Friction Lab is an independent software studio founded by Zhongxin (Keven) Li, designing and building developer tools for Apple platforms. Although each application addresses a different workflow, they're intentionally built as a cohesive ecosystem around reusable architecture, local-first computing, and native developer productivity.
The tools built here are local-first by design. That means they work offline, store state on your machine, and don't require an account, a subscription, or a cloud connection to do their job. You can inspect what they do and audit what they change.
AI-assisted software engineering is a first-class concern across the studio — most directly in Relay, Friction Lab's flagship local-first AI-assisted software engineering workflow platform, and in Code Atlas, which preserves the project knowledge behind that work. Anything AI-generated should remain reviewable before it acts.
The first public release candidate — Wayfinder v0.1.0-rc1 — is a Rust-based terminal navigator for macOS. It's small, keyboard-driven, and does exactly one thing: make filesystem navigation from the terminal faster and more structured.
More tools are in development, including Space Buddy and Cleanroom, with Faultline and Env Doctor planned. Progress is public on GitHub.