~/about
I build tools for the people who build things.
Developer experience, software engineering, open source, and the useful rabbit holes between them.
Christian Nachtigall — I work on software where a clearer interface, a dependable workflow, or a well-placed bit of automation makes the next person's day less eventful.
01 / where the threads meet
Operations taught me where software gets difficult.
Operating real systems exposed the friction. Building software gave me a way to remove some of it. Independent products and developer tools brought those perspectives together over time.
- 01
Operations and infrastructure
Permissions, deployments, handovers, repetitive work, and failures with real consequences.
- 02
Independent software engineering
Products, APIs, native applications, local-first software, and data-heavy interfaces built alongside formal roles.
- 03
Open source and developer tooling
CLIs, TUIs, agent tooling, automation, and interfaces that make system state easier to understand and act on.
02 / engineering experience
Software engineering runs through the work before and beyond job titles.
The portfolio documents hands-on work across native Linux tooling, web products and APIs, desktop and terminal applications, AI-assisted workflows, local-first knowledge systems, and geospatial data. This is context for the work, not a second project index.
- 01
- 02
Products, APIs, and durable application state
Built product software around web applications, APIs, owned persistence, offline-safe knowledge, and AI or LLM integration boundaries.
- 03
Developer workflows, automation, and inspectable systems
Built security-conscious terminal tooling and source-aware data applications where users need to see state, provenance, and the next viable action.
03 / working principles
How I tend to approach a problem.
- 01
Friction is information
Repeated workarounds, unclear errors, and fragile handoffs show where a tool is failing its user.
- 02
Tools should explain themselves
A useful interface exposes state, constraints, and the next viable action instead of making people reverse-engineer them.
- 03
Build for the operator
Software has to survive deployment, permissions, outages, maintenance, and the person who inherits it later.
- 04
Automate the boring parts
Automation earns its place when it removes drudgery while keeping the underlying system inspectable and reversible.
04 / now
Reducing the distance between intent and reliable software.
Developer tooling, local-first software, safer interfaces, and open infrastructure can all reduce operational uncertainty. The projects below approach that from different directions: making software easier to build, understand, and operate.
05 / employment
The professional path, in brief.
Employment is one part of the story. The engineering work began before these roles; they added the operational perspective that informs the software and tooling above.
2026
Software Engineer
herzkarten.de
Built a REST API in PHP for a digital greeting card platform and started a Flutter mobile client.
- Shipped a working PHP REST API within the first weeks on the project.
PHP · Flutter · Linux · JetBrains
2023
IT Administrator
PromoData GmbH
Endpoint management, support, and server operations for a mid-size company. Guided the team through tooling migrations and built runbooks for operational continuity.
- Migrated Jira to Atlassian Cloud with redefined roles and permissions.
- Automated patching and monitoring for Windows and Linux fleets.
- Cross-department support with documented runbooks and handovers.
Windows Server · Linux · Atlassian · PowerShell · Intune
2022
Administrative Specialist
Unistaff GmbH
06 / technical context
Tools I work across.
The groups come from the projects and operational work shown here.
Build
Go · Rust · WebAssembly · Svelte · Svelte 5 · SvelteKit 2 · TypeScript · PHP · Flutter
Systems
Linux · Wayland · Docker · Kubernetes · Windows Server · PowerShell · Intune
DevEx / tooling
TUI · LSP · MCP · ratatui · Tauri · ONNX Runtime Web · Mistral API · Ollama · OpenRouter · Atlassian
Data / platform
PostgreSQL · SQLite · IndexedDB · Python · MapLibre GL JS · Static JSON · Zod · MiniSearch
Also in the mix
GTK4 · JetBrains · LLM Routing · Layer Shell · Lua · PWA · Tailwind CSS · Vanilla JavaScript
07 / outside engineering
A little context beyond the terminal.
Medieval markets and living history on weekends. Linux everywhere else. If a thing can be scripted, it will be.
08 / contact
Working on a tool that asks too much of its users?
If you are reducing operational friction, building open-source infrastructure, or making a complicated system easier to inspect, I am happy to compare notes.