery: built to capture everything offline and sync when you are back in range.
IDs you can read
Every record has a human-legible, typed id, minted on your device so it works without a server. Debuggable, and safe across camps.
Quiet, typographic design
Not a generic dashboard, not a festival app. Warm and editorial, driven by type instead of chrome. An instrument a camp lead trusts.
Transparent money
When we build dues, group buys, and the vendor side, funds and payouts are transparent by default. Sunlight beats drama.
Programmable, not walled
We are building a way for your own tools and AI agents to integrate with Campmate directly, scoped and safe.
This page is a living thing; it changes as the project does. The full engineering record lives in our decision log.