Built for researchers who just want their experiments to run
Pigeon Softworks exists to make it easier for researchers to move from jsPsych experiment code to a hosted, previewed and participant-ready study without building their own deployment pipeline.
The gap between writing an experiment and running it online is large
In lab-based research, that gap is smaller. You can write code, run it on a local machine, and have participants use it in the same place. Online research has more moving parts, which can make it harder to get from experiment code to real participants.
Pigeon Softworks exists to reduce that gap. It provides the surrounding infrastructure that helps experiments move from local code to real participants with fewer moving parts.
- Upload the files that make up your experiment.
- Preview the study in a controlled runtime environment.
- Share a hosted link with participants.
- Collect structured data without hand-rolling a deployment stack.
Pigeon is designed around behavioural research workflows, not generic website hosting.
The platform comes from first-hand experience writing experiments, debugging deployments, and trying to make online studies reliable.
The goal is to make previewing, deploying and collecting data feel like part of the research process rather than a separate engineering project.
Why Pigeon?
Pigeons have a long association with message-carrying and reliable delivery, which felt fitting for a tool designed to carry experiments from local code to real participants.
It is also a small nod to behavioural science, including the history of operant conditioning research associated with B. F. Skinner. For a platform focused on behavioural experiments, it felt like the right kind of homage.
The bird in the Pigeon Softworks logo is a crested pigeon (Ocyphaps lophotes), a native Australian bird. It is a small easter egg that reflects the platform's Australian origin and its connection to local research.
Built by a behavioural researcher
Pigeon Softworks is developed by Dr. Patrick Cooper, an Australian cognitive neuroscientist and behavioural scientist with experience designing, building, and running online experiments across academic and applied research environments.
The platform grew from repeated friction between writing experiments and reliably deploying them online — especially for researchers who are comfortable working with experimental code, but do not want to maintain custom hosting infrastructure.
Pigeon is intended to make that process simpler and easier to manage without pulling researchers away from the tools and workflows they already use.
Currently shaped with early adopters
Pigeon Softworks is in an early adopter phase. Feedback from researchers using real experiments will help decide what matters most before the platform grows further.