Arbor Research
Commerce platform for research use only.
Arbor Research sells laboratory materials for research use only, a category where the compliance rules shape the product far more than the storefront does. Attestations for age and research use gate the entrance, the catalog and its pricing sit behind an account, and there is no guest checkout.
Underneath, every lot carries a permanent address that its QR code points at, so a certificate of analysis can be superseded without breaking the label on a vial already in someone's hands. Attestations are versioned, and once written nothing can edit or delete one. Row level security in the database enforces the same rules as the routing, so a gap in one does not quietly open the other.
It is built on Next.js and Postgres, and every payment, shipping, and email vendor sits behind an interface, so swapping one does not reach into the rest of the application.
The venture behind it
Built inside Application Studio.
Front door
Research use only sits in the bar above the logo and again in the row beneath the hero, because the positioning has to land before anything is sold. Featured products can be named here, but never priced.
Catalog
Everything past this point sits behind an account. Filters run across peptides, blends, research compounds, and lab supplies, and a lot with published analysis carries a COA badge on the card. The gate is enforced twice: once in routing, once by row level security in the database.
Product
Quantity pricing is set per product rather than across the cart, so tiers never combine between items. The whole ladder is shown up front, along with how many more units unlock the next step down.
Cart
The same tier logic carries through to the summary, with savings itemized and shipping held separate from the total. Checkout is built, but payment stays dark until the processor is approved.
Batch documentation
Every lot has a permanent address of its own. A certificate of analysis is versioned against it, so a superseded report never breaks the QR code already printed on a vial, and the record it replaced stays visible underneath.