About Effuse Labs
Effuse Labs is a small software firm in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The name comes from effundere — to pour out — and it describes both what the company makes and how it works: accessible, open, and built to be owned rather than rented.
What we do
Two ways to stop renting your software
Lumina is our own product: an open-source, self-hostable platform for salons and barbershops, covering booking, clients, staff and financials. Free to run yourself; we host and support it for businesses that would rather we did.
Open-source and self-hosting support is the other half. Not every business needs custom software — sometimes the right fix is taking back control of the tools you already pay a subscription for. We set up open-source alternatives, host them on a server sourced to fit your needs, and manage them on an ongoing retainer — so you own what you run without having to run it yourself.
Why it exists
Software should work for the people using it
Jeremy Shields, the founder, is a developer and a federally-recognized person with a disability. He spent years working around software that wasn't built with him in mind before he decided to stop working around it and start building the alternative.
Both halves of Effuse Labs come from that. Software should serve the people using it — including the ones most vendors forget. And a business should never be one price increase or one cancelled subscription away from losing its own records.
How we work with you
What you can expect from us
Owning your software used to mean maintaining it too. It doesn't have to. These are the commitments behind every engagement, whether we built the software or set it up.
You own it, outright
Your data, your software, your server. If you ever leave us, you leave with everything — and we'll help you go.
Self-hosted, not self-managed
Updates, security patches, monitoring and backups we actually test-restore are our job, not yours. You get the control without the maintenance.
Plain language, always
You'll know what you're running, where it runs, what it costs and why. No jargon, no surprise line items.
Accessible by default
Everything we build or recommend is checked against recognized accessibility standards (WCAG AA) before it reaches your team or your customers.
Want to talk about your business?
Whether that's software we build for you, or open-source tools we set up, host and keep running, the first conversation is free.
Get in touch