Gang Sheet Lab product builder interface
Back to portfolio

Gang Sheet Lab: Revolutionizing Print-on-Demand

An intelligent auto-layout engine with real-time preview—built for Shopify print shops shipping gang sheets at scale.

500+

Active merchants

4.8★

App Store rating

10k+

Orders processed

View live app
Gang Sheet Lab product builder interface

The challenge

Manual gang sheets were slowing production

Print shops struggled with manual gang sheet creation, wasting hours on layout design for every order batch.

  • Time-consuming manual layout in design tools
  • Error-prone spacing and bleed settings
  • No automation from Shopify orders to print files

Our solution

Approach & timeline

We built an intelligent auto-layout engine with real-time preview, variant-aware pricing, and one-click print exports tied to Shopify orders.

6 weeks from concept to App Store launch

Why MERN Stack

MongoDB stores complex layout JSON and shop sessions; Express handles webhooks and file queues; React powers the embedded builder UI.

Why Remix.js

Remix loaders keep Shopify session auth on the server, stream fast embedded admin routes, and colocate actions for saves and exports.

API architecture

Shopify Admin API syncs products and orders; a dedicated file-generation worker produces PNG/PDF/SVG exports asynchronously via webhooks.

Product

Features showcase

Custom product builder canvas

Custom product builder

Merchants configure sheet sizes, margins, and upload zones. Customers drag artwork into cells with live bleed and safe-area guides.

  • Variant-linked pricing rules
  • Mobile-friendly storefront widget
  • Artwork validation before checkout
Auto-layout preview

Automatic nesting algorithm

Our nesting engine packs multiple customer designs onto a single gang sheet, maximizing material usage while respecting rotation and spacing rules.

  • Bin-packing with collision detection
  • Configurable gutter and bleed
  • Preview before commit
Gang sheet — optimized nesting

Designs rotate and pack to minimize waste while respecting bleed zones.

Print file export formats

Print file export

Production teams receive print-ready assets attached to orders—no manual export from design software.

  • PNG 300 DPI
  • PDF with crop marks
  • SVG for laser workflows
Order management in Shopify admin

Order management integration

Orders/create webhooks trigger layout regeneration; staff see status, reprints, and file history inside Shopify Admin.

  • Webhook idempotency keys
  • Order metafields for file URLs
  • Bulk re-export for revisions

Engineering

Technical architecture

Embedded Remix app, Node API, MongoDB, Shopify layer, and an isolated file-generation service for heavy exports.

Webhook — order triggers export
typescript
export async function handleOrderCreate(payload: OrderPayload) {
  const layout = await LayoutService.findByLineItems(payload.line_items);
  if (!layout) return;

  await exportQueue.add("generate-gang-sheet", {
    shopId: payload.shop_id,
    orderId: payload.id,
    layoutId: layout.id,
    format: ["png", "pdf"],
    dpi: 300,
  });
}
Remix action — save builder state
typescript
export const action = async ({ request }: ActionFunctionArgs) => {
  const { admin, session } = await authenticate.admin(request);
  const form = await request.formData();
  const cells = JSON.parse(String(form.get("cells")));

  await LayoutRepository.upsert(session.shop, {
    cells,
    sheetSize: form.get("sheetSize"),
    updatedAt: new Date(),
  });

  return json({ ok: true });
};

Impact

Results

Layout time per order

2 hours5 minutes

Manual errors

FrequentRare

Merchant efficiency

Baseline+95%
  • Reduced layout time from 2 hours to 5 minutes
  • Increased merchant efficiency by 95%
  • 10k+ gang sheets generated without designer handoff

“Gang Sheet Lab transformed how we handle custom print orders—builders love it and our production team finally gets clean files every time.”

Shopify Merchant — Print-on-demand store owner

Built with

Tech stack used

Remix.js

Embedded Shopify app routing and server actions

React

Interactive canvas and real-time preview

Node.js

Webhooks, queues, and file APIs

MongoDB

Flexible layout documents per shop

Shopify API

Products, orders, and metafields

Sharp / PDFKit

High-DPI print asset generation

Need a similar solution? Let's build it together

We design and ship Shopify apps, AI features, and automation systems like Gang Sheet Lab—from idea to App Store.

Direct answer

An intelligent auto-layout engine with real-time preview—built for Shopify print shops shipping gang sheets at scale.

Sources & references

  1. Gang Sheet Lab case study
  2. Gang Sheet Lab
  3. CodeQubex — Official website
  4. CodeQubex on LinkedIn
  5. CodeQubex on GitHub