Hands-on software architect and technical lead. I do my best work on small, fast-moving teams where the lead still ships.

I make complicated systems tell the truth about how they work. Before I change one, I walk the land: find the real constraint, build the smallest probe that can prove or falsify the story, complete the circuit, and leave evidence for the people who will own it.

Steppe Integrations · Writing · LinkedIn

CAD automation → interactive simulation → factory operations → resource scheduling → identity and platform systems → local AI and agent infrastructure

The tools have changed. The questions have not: where is the real constraint, what does the system actually know, and what will let the next person run it?

• vulkancliff — The llama.cpp Vulkan eight-thread ceiling: isolated, moved by dose-response, and packaged with the patch, data, and harnesses.
• denning — Preregistered local-inference experiments on consumer GPUs, including admission control, cache restoration, and corrected results.
• commandcenter — An observable, auditable engineering system for coordinating AI builders and retaining the evidence behind each run.
• baseline — A community-systems laboratory: living-world observation, stewardship tools, and software built around the people who operate it.
• comfy-quest — A quest product vertical with explicit contracts, rehearsal, diagnostics, and human-operable release paths.
• indexcard — A small native Windows reading aid that reduces everything on screen except the line that needs attention.

Through Steppe Integrations, I help small teams find the real constraint in AI work that has already started, get it through production, and leave the people who own it with evidence they can use.

Open to selected hands-on engagements and the right principal or staff-level role where the lead still ships. Contact: derek@steppeintegrations.com.