Independent Software Studio

Bart Labs

Tools built for the work that matters — for photographers and enterprises who deserve software that respects their time.

Est. 2024  ·  Milwaukee, WI

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I build tools because the tools I needed didn't exist — or they existed but cost five times what they were worth and shipped half of what they promised. Every product here started as something I personally needed to do my own work.

Pricing is honest: what something costs to build and maintain, with a fair margin, not what the market will bear from a customer with no alternatives. There are no subscription traps here, no enterprise add-ons that unlock features that should have been included.

Running as a one-person studio means I use everything I ship. When something breaks, it breaks for me first. When something is slow or confusing, I notice. That's a different kind of accountability than a product team manages from a dashboard.

Michael Bartels  ·  Founder, Bart Labs

Two products. Two hard problems.
Both built to last.

Coming May 2026

LrForge

AI Analysis for Lightroom Classic

AI that understands light, composition, and what makes a photograph work — for photographers who are serious about their craft and want genuine feedback, not flattery.

  • Runs entirely on your machine — your images never touch a cloud server
  • Works with any local AI model: Ollama, LM Studio, llama.cpp, MLX
  • One-time purchase. No subscription, no seat licenses.
  • Integrates directly into Lightroom Classic's catalog workflow
Coming May 2026
Early Access

ForgeShield

Enterprise AI Security & Governance

A security layer that sits between your team and your AI models — inspecting, enforcing, and auditing every interaction before it becomes a liability.

  • Real-time DLP scanning — sensitive data stays out of LLM context
  • Policy engine for what AI can and can't do per team or role
  • Full audit trail: every prompt, every response, retained and searchable
  • Zero-trust agent authorization via Project Aegis
Includes ForgeMemory Enterprise — persistent, auditable AI memory for every agent and team in your org
Request Early Access

Three things that don't change.

Local First

LrForge runs entirely on your machine. Your photos and your data stay with you, always — not on a server I manage, not in a pipeline I can read.

Fair Pricing

Priced for working professionals, not enterprise budgets inflated by investor expectations. No seat licenses, no surprise fees, no features held hostage behind a higher tier.

Built to Last

No chasing trends. Software that works reliably, updated when it genuinely needs to be, supported by someone who answers email and uses the product daily.