simquat

Joined 9 years ago

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Mar 21

Hey! I'm Simone Quattrocchi.

• Breadboard[0] — HyperCard for web apps.

• AL0[1] — minimalist smartphone environment.

https://simquat.com

[email protected]

[0] https://breadboards.io/

[1] https://fuji.computer/al0/

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Comment · 1 month ago

SEEKING WORK | Zürich, Switzerland | Remote

I run a one-man technology studio. I build digital tools with zero frills.

I do both design and engineering. Design is grounded in technology, and technology serves the design. I don't rely on heavy frameworks, endless third-party dependencies, or LLM-generated code. I believe having a landfill of features destroys a product. I want my software lightweight, fast, and built to last.

Recent work:

* Breadboard: A modern HyperCard for the web. While everyone rushes toward LLM app generators, I built a visual canvas where users define behavior using natural language programming cards, exporting to a fully working web app.

* Qualifier: A BIM quality assurance tool. I took a slow, expensive microservices architecture and rebuilt it as a fast, reliable monolithic architecture. I implemented a precise, performant rule-checking engine, and paired it with an intuitive user interface. Users can write tests and view results in real-time, directly on the 3D model.

* AL0: A minimalist smartphone environment for Android. I removed all digital noise and built a utilitarian, text-first UI to implement only the essential features of a phone.

I partner with focused entrepreneurs who know exactly what they want to build, with zero frills.

Studio: https://simquat.com/studio

Email: hello [at] simquat [.] com

Comment · 3 months ago

Not sure what kind of model you're interested in, but you may give Duck.ai[0] a try. It doesn't require any signup and let you use gpt-5.4 nano/mini, Haiku 4.5, Mistral Small 4 and Gemma 4 31B.

[0] https://duck.ai/

Comment · 3 months ago

Desktop app bundled with an ai model and a local-first agent so nothing leaves your machine.

Last week I interviewed non-technical people about their experience with AI agents. Many couldn't even use them at all. Either they didn't want to share private data with ChatGPT or company policy prohibited it.

For those of you working with sensitive files – contracts, client records, financials, HR docs – I'd love to hear how you handle this today: simone [at] breadboards.io

Ask HN: What do you ask AI to do with your files?

2 simquat 4 months ago 1 comments

Comment · 4 months ago

Not right now but I'm actually exploring this idea space — doing user research —. I would be happy to chat with you – or whoever happens to read this and is into this topic – about that. simone [at] breadboards.io

Comment · 4 months ago

Hey! I'm Simone, a computer programmer from Italy living in Zürich.

I have 12+ years of experience as a full stack developer building web and mobile applications across Europe. I have an extensive startup and agency background, which taught me how to integrate effectively with diverse teams and adapt to fast-moving environments.

I value software architecture design. I have deep expertise in the JavaScript/TypeScript ecosystems and I often explore other languages and environments out of curiosity or when a project needs it. I'm also actively exploring applied AI, from building with LLM agents to tinkering with local models – particularly the smaller ones –. I like to bring a strong eye for clean, minimalist UI design to the products I work on.

  Location: Zürich, Switzerland
  Remote: Yes
  Willing to relocate: No
  Technologies: JavaScript, TypeScript, nginx, macOS, Alpine Linux, Node, Java, Swift, SQL and a quick learner
  Résumé/CV: https://simquat.com
  Email: mail[at]simquat.com

Comment · 7 months ago

In Calabria — the very south of Italy — there this[0] 1000-years-old plane tree.

[0]https://it.wikipedia.org/wiki/Platano_di_Vrisi

Comment · 7 months ago

I don't see low-code and LLMs really competing with each other. It may be true for quick throwaway projects, but they solve different problems and can potentially be used together.

With low-code, users operate at a high abstraction level and get a deterministic output. You're fully in control of what the result will be. With LLMs you operate at an even higher abstraction level – just a prompt in plain English – but the output is non-deterministic.

So if you want fine control, you need to check line by line what it produced. I think it gets interesting if LLMs generate low-code instead of code. Users get the speed advantage of AI generation, but they can still understand and control what the software is doing.

What is your low-code service?

/!\ Disclaimer, I'm building in this space[0].

[0] https://breadboards.io

Comment · 7 months ago

Use TextMate[0] as my daily driver.

[0] https://macromates.com/

Comment · 7 months ago

I would recommend Scratch, the blocks prevent syntax errors, plus there's a simple editor for drawing sprites and backgrounds — my niece used to play with it paired with the book "Scratch programming playground" if I recall correct —.

I'm working on a visual app builder, Breadboard[0], we're not targeting education neither games, but here an example of a tic tac toe game made with it.

Workspace: https://app.breadboards.io/shared/c3c4dc7b-78f7-4e0f-b89f-cc...

Exported app: https://black-creek-7582.breadboards.app/home

[0] https://breadboards.io

Comment · 7 months ago

Thanks for sharing. By the editor being bare bones do you mean some missing feature might change your mind about using it, or do you find the text-based editor much more comfortable?

Comment · 7 months ago

Looks quite cool and I'd like to give a try. What is the main use case for compiling code to shortcuts? I ask because I'm working on a tool[0] that in a way does the opposite.

[0] https://breadboards.io

Comment · 8 months ago

I'm working on Breadboard[0], a modern HyperCard for web apps.

We recently added an AI integration, starting with a UI agent. We're experimenting with a BYOK approach so anyone can try the assistant in the playground[1] without signing in while keeping it sustainable for us. Currently the AI integration connect to Gemini.

A logic agent is in progress, it's a bit trickier because it needs to work with Breadboard's visual-stacked-instructions language based on Hyperscript.

We're also releasing documentation.

[0] https://breadboards.io

[1] https://app.breadboards.io/playgrounds/hello – to access the AI assistant click on the Duck on the dock, you can try with a free api key from Google AI Studio[2] –

[2] https://aistudio.google.com/api-keys

Comment · 8 months ago

I'm working on it, Breadboard[0] is a visual app builder that mixes Figma-style UI design with Shortcuts-style logic.

[0] https://breadboards.io/

Comment · 8 months ago

Thanks for digging into the network requests :) That's a valid point, we can bundle or serve this dependency – hyperscript – from the domain where the app lives. The same goes for fonts, at the moment we're using Google Fonts for convenience, but they can easily be served on the same domain as the app.