Aloha, I'm Lani

Aloha! My name is Lani Akita. I'm a Full Stack Developer from Honolulu, Hawai'i (see: résumé), and I'm pretty passionate about what I do, being dedicated to building (and writing about) stuff for the Internet.

I'm also one of those kids that got raised by the Internet. I've been surfin' the Web since the early 2000s, and became my own Webmaster by the age of 12. While the Net's changed a lot since those days, so have I, as I evolved into the Full-Stack Developer I am today.

Naturally, I'm obsessed with the never ending cascade of new shiny tools and technologies that enables us to redefine what a website can be. Technologies that push beyond the limits of what ought to be possible to run from a web browser, like WebGPU (a huge leap forward from WebGL), or WebAssembly (a technology that brings high-performance, low-level languages to the browser).

Hint: You can subscribe to my blog's web feed to follow along as I dive into my current technological obsession.

const laniAkitaSummary = {
  id: 0o7734,
  role: "Full Stack Developer",
  main_programming_langs: ["TypeScript", "Rust", "Python"],
  main_frameworks: ["Next.js", "SvelteKit"],
  main_ui_libraries: ["React", "Svelte"],
  main_frontend_tools: ["tailwindcss", "Three.js"],
  main_backend_tools: ["Bun", "Node.js", "Drizzle ORM", "Postgres", "SQLite"],
  professional_interests: ["Accessibility", "Scalability", "Reproducibility", "IaC", "WebAssembly", "WebGL", "WebGPU", "NixOS"],
  main_devops_tools: ["SST", "Pulumi", "Podman", "Docker", "K8s"],
  education: [{
    degree: "BSc in Biological Sciences",
    school: "University of California, Santa Barbara",
    timeframe: { from: 2016, to: 2020 }
  }]
};

Fig. 01: Myself summarized as a JS object. The snake_case implies compatibility with a database, perhaps suggesting this object might be inserted into some database's table.

Passion Projects

When I'm not working for someone else, I'm working for myself and the open-source community, sharpening my skillset on a healthy dose of ambitious side-projects. I love exploring the latest tools, learning their secrets, and discovering how (and where) these new technologies fit into my software engineering toolbelt.

rehype-fn-citation-spacer

Released: Jan 18th, 2025

A rehype plugin that makes some space between adjacent in-text footnote citations/references.

TypeScript, Markdown, Rehype, Bun, Valibot

Butterfly Signal

Released: Dec 20th, 2024

A browser extension to help you discover websites on Bluesky/AtProto.

TypeScript, Rust, WebAssembly, Svelte, Chromium Extension API (Manifest V3), AtProto API, Bluesky SDK

Foreground: MDX symbol plus a typescript file plus a cloud database symbol. Background: two-dimensional gradients spanning a distance infinitely far away, that appears to make a floor and a ceiling from the viewers perspective.

A Custom CMS

Released: Oct 17th, 2024

A custom CMS I built, that launched with this website.

TypeScript, React, Bun, Node.js, Drizzle ORM, Turso, MDX, gray-matter, mdx-bundler, plaiceholder

Bot Clicker

Released: May 6th, 2024

Updated: Sep 1st, 2024

A toy-game that briefly lived on the landing page, where you clicked on robots.

Three.js, React Three Fiber, React Three Drei, React Three A11y, Zustand

Screenshot of a simplex noise shader, featuring black and white elements.

Simplex Noise Shader #001

Released: Jul 6th, 2024

Updated: Aug 28th, 2024

A GLSL shader created using simplex noise, and many distance functions.

Three.js, React Three Fiber

Client Works

I used to be a freelance WordPress developer, now I'm a freelance Full Stack Developer. Below are some of the sites I've created for my Clients, that utilize my Full Stack skillset.

High Esoterica

Mar 17th, 2023

Maitais At Sunset

Dec 21st, 2021

Dev for Hire

I wield an expansive (and ever expanding) knowledge base and skillset, as I wear the many hats required to work within the whole enchilada of modern Web Development. From Front-end to Back-end to even Systems Design, I can do it all.

My specialty is in Front-end Development (I am an Artist, after all), however I'm no stranger to writing back-end applications and using cutting-edge systems programing languages like Rust to do it.

contact me

Service	Description
Developer Consulting	I offer my analytical-skills as a trained Biologist, and my years spent behind the command line and text-editor, to help your business grow.
Front-end Development	My Front-end skillset can be used to build elegant, accesible, responsive, user interfaces, immersive digital experiences powered by WebGL (and now WebGPU) via Three.js, brochure sites, and more.
Back-end Development	My back-end skills can be used to create APIs, internal web applications, content management systems, and anything else that CRUD's the rows and tables of a database (or several).
Full-Stack Development	For projects that require me to work on both ends of the stack (like creating a Next.js/SvelteKit based application), my entire breadth of knowledge is available as a single service.
AI-generated Software Application Rescue (AGAR)	LLMs and AI assistants are tools, but when wielded improperly, can result in deeply flawed, highly fragile, software applications. I offer my sympathetic ear, along with my software engineering skillset, to help make things right when AI-generated applications go awry.

Latest from the Blog

When I get the chance, I like to indulge in writing words, instead of code. Though, I'll admit most of my published endeavors into the written word often contain quite a bit of code snippets anyways (it is a dev blog after all). You can find more articles like the below on my blog.