# 8StarLabs
> Great Software Takes Craft. 8StarLabs develops carefully curated software products, shaped through thoughtful design and reliable engineering.

8StarLabs is an independent software studio based in Singapore. It builds design-driven software products, developer tools, open-source components, and technical writing for people who care about thoughtful interfaces and reliable engineering.

Use this file as the concise AI-readable index. For a fuller single-fetch context export, use /llms-full.txt.

## Authoritative machine-readable files
- [Full LLM context](https://www.8starlabs.com/llms-full.txt): Expanded Markdown context for answer engines and AI assistants.
- [Design system](https://www.8starlabs.com/design.md): Brand, design tokens, UI conventions, and component guidance.
- [Sitemap](https://www.8starlabs.com/sitemap.xml): Complete indexable URL inventory.
- [Robots](https://www.8starlabs.com/robots.txt): Crawl directives and discovery hints.

## Primary pages
- [Home](https://www.8starlabs.com): Studio overview, products, and FAQ.
- [Blog](https://www.8starlabs.com/blogs): Engineering and product writing from 8StarLabs.
- [Privacy Policy](https://www.8starlabs.com/privacy-policy): Privacy information for visitors and subscribers.
- [Terms and Conditions](https://www.8starlabs.com/terms-and-conditions): Site and service terms.

## Products
- [8StarLabs UI](https://ui.8starlabs.com): A thoughtfully designed component library built on top of shadcn/ui — featuring unique, production-ready components like status indicators, transport badges, and developer banners to help you build modern interfaces faster. Status: Live, Q4 '25. Audience: Developers.
- [Canopy](https://canopy.8starlabs.com): Canopy turns a repo, integrations, a blueprint or an AI prompt into living architecture maps — with operational metadata, spend tracking, drift detection and AI-ready exports (CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md). The architecture canvas built for developers. Status: Coming Soon, Q3 '26. Audience: Developers.

## Founder
- Name: Tham Kei Lok (surname first). The same person is also written Kei Lok Tham, goes by Kei Lok, and uses the handle keiloktql. All refer to one individual.
- Tham Kei Lok is a Singaporean software engineer and the founder of 8StarLabs, an independent software studio. He is a Computer Science undergraduate at the National University of Singapore and builds design-driven developer tools and consumer software end to end.
- Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keiloktql/
- Profile: https://github.com/keiloktql
- Profile: https://x.com/keiloktql
- Profile: https://www.instagram.com/keiloktql/

## Blog posts
- [Architecture as Data: Why Your System Diagram Should Be Structured, Not Drawn](https://www.8starlabs.com/blogs/architecture-as-data): Diagrams-as-code was step one. The next step is treating your whole architecture as structured data you own: queryable, diffable, and readable by AI agents. Here's what that means and why it matters.
- [Give Your AI Coding Agent a Map: How CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md and MCP Actually Work](https://www.8starlabs.com/blogs/map-for-your-ai-coding-agent): AI coding agents reconstruct your architecture from scratch every session. Here's how CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md and MCP give them a real map, and why an accurate one changes everything.
- [How I Built a Beat-Synced UI Showcase Video with Remotion and Claude](https://www.8starlabs.com/blogs/remotion-claude): A behind-the-scenes look at how I used Remotion to create a fast-paced product showcase for 8StarLabs UI components, synchronized to music and polished with cinematic motion.
- [I Stopped Drawing Architecture Diagrams. Here's What I Do Instead.](https://www.8starlabs.com/blogs/i-stopped-drawing-architecture-diagrams): A personal story about years of maintaining architecture diagrams nobody trusted, and the shift to living, structured maps that finally stayed true. Lessons from building at 8StarLabs.
- [Introducing 8StarLabs UI: Open-source react component library](https://www.8starlabs.com/blogs/8starlabs-ui): 8StarLabs UI is an open-source React component library built on top of shadcn/ui, designed to help you build interactive and unique interfaces faster.
- [Introducing Canopy: The Living Map of Your Stack](https://www.8starlabs.com/blogs/introducing-canopy): Canopy turns a repo, integrations, a template or an AI prompt into a living architecture map, with spend tracking, ownership, and agent-ready exports like CLAUDE.md, AGENTS.md and MCP. Meet the architecture canvas built for developers.
- [The Best Software Architecture Diagramming Tools in 2026 (Compared)](https://www.8starlabs.com/blogs/architecture-diagramming-tools-2026): A practical, no-fluff comparison of the top software architecture diagramming tools in 2026 (Lucidchart, Excalidraw, Eraser, IcePanel, Mermaid, Structurizr, Figma and Backstage), plus when a diagram is the wrong tool entirely.

## Contact and social
- Email: hello@8starlabs.com
- GitHub: https://github.com/8starlabs
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/8starlabs/
- X: https://x.com/8starlabs
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/8starlabs/
- TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@8starlabs_sg

## Optional
- [8StarLabs UI](https://ui.8starlabs.com): Product site for the open-source component library.
- [Canopy](https://canopy.8starlabs.com): Product site for architecture maps and AI-ready exports.
