Behind the Build
Hover a cover. Read the story.
Nine projects, nine journeys. Each one holds the spark, the struggle, and the lesson.
It started with a spreadsheet. I had a high-value RRSP and was managing it the way most people do — logging into my brokerage, glancing at numbers, hoping for the best. Then one evening I did the math and realized I was dangerously concentrated in a single stock.
That moment became the spark for Seshan. I wanted a dashboard showing everything my brokerage wouldn't: concentration risk, sector exposure, and what a recession would do to my specific portfolio.
I had never built a full-stack application. I'm not an engineer. I'm a customer success leader who was curious and frustrated. Next.js, Flask, PostgreSQL — all from scratch. The first version was embarrassing. The fourth was good.
Over 280 hours across evenings and weekends. I didn't learn PostgreSQL because I wanted to. I learned it because I needed a database. Attach learning to a problem you care about.
Seshan Dashboard
Where it all started
A high-value RRSP with dangerous concentration in a single stock. I needed to actually see my risk.
280+ hours across 4 full iterations. Learned Next.js, Flask, and PostgreSQL from scratch.
The willingness to throw away work and start over is the most underrated skill.
Seshan Dashboard
Where it all started
Once the dashboard worked, I wondered: could AI financial analysis run entirely on my machine? No cloud. No data leaving my laptop.
Ollama with Llama 3.2B — concentration risks, stress-testing, benchmarks. All local. Your data never leaves.
I work in an industry where data privacy is paramount. Privacy and capability aren't mutually exclusive.
Seshan Intelligence
Privacy-first AI
Could AI financial analysis run entirely on my machine? No cloud. Complete privacy.
Local Llama 3.2B via Ollama. Portfolio analysis, stress-testing — all on my laptop.
If I advocate for responsible AI at work, I should build responsibly at home too.
Seshan Intelligence
Privacy-first AI
Started with life, not technology. House hunting in Oakville with a young family. Calculating mortgage scenarios on a napkin.
The calculator was born in a weekend. The real insight: math wasn't the hard part. Cross-referencing listings across five platforms was. That became the Matcher agent.
Mortgage Calculator
Life drives the build
House hunting in Oakville. Calculating a million-dollar mortgage on a napkin.
Multi-scenario calculator. Then realized the math was easy — the search was hard.
The best tools solve a pain point you personally feel.
Mortgage Calculator
Life drives the build
cAlvIn is a small robot — not self-aware, always learning, constantly hallucinating. Hobbes is wise and loves trouble.
Leonardo AI generates character poses. I assemble every strip manually — characters, bubbles, panels, pacing. All credit to Bill Watterson.
cAlvIn & Hobbes
AI through comics
What if Calvin was a kid AI — learning, hallucinating — and Hobbes was his tiger friend?
30+ strips, 10+ themes. Leonardo AI for characters. Every strip hand-assembled.
AI is the pencil. I'm the cartoonist.
cAlvIn & Hobbes
AI through comics
Scout: fraud research. Ticker: stock monitoring. Matcher: home finding. Quill: editing. Sage: the Bhagavad Gita.
Human-in-the-loop. Agents compress information-gathering. Humans retain judgment. Each has its own SVG avatar, color, persona.
Five AI Agents
Scout · Ticker · Matcher · Quill · Sage
Everyone talked about agentic AI. I wanted to understand it by building — five times.
5 agents, 5 personas, 5 real problems from my life.
The best way to understand technology is to build five expressions of it.
Five AI Agents
Scout · Ticker · Matcher · Quill · Sage
The most personal project. The Gita isn't a text to me — it's a framework for hard decisions.
10 moments, four layers each. Sage lets visitors converse with the wisdom. No client. No deadline. Just honoring something that has given me so much.
Bhagavad Gita
Ancient wisdom, interactive
The Gita shaped how I think — patience, dharma, karma.
10-moment dharma wheel, 4-layer reveal, Sanskrit verses, live Sage agent.
Do your work, don't do it for the fruit of it.
Bhagavad Gita
Ancient wisdom, interactive
No single spark. A lifelong flame. From college to AI-generated mythology videos.
Part gallery, part bookshelf, part mixtape. Not curated for an audience. Curated for me.
Creative Works
A lifetime of making
Goes back to college. Tools change — the impulse doesn't.
Mythology videos, comics, AI art, photography. Bento grid.
Creativity isn't a phase. It's a thread through your whole life.
Creative Works
A lifetime of making
Nobody sees the scale. Five neat paths on the surface. 158 articles behind it. Custom Apps Script, six notebooks, 173 cards, quality audits, a master fix plan.
The hardest part: sequencing so someone else could learn naturally.
Learning Paths
158 articles → 5 paths
Making AI governance accessible — not papers, but journeys anyone can follow.
158 articles → 6 notebooks → 173 cards → audits → 5 paths.
Teaching is organization more than knowledge.
Learning Paths
158 articles → 5 paths
The meta-project. Started as a template. Every project added a dimension — demo pages, robot stages, dharma wheels, article rendering.
Should never feel finished. Should feel alive.
suniliyer.ca
The container for all
Needed a home — not a resume, but a living portfolio.
Rayo template → GSAP → Framer Motion → Lenis → everything above.
A personal site is never done. It grows as you grow.
suniliyer.ca
The container for all
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