Building a Static Personal Site with Next.js
Notes on rebuilding my personal website around writing, design tokens, and a static-first architecture.
#nextjs#tailwind#design-tokens#static-site
Software Engineer + Product Builder
Hi, I'm Kai Gao.
I build dependable web systems across frontend, BFF, payments, and AI-assisted product work.
This site is where I collect writing, current areas of focus, and the product questions that keep pulling me forward.
About
A calm, durable approach to software.
I'm a Melbourne-based software engineer who likes building things that are both technically reliable and productively useful.
Since moving to Melbourne in 2015, I've worked across web applications, integration layers, internal platforms, and customer-facing experiences in very different business contexts.
What keeps compounding for me is the overlap between good engineering judgment, clear product framing, and a steady bias toward systems that stay understandable as they grow.
Biases
- Reliability before cleverness
- Interfaces that stay readable under pressure
- BFF boundaries that simplify the frontend
- Product ideas grounded in real usage
Focus / Now
The systems and questions I keep returning to.
Currently focused on
- Building reliable frontend integration layers
- Working across React, Next.js, Node.js, TypeScript, PostgreSQL, Prisma, GCP, AWS, and Docker
- Designing BFF and payment-related product experiences
- Exploring AI-native software products
- Turning engineering experience into useful writing and future solo businesses
What this tends to produce
Notes on architecture, delivery tradeoffs, and the practical choices behind interfaces that need to stay stable.
Why it matters
The interesting part is rarely the stack alone. It's how technical decisions shape product speed, clarity, and long-term maintenance.
Writing
Recent writing, with clearer signal.
On BFF Boundaries and Reliable Checkout Systems
A few practical heuristics for keeping frontend integration layers understandable when payments and operational edge cases start to pile up.
#bff#payments#architecture#typescript
Using AI to Shorten Product Feedback Loops
Early notes on where AI feels genuinely useful in software product work, especially when the goal is to reduce latency between an idea, a prototype, and a clear decision.
#ai#product#solo-business#workflows
Lab
Ideas before they become products.
Nothing public yet. I'm currently exploring ideas around AI-assisted workflows, developer tools, and practical consumer products.
Coming into focus
- AI-assisted workflowssoon
- Developer toolssoon
- Practical consumer productssoon