DMDavid MinguelaFrontend architect
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Independent builder · Frontend Architect

Hey, I'm David Minguela.

I turn difficult workflows into useful software.

Frontend architecture with Vue 3, Nuxt 4 and TypeScript.

I design maintainable systems with hexagonal boundaries and use AI throughout daily development, from analysis to implementation and review.

Explore selected work Start a project Read my CV

Working across

  • Product systems
  • Frontend architecture
  • AI workflows
  • Self-managed infrastructure

Selected work / 01—06

Software with a job to do.

A portfolio of real systems: private tools, public products and infrastructure built around decisions, not demos.

Case study 01

Travel operations

Private product

Roam

A trip workspace built around the messy reality between an idea and a departure.

Roam turns itineraries, locations and trip decisions into one operational workspace that remains useful on desktop and mobile.

The problem
Travel plans scatter across notes, maps and messages, leaving no dependable version of the trip.
The solution
A map-and-timeline product with structured itinerary actions, clear ownership and resilient trip data.
  • Next.js
  • TypeScript
  • Neon
  • Clerk
  • Mapbox

System details

  • Map + timeline workspace
  • Structured itinerary
  • Responsive field use

Case study 02

Commerce workflow

Case study

Cesta Carrefour

From an ordinary shopping list to a cart a person can actually review.

A Nuxt application and Chromium extension that resolve product candidates, remember decisions and hand a reviewed list to an existing Carrefour session.

The problem
Product matching is ambiguous, retailer pages are volatile and checkout must remain explicitly human.
The solution
A layered review workflow with safe fallbacks, remembered choices and a deliberate extension handoff before purchase.
  • Nuxt 4
  • Vue 3
  • PGlite / Neon
  • Chromium MV3

System details

  • Nuxt Layers
  • MV3 extension bridge
  • Human-in-the-loop

Case study 03

Nutrition workflow

Case study

Menu Planner

Nutrition planning that makes documents and AI useful without making them the interface.

A planning product that connects OCR, AI workflows, Neon and Vercel while keeping fallback paths visible and usable.

View case study
The problem
Unstructured documents and unreliable upstream services create friction at the exact moment a user needs a clear plan.
The solution
A product flow that turns document input into editable planning data and degrades safely when automation is unavailable.
  • Nuxt
  • Neon
  • OpenAI
  • Docker

System details

  • OCR ingestion
  • AI-assisted planning
  • Resilient delivery

Case study 04

Decision support

Local tool

Car Finder

An evidence workspace for comparing cars without losing the source behind a claim.

A local-first tool for importing listings, curating technical evidence and publishing structured comparisons for people and AI assistants.

The problem
Listings disappear, equipment claims conflict and important buying decisions end up based on fragile browser tabs.
The solution
A source-aware catalogue with duplicate review, cautious evidence states and public Markdown and JSON views.
  • Node.js
  • SQLite / Neon
  • HTML extraction
  • JSON-LD

System details

  • Source preservation
  • Duplicate review
  • AI-readable exports

Case study 05

Private infrastructure

Private system

NAS Gateway

A private file workspace where the filesystem stays the source of truth.

A Nuxt interface over NAS storage with stable identities, search metadata, favourites, trash and activity history.

The problem
A useful file interface needs product-level metadata without pretending a database owns the underlying files.
The solution
A split-responsibility architecture: bytes remain on disk while SQLite carries searchable, recoverable product state.
  • Nuxt
  • SQLite
  • Authentik
  • Docker

System details

  • Filesystem authority
  • Stable metadata
  • OIDC access

Case study 06

Personal operations

Case study

Renovaciones

Renewals and subscriptions organised as a timeline, not another forgotten spreadsheet.

A cross-platform product for tracking renewals, recurring costs and notification channels across web and mobile.

View case study
The problem
Insurance, subscriptions and licences live on different cycles and usually become visible only when they charge.
The solution
A single operational timeline with cost views, cloud sync and configurable notification paths.
  • Expo
  • React Native
  • Neon
  • Vercel

System details

  • Web + mobile
  • Cost overview
  • Notification workflows

Operating principles / 04

How the work holds together.

The interface is only one layer. I shape the product boundary, the data and the operational path around it.

01

Reduce ambiguity first

Before choosing components, make the decisions, actors and failure states of the workflow visible.

02

Design the boundary

Use hexagonal boundaries to separate domain rules, application flow, infrastructure and interface concerns so each can evolve clearly.

03

Design the whole journey

A well-designed screen is only part of the delivery. Authentication, data, recovery paths, mobile use and deployment all matter.

04

Use AI with engineering judgment

AI speeds up analysis, implementation and review; I retain technical ownership, validate changes and design systems that can recover.

Working toolkit

Tools organised by responsibility.

Technology choices follow the system. These are the pieces I currently reach for to design, ship and operate it.

01

Shape

Product language and interface systems.

  • Vue 3
  • Nuxt 4
  • TypeScript
  • React
  • Next.js
  • Tailwind

02

Persist

Data that survives the happy path.

  • Postgres
  • Neon
  • SQLite
  • Drizzle

03

Connect

Automation, maps and intelligent inputs.

  • OpenAI
  • OCR
  • n8n
  • Mapbox
  • Browser extensions

04

Operate

The path from repository to a running system.

  • Vercel
  • Docker
  • Traefik
  • Cloudflare
  • GitHub Actions

Build log

No fake telemetry. Just the work.

Short notes on what I am building, changing and learning — including the awkward parts that polished case studies usually remove.

What I am doing now Read the technical notes

NOW.01

AI as a workflow participant

Interfaces where automation proposes, people decide and the system preserves why.

NOW.02

Evidence-aware products

Turning documents, pages and changing sources into claims users can inspect and correct.

NOW.03

Small systems with real operations

Taking focused tools all the way through access, persistence, observability and recovery.

Open channel

Have a difficult workflow?

I can join a product team or help turn an operational problem into software people can rely on.

For product teamsFor focused builds
Start a conversation Read my CV