Building Roping Finder

Roping Finder is a small web app I built to solve a real problem in the team roping world: finding partners, events, and connections in a space that mostly still runs on Facebook posts, text threads, and word of mouth.

This post is a short overview of why I built it, what it does, and how it’s put together.

The problem

If you rope, you’ve probably dealt with this:

• You’re looking for a partner at a specific level.

• You’re traveling and want to find a local roping or jackpot.

• You don’t want to spam Facebook groups or DM strangers.

There wasn’t a clean, structured place for this. Everything was scattered, temporary, or private. So I built something simple and purpose-built instead.

What Roping Finder does

At its core, Roping Finder lets users:

• Create a profile with their roping details (heading/heeling, number, location, etc.).

• Find potential partners based on filters.

• See upcoming ropings and events.

• Connect without exposing personal info publicly.

The goal is not to replace the community, but to give it a tool that actually fits how people use it.

How it’s built

The app is built with the same stack I use for most of my platform projects:

• Frontend: Next.js (App Router), Tailwind CSS, Framer Motion

• Backend: PostgreSQL + Drizzle ORM

• Auth: NextAuth and custom role handling

• Payments: Stripe subscriptions

• Uploads: Cloudinary for profile images

• Hosting: Vercel

It’s designed as a small, focused system. No page builders, no generic CMS, no heavy abstractions.

What I learned

A few things stood out while building this:

• Niche tools work better than generic ones.

• Clear constraints make product decisions easier.

• Owning the full system (frontend, backend, data, billing) keeps things simpler long-term.

Most of the work wasn’t technical. It was figuring out what not to build.

Where it’s going

Right now the focus is on:

• Improving search and filtering.

• Making onboarding simpler for new users.

• Adding better event discovery and reminders.

Nothing fancy. Just making it more useful over time.

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If you’re interested in how this kind of system is built or want something similar for your own niche, feel free to reach out