projects
from childhood newspaper businesses to fullstack platforms — things i've built along the way.
featured
my biggest project. rebuilt an entire community platform from a static astro site into a full-featured next.js + appwrite app capable of handling ~12,000 users. includes notes system, blog, admin tools, support tickets, error tracking, and analytics.
built with daniel for the gems cambridge cup of '25. introduces people and communities to the uae (demo data all over btw but mvp)
an ai study tool for students around the world. built to make use of the openai api after signing up in december 2022 and getting $18 in free credit. grew to over 510 users in 6 months. my first project where i dealt with real user feedback, scaling, and customer support. learned a lot about how people use apps in ways you never anticipated.
other projects
unofficial znotes client i built as a side project while working there. a way to browse and read study notes with a cleaner interface.
attempted to build a fullstack app for generating bank reconciliation statements with agentic ai during my internship at datamation. next.js frontend with pocketbase backend and multiple ai models. didn't ship after 5 months — the project taught me painful lessons about scope creep and overplanning.
raspberry pi (2.4ghz, 16gb ram) running ubuntu with openvpn, planning to run appwrite. previously ran a mini pc (4.9ghz, 32gb ddr5, 1tb ssd) with plex, jellyfin, openvpn access server, and xmr mining on spare cpu cores. replaced and refunded the mini pc after reliability issues.
the site you're looking at. next.js with appwrite backend, live portfolio tracker with cron-based price fetching, strava integration, github activity feed, and clash royale stats. built to actually represent who i am.
the early experiments
before i knew how to code — the projects that got me here.
my very first project — a physical newspaper business from childhood. i wrote satirical newspapers about teachers in ridiculous scenarios, created my own currency for purchases, and controlled the supply. everyone found it hilarious, including the teachers i was reporting on. later tried to make it digital but the tech wasn't there yet for me.
during covid, i went on a wordpress building spree. over 300 sites, all side projects, using free hosting from infinityfree and profreehost with cpanel. none of them went anywhere, but i learned more about web hosting than most tutorials could teach.
discovered freenom around 2017 but couldn't get it working until 2020. registered over 70 .tk domains and linked them to free hosting providers. freenom is gone now (meta lawsuit), but it was a great run — taught me about domains, DNS, and the internet's plumbing.
found wix from a youtube ad and built my first real website. later wanted more than just something viewable — wanted digital currency and online newspapers — but these builders couldn't do what i needed. it pushed me toward learning actual code.