About Aamnah

Designer developer combo. These days i mostly work on Linux, self-hosting, and AI agents that run on my own hardware.

What i'm into these days

  • sandboxing AI coding agents in microVMs

    Coding agents run in microVMs on my machine and only see the folders i mount for them. Running OpenGL apps and Claude Code in a microsandbox VM

  • a homelab: Proxmox, ZFS and Tailscale

    Virtual machines on Proxmox, encrypted ZFS storage, and Tailscale so my own devices can reach it from anywhere. Connecting to Ubuntu from macOS over Tailscale

  • running AI models locally, open-weight only

    Whisper for dictation and gemma models served with llama.cpp, all on my own GPU. Running gemma models locally

  • designing Lasik, a low-glare colour theme

    Quiet punctuation, upright comments instead of italic, and dark, quiet and high-contrast variants, for editors and terminals.

  • building my own hand-wired split keyboard

    No circuit board, a 3D-printed case and ZMK firmware. Not finished yet: the build facts are further down.

  • finishing an engineering degree in ICT

    My thesis is about systems that notice and fix their own faults, with the MAPE-K loop: monitor, analyse, plan and execute, over shared knowledge.

How i work

  • My notes are a record of what i have faced and what i have done: problems i hit, setups i built, things i tested. Not tutorials.
  • I'm the architect, the agent is the builder. Since 2026 some notes are drafted by an AI agent from my plan and reviewed by me, and they say so.
  • Open source and self-hosted first. I want to be able to leave any tool without losing my data.
I don't push pixels or type out every line anymore, the agents write most of the code. The part i enjoy most comes before that: brainstorming ideas, thinking things through, and finding unique solutions to unique problems.

Also

  • have one arts degree in Journalism and Maths
  • getting another engineering degree in Information and Communication Technology
  • fluently speak three languages
  • enjoy writing bash scripts
  • balancing between work, home and dolce far niente. Now that I am living in a nordic country, joutilaisuus is important to me.
  • play the pink panther theme song on ukulele
  • old enough to know what this sound means
Aamnah's desk: three monitors, a ukulele on the wall, sunflowers and a plant

Path so far

  • 2014–2016: PHP, WordPress and OpenCart sites, and the Linux servers they ran on
  • 2017–2020: React, Redux and React Native apps, shipped to the app stores
  • 2021–2022: back to fundamentals: Python and computer science
  • 2023–now: Linux, homelab, networking and AI agents

Current setup

  • Macbook Pro
  • Custom built PC
  • Alif, a hand-wired split keyboard i'm building (Choc v2 switches, 3D-printed case, ZMK firmware)
  • Google Pixel running GrapheneOS
  • OpenCode, Claude Code, and Visual Studio Code; with my own Lasik theme

Alif, my keyboard

Drawing of Alif: two keyboard halves, 21 keys each, with a thumb arc on the inner side. Numbered keys match the build facts.18234567
Drawn from my plate sketch. Pick a number to read about that part.
  1. Alif is the first letter of the Arabic alphabet, fitting for my first keyboard build.
  2. No PCB. Every switch is wired by hand into a grid of rows and columns, with one diode per key so pressing several keys at once doesn't register phantom keys.
  3. Kailh Choc v2 low-profile switches: flatter than regular mechanical switches.
  4. Three Seeed XIAO nRF52840 boards: one in each half, and one as a USB dongle.
  5. Both halves talk to the dongle over Bluetooth. Neither half does the extra work of talking to the computer, so their batteries drain evenly.
  6. ZMK, an open-source firmware made for wireless and split keyboards.
  7. 3D-printed case.
  8. Not finished yet. A photo comes when it is.

Say hi

Write to me about self-hosting, sandboxing agents, homelab gear, keyboards, colour themes, or anything in my notes that helped you (or didn't). Contact me.