A watershed for the stuff in your community
Most of what you need to own once a year, somebody nearby already owns. Circulate is the layer that makes their stuff searchable, requestable, and trackable, without the awkwardness of strangers or the noise of a group chat.
Borrow
what you need.
Drills, ladders, mixers.
Lend
what's asleep.
Closets, garages, lofts.
Pass on
what's grown out.
Cribs, books, bikes.
How it works
The current's already moving in your community. Circulate just makes it visible, and quicker to step into than borrowing the ladder ever was.
Photograph the things in your closet. AI fills in the title, the description, the category. You confirm.
(Even that camp stove from 2019 counts.)
Pick the trusted groups it belongs to: friends, parents, building, tool library. Lend, rent, sell, or gift. Your terms, per circle.
(Same drill: lend to friends, rent to the library.)
One search across every circle you're in. Or post an Ask, and let the inventory you need come to you.
(Send it out and see who comes back.)
The two-sided loop
Circulate is built around both halves. Inventory finds you when you're looking; demand finds you when you have something to share. The same trust layer carries both directions.
The holder
"I have stuff."List it once. Choose who can see it. The same drill is Lend in your friend group, Rent in the building's tool library, Sell in your gift-economy circle.
The needer
"I need stuff."Post an Ask. It goes out to your circles, dedupes across them, and comes back with offers. Sometimes from people you haven't met yet, but always inside your circles of trust.
"Camping gear for next weekend?"
Modes: borrow, rent · Maple Street + Bayview + Capitol Parents
3 offers in
The inventory already exists
What if it were searchable? What if borrowing it felt as easy as buying a new one?
DeWalt drill
Used twice last spring.
Jogging stroller
She's eight now.
Tandem kayak
Garage rafters since 2022.
Stand mixer
Twice a year, holiday cookies.
16-ft extension ladder
Always borrowed from someone.
4-person tent
Dry, footprint included.
Book club box
Five novels, passed in turn.
Lawn mower
Sharing one with two units.
"We spent $800 on a crib she slept in for 14 months. The neighbor across the hall had a spare in a closet the entire time."
Why a new thing
Facebook Marketplace
Search drops results. Alerts ghost you. Trust = none.
Real keyword + meaning search. Shareable filters. A circle-vouched seller signal.
Buy Nothing groups
Chronologically lossy. The post that matched is six months gone.
Persistent inventory. Asks live until they're answered or expire.
Group chats
"I know someone has a pressure washer. I forget who."
One search across every circle you're in. Not buried in chat history.
Spreadsheets
Tool libraries running on Google Sheets. 200 rows of dread.
Member self-service. Condition photos. Maintenance memory. No more printouts.
Beyond friend groups
Some communities outgrow Google Sheets. Tool libraries, parent co-ops, and makerspaces are running on the same primitives Circulate already speaks: items, members, loans, condition.
One library adds 100–500 items to the network. They anchor regional density. The flywheel runs in both directions.
"Our 3D printer booking is a shared Google Calendar. It's chaos. We need something between a spreadsheet and enterprise library software."
A makerspace coordinator who shall remain nameless
Shelves of drills, sanders, joiners. Members borrowing weekly. Replace the spreadsheet with member self-service, condition photos, maintenance schedules, and tipping when it's earned.
100–500
items per library
Tight-knit groups, expensive things with 14-month lifecycles. The crib, the stroller, the high chair, passed forward.
$3.2k
saved per family/yr
3D printers, kilns, pottery wheels, recording booths. Equipment that doesn't leave a building still needs scheduling, usage logs, maintenance memory.
30+ hr
saved per machine/yr
The current's already moving
Mobile's coming. Start on the web today.