Columbia Software Solutions
Columbia students
building software.

Building free software for NYC nonprofits, small businesses, and startups.

npm run build:solution

What we do.

01

Work with real companies

You get paired directly with a company that needs software built. They have a real problem and you build the solution with a team.

02

Ship something real

Write code that runs in production, not just in a class repo. Every project ends with a deployed product that real users depend on — and something concrete you can show in interviews.

03

Lead a team

Step up and own a project from start to finish. Manage the client relationship, make technical calls, run a small team. Reach out if you are interested.

ls ./projects

Projects.

01

Refettorio Harlem

WhatsApp logging bot and offline-capable tablet check-in app for a Harlem community kitchen. Replaces manual paper tracking with structured data pipelines writing to a shared Google Sheets backend.

Bot: Node.js / Express service handling Twilio webhooks, parsing operational data (food rescue, meals served, demographics) and writing to four Sheets tabs. Tablet: React SPA with IndexedDB offline queue, daily-resetting guest ID counters, and sub-15-second check-in flow. Deployed on Railway.

Stack: Node.js, Express, Twilio API, React, Google Sheets API, IndexedDB, Railway.

Featured in The New York Times.

Waitlist open for Fall 2026.

We pair small teams of Columbia engineers with real clients who need software built. You ship a real product in 1-2 months.

Join CSS
Get in touch

Let's talk.

Questions, want to join, or just curious what we're about. Reach out.

Who's behind this

Ethan Zhang — ez2450@columbia.edu

Kushaan Vardhan — krv2121@columbia.edu

Follow along

@columbiasoftwaresolutions

Project updates, team behind-the-scenes, and shipped builds.