ORIGINAL WORK / BEHIND THE SCENES
WHAT IS GILLBY LABS?
Gillby Labs is our research and development studio for life on the water. We bring public data together, build new intelligence around it, and test how it can help people, apps and AI agents make better use of the coast.
Weather, tides, buoys, satellite products, water quality and coastal records—brought into one connected foundation.
Archive snapshot · October 19, 2026. Counts include station-specific feeds and distinct data products, rather than separate agencies. Coverage and freshness vary.
Open-source MCP and Water skill tooling, developer documentation, and public API access within published limits. A starting point for builders, schools, researchers and hobbyists.
Explore the developer tools ↗Get the open-source MCP tooling ↗Our proprietary scoring, forecast enrichment, vessel-aware estimates and connected experiences: choppiness and ride outlooks, personalized fuel and clearance tools, and the research behind them.
See our original intelligence ↗Public source data belongs to its providers. Open-source releases cover the tools we publish under their licenses; our hosted service, proprietary models and internal research remain separate. Availability and terms vary by tool.
OBSERVE / INTERPRET / PERSONALIZE / CONNECT
GILLBY LABS / ORIGINAL RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT
Public water data. Our own scores and vessel-aware tools. One connected layer for people, apps and AI agents. Explore the work behind Gillby.
Our Contender 21 research platform brings fuel, depth, load distribution and motion into the same study. These are recorded results from our internal lab.
FROM THE CAPTURED WAVE TEST
ORIGINAL INTELLIGENCE / SELECTED WORK
Choppiness, ride outlooks and activity scores.
DERIVED INTELLIGENCEFuel estimates, tide-aware clearance and depth context.
BETA / DEVELOPMENT196 vessel profiles across 57 makes. Custom inputs.
PERSONAL CONTEXTEvery source is a starting point.
We build the layer above it.
We gather and organize weather forecasts, buoy observations, tides, currents, satellite imagery, charts, river gauges and coastal records. Separate sources become a cleaner, connected view—with their origins and timestamps retained.
We develop derived scores, estimates and fields that the source feeds don’t deliver as one product: choppiness, boat-specific ride outlooks, activity ratings, forecast confidence and more. That growing layer of enriched data is part of our original work.
A forecast means something different on a different boat. Our library contains 196 sourced boat and watercraft profiles across 57 makes, with custom vessel input when yours needs a different setup. Vessel measurements, activity preferences and confirmed inputs make the tools more personal.
We expose available information through one API and MCP connection so apps and AI agents can discover places, compare conditions and help plan trips. Authorized agents can work with personal boats, saved places and trips, with permissions kept in the user’s control.
AN OPEN FOUNDATION FOR OTHERS TO BUILD ON
We’ve released open-source MCP and skill tooling so other builders, schools, researchers and hobbyists can connect Gillby to their own ideas. Public API access, developer downloads and documented tools make that foundation easier to use.
The open-source tools sit alongside our hosted data service and original intelligence layer. Public source data stays attributed to its providers; access and reuse follow the applicable licenses and service terms.
THE DATA WE CREATE ON TOP
Selected scoring and enrichment work in our codebase. Availability varies by location, activity and data coverage; experimental outputs are identified as such.
A dedicated chop index and descriptive water-state outlook, alongside the wind and wave readings.
A vessel-aware interpretation of how the same conditions may feel aboard different kinds of boats.
Distinct outlooks for boating, sailing, paddling, swimming, diving, inshore and offshore fishing, surfing, SUP surf and inlet conditions.
Our own surf preference indices and session summaries. These remain experimental, with break-level quality still under study.
Kitesurf planning that can reflect a rider’s wind range, equipment profile and launch context.
Derived visibility indices, tide-phase context and inlet outlooks that make local conditions easier to interpret.
Work on observation-informed near-term forecasts, localized calibration, and derived rain and thunder probability fields.
Forecast uncertainty ranges, model agreement, wave peaks, changing sea-state timing and useful activity windows.
INFORMATION THAT CAN JOIN A WORKFLOW
A person might open the map. An app might request a forecast. An agent might compare departure windows for your authorized boat, check a proposed route and help organize a trip. We’re building the same connected information layer to support each of those experiences.
Sources, freshness and missing information travel with the result. Personal actions require authorization. Agent access to data is available independently of our future boat-operation research.
Explore the connections ↗BRINGING THE WORK TO THE WATER
Working features, beta tools and development experiments that turn our research into practical experiences.
Measured speed over ground and GPS course, with explicit handling of weak signals, gaps and recovery.
Bridge-height estimates with water-level context, plus comparisons to the vessel measurements you supply.
Fuel-use estimates informed by supported vessel and engine setups, confirmed horsepower, loaded weight and usable speed inputs. Estimated usage stays distinct from a tank sensor.
Chart depth, available tide information and position quality brought into a clearer estimate. Water depth and clearance beneath a loaded, moving boat remain distinct.
Planning tools that bring measured draft, clearance allowances, departure timing and reported restrictions into the trip.
Recorded studies of wind, chop, fuel, cargo, balance, pitch and roll, connected to our development app for repeatable experiments.
WORKING APPS / ACTIVE BETA TESTING
iPad. iPhone. Apple Watch. Android. Working apps, in active beta testing.
Working beta builds. Public releases coming soon.
One development campaign. Model behavior checks; real-boat calibration is ongoing.
RESEARCH DIRECTIONS / PLANNED EXPLORATION
We plan to keep experimenting wherever technology can make boating and coastal life more informed and connected.
Explore how software could support more of the work at the helm, with operator oversight and staged real-world testing.
Investigate connections with marine electronics, including systems such as Garmin and Simrad, where supported interfaces and vendor requirements allow.
Explore whether the observations and historical data we’re accumulating can help us develop useful storm, hurricane and local-impact forecasting tools.
Study how high tides, observed water levels, weather and coastal geography could inform more useful local flooding outlooks, including king-tide events.
These are research ambitions, with development and validation still ahead. Storm and flood guidance continues to come from official forecasting and emergency-management agencies.
A growing intelligence layer.
A practical purpose.