Mike Kawasaki

Software Engineer in San Diego

Hi, I’m Mike.

A software engineer specialized in backend development and DevOps.

I enjoy programming, home labbing, and building things with all kinds of technology. Love open source, automation and virtualization.

I’m eager to be part of shaping the future of the internet.

I studied Machine Learning, Deep Learning and Quantum Computing in college, then started working as a full stack software engineer.

Spent several years in management and technical leadership, scaling teams and technology through IPO.

My current focuses are:

1. LLM (AI) Research and Development: which I’ve reignited my passion for in early 2025, been focusing on its research and development since then.

2. Rust Language: As LLMs fundamentally reshape software development, I started viewing Rust (or other models with similar deterministic verification capabilities) as the essential deterministic verifier—providing the strict compiler feedback loop that allows AI agents to autonomously self-correct and produce mathematically rigorous code.

Outside of coding, I spend my alone time on 3d printing, digital drawing, animation, and video editing. I love comedy, Pokemon, Disney, Mahjong, manga, anime, and art.

mike.r.kawasaki@gmail.com

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Gears / Tools

Computer

• Macbook M4 Max
  • 128GB RAM
  • 16‑Core CPU
  • 40‑Core GPU

Home Lab

• Proxmox VE on Beelink S12 Pro
• ZBT-2 (OpenThread Border Router for Home Assistant)

Shell, Terminal

• Wezterm
  • Wezterm Setup
• Ghostty (Retired)
• Tmux
• Zsh

IDE

• main
  • VS Code
  • Antigravity
• sub
  • RustRover (for Rust)
  • CLion (for C++)
  • IntelliJ (for Kotlin)
  • Cursor

AI Coding Tools

• Claude Code
• Antigravity
• Z.AI GLM
• Minimax AI
• QwenCoder
• LiteLLM, Claude Code Router (Claude Code Proxy)
• MLX
• Ollama
• LM Studio
• Cursor
• Kilo Code (Retired)

General Development Tools

• Database Management
  • TablePlus
• API Client
  • Requestly
  • Postman (Retired)

Self-Hosted Tools

• Home Automation
  • Home Assistant
• AI Assistant
  • Clawdbot
• General Automation
  • n8n
• S3 Compatible Object Storage
  • MinIO (Looking for an alternative. SeaweedFS, RustFS?)
• Database Management / Headless CMS
  • Directus
• Monitoring
  • Uptime Kuma

Browser

• Zen Browser (Main)
• Google Chrome (Secondary, mainly for development)

Productivity

• Knowledge Management & Research
  • Obsidian (Main since 2021. Absolutely love it. Have built a lot of personal plugins for it)
  • Zotero
  • Notion (Main from 2018 to 2021, then occasional use since then)
• Automation
  • Raycast
  • Keyboard Maestro
  • Elgato Stream Deck
  • n8n (self-hosted)
• Diagramming
  • Diagram9 (I built this tool)
  • D2 Playground
  • Mermaid Live Editor
• Whiteboarding
  • Miro
  • Excalidraw
  • FigJam

Creative

• Davinci Resolve (Video Editing, Animation)
• Clip Studio Paint (Digital Drawing)
• Procreate (Digital Drawing)
• krita
• ComfyUI
• Canva
• Affinity
• Blender (3D Modeling)
• Fusion 360 (3D Modeling)
• Bambu Studio (3D Printing)