Interfaces designed to be simple, so nobody gets lost.
I remove until only the essential remains.
I think in systems: how the parts connect, where they can fail and how they will grow. I also design, and to me good design is mostly subtraction: fewer elements, each with a clear purpose.
I hold both sides to one rule: build with intent. Every component, token and service should have a clear reason to exist.
Tokens and components written once and compiled to React, Vue, Svelte, Lit or AEM, so every team ships the same button.
Because people and agents should build from the same decisions.
Agents that can only build from a typed component registry, through MCP tools. Fewer choices, predictable output.
Because people should be able to trust what an agent makes.
NestJS, Go and Postgres on Cloud Run and Cloudflare, with private networking and gated releases, so a bad build stops before production.
Because the people using it should never notice it's there.
Schemas, pipelines and offline-first collection apps for rural fieldwork, from my years with researchers at CATIE.
Because researchers in the field deserve tools that work without a signal.
Engineering sets the limits. Design works inside them.
The same five steps for one component or a whole platform. The architect asks what holds it up. The designer asks what it can live without.
Notice
ArchitectRead what's already there before proposing anything: the data, the constraints, the systems it has to live beside.
DesignerNotice what people need, and what they can do without.
Choose
ArchitectWrite the contracts first: tokens, component APIs, schemas. People and agents build against the same ones, so nobody guesses.
DesignerChoose a few strong elements: type, space and one accent color.
Test
ArchitectShip the thinnest slice that runs end to end on real data. Polish waits until it works.
DesignerTest it with real people and remove whatever confuses them.
Align
ArchitectTypes, tests, gated releases, and every decision written down as an ADR, so the next person, or agent, knows why.
DesignerKeep spacing, type and voice consistent, so it stays coherent as it grows.
Polish
ArchitectMeasure, then cut: load time, requests, edge cases. The numbers decide what goes.
DesignerPolish until nothing can be removed without losing something.
Eight years removing what nobody used.
Amazon Ads design system as AEM components for unBoxed. Adobe MAX launch site for the AI Agentic Operating Model, plus 9 ADRs that set guardrails for coding agents.
Internal AI tooling and client delivery, including AT&T campaigns. Built a self-healing LangGraph loop that compiles scaffolds into React, Vue, Svelte and vanilla JS libraries, with MCP tools that made prototyping three times faster.
Luxury real estate and hospitality. A custom Next.js rendering engine for AEM. LCP improved 39% and client requests dropped 78%.
Frontend architecture and legacy migrations, including a Module Federation app shell for microfrontends. UI/UX refinements and performance tuning that cut initial load time by 80%.
Next.js and Strapi e-commerce: booking, catalog and payment flows.
Offline field apps and a research knowledge base for rural sustainability work.
Artificial intelligence as an amplifier of effort, not a replacement.
I build for the people who keep Nicaragua running. Most of them don't have easy access to these tools yet, and I want that to change.
The typos are mine.
Thoughts on building software, design systems and AI, mostly from the trenches of my own projects. I write every draft myself and sometimes use AI to edit.
Components are cheap now, context is expensive. A snapshot of where I think frontend work is heading.
Why I'm writing in public again, what you'll find here, and why it's written by a person.
Or just say hola,
and we'll see what's up.
// For the agents reading this page. Same facts, less typography.
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"name": "Carlos Poveda",
"brand": "charp.dev",
"roles": [
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"facts": {
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"frameworks": [
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"vue",
"svelte",
"lit"
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"themes": "11 switchable, restyled per brand from its generated logo and palette",
"packages": 25,
"hallucination_reduction": "99%"
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"protocols": [
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"MCP"
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{
"name": "NAI Studio",
"url": "https://nicairagua.com",
"summary": "AI renders and video for architecture and brands",
"facts": {
"providers": 6,
"personas": 9,
"departments": 17
},
"infra": [
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"private VPC",
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"Critical Mass",
"AT&T",
"DAN",
"Boombit",
"NicaSource",
"Now Optics",
"CATIE"
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"languages": {
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"instagram": "https://www.instagram.com/im.charp/"
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}Printed with care. Paper is welcome back anytime. · https://charp.dev/