About CardTechie
🚀 Making Trading Card Data Work Better
I'm Josh Harrison, and I'm building the infrastructure that trading card applications need to thrive. After 20+ years as a software engineer and a lifetime as a collector, I'm solving the data problems that have held back innovation in our industry.
What I'm Building:
- Trading Card API - Comprehensive data for cards, sets, players, and teams with enterprise-grade reliability
- Card Almanac (launching early 2025) - The digital equivalent of traditional sports almanacs, but searchable and always current
- Open Checklist Project (in development) - Community-driven, standardized card data that anyone can use and contribute to
🎯 The Problem I'm Solving
Every trading card app, website, or tool faces the same challenge: getting clean, consistent data about cards, sets, and players. Most developers either build incomplete databases from scratch or scrape unreliable sources. Card shops struggle with inventory systems that don't understand the complexity of variations, parallels, and set relationships.
I'm building the data infrastructure layer that lets everyone focus on what they do best instead of rebuilding the same foundational problems.
❤️ Why I Care
I spent my childhood sorting cards manually, driving to card shops, and organizing everything by hand. When I became a software engineer in college, I saw the potential for technology to transform how we collect, trade, and organize cards. I started CardTechie in 2007 but life got in the way.
Four years ago, I decided it was time to actually build what I'd always envisioned. The trading card industry is exploding with innovation, but it's still held back by fragmented, inconsistent data. Having been both a collector who understands the pain points and an engineer who can solve them, I'm uniquely positioned to bridge that gap.
👥 Who I Help
Developers & Companies building trading card applications get reliable APIs and comprehensive data so they can focus on user experience instead of data management.
Collectors & Enthusiasts get better tools and more accurate information through applications built on solid data foundations.
The Industry gets standardized data formats and open-source tools that raise the bar for everyone.
🔮 What's Next
My goal is to become the foundational data layer for the trading card industry - the infrastructure that powers the next generation of collecting tools, marketplace innovations, and community platforms.
If you're building something in the trading card space, I'd love to help. If you're a collector who sees opportunities for better tools, I want to hear from you.
Connect with me: