[doc] /system
v.06.2026 · operator's manual
the rules of this place.$ man portfolio.design
The system behind the page.
A living spec for this portfolio. Tokens, typography, components, and rules — all wired to the same CSS variables the site itself reads. Toggle the theme to see every value adapt.
Five rules that explain everything.
Signal over noise.
Every pixel earns its place. Borders communicate hierarchy. Color communicates state. No gradients for aesthetics.
Paper, not glass.
Surfaces have grain, weight, and warmth. No frosted glass, no neon glow. The interface should feel printed.
Editorial, not corporate.
Italic Fraunces for display. Mono for metadata. Caveat for the human voice in the margin. Headings whisper, not shout.
Imperfect on purpose.
Slight rotations on portraits. Asymmetric ASCII rules. Margin notes that escape the column. The hand-drawn feeling is intentional.
Restraint with motion.
Smooth entrance fades, deliberate timing curves. No looping animations on body content. The caret blinks. The cursor crosshairs follow. That is enough.
Tokens, not hex codes.
Surfaces.
paper
page background
paper-raised
raised panel
paper-card
default card surface
paper-card-hover
card hover
paper-inset
impressed / footer well
paper-input
input fields
Ink.
ink-heading
--ink-heading
headings, top hierarchy
ink
--ink
default body text
ink-secondary
--ink-secondary
supporting prose
ink-muted
--ink-muted
metadata, dates
ink-dim
--ink-dim
section labels
ink-faint
--ink-faint
footnotes, ASCII rules
ink-ghost
--ink-ghost
watermark / line numbers
Rules.
rule-strong
active borders, focus
rule
default border
rule-subtle
section dividers
Signals.
Each signal carries a fixed meaning. Never decorative.
phosphor
primary signal · live · success · interaction
amber
tradeoff · warning · marginalia
blood
error · refused · 404
cobalt
queued · informational · result
Four faces, one voice.
Inter
ui · body
JetBrains Mono
mono · metadata
Fraunces
display
Caveat
marginalia
display
fraunces · italic 400
From writing scripts to building for the web.
h2
fraunces · italic 400
Selected projects.
h3
fraunces · italic 400
AuraStream.
body
inter · 400 · 15-16px
I obsess over the small details: the complex data flow, subtle hover states, and how the underlying architecture scales when nobody's watching.
italic-quote
fraunces · italic 400
Great engineering isn't about adding more. It's about refining until nothing else can be.
metadata
jetbrains mono · 12px
// full_stack_engineer · genai · v.06.2026 · last edited 2 days ago
label
jetbrains mono · uppercase · 0.22em tracking
[01] /projects
marginalia
caveat · italic
he obsesses over the seams between systems.
The building blocks.
Buttons.
Status pills.
Tags.
Cards.
// standard card
Project tile.
The default container. Bordered, paper-card surface, hover lifts the border.
// corner-ticks
Anchored card.
Same surface with the corner-ticks utility — used when a full border feels heavy.
Marginalia.
Atoms.
A small alphabet.
Motion as punctuation.
// entrance
initial: { opacity: 0, y: 12 }
animate: { opacity: 1, y: 0 }
duration: 0.45s
easing: [0.4, 0, 0.2, 1]
viewport: { once: true }// hover
border: rule-strong → phosphor text: ink-muted → ink underline: scale-x 0 → 1 duration: 250ms
// continuous
caret blink: 1.05s steps(2) grain: 8s steps(10) infinite spotify pulse: ping 1.6s ease-out heartbeat: ping 1.6s phosphor
// forbidden
- — scale-on-hover gimmicks
- — bouncy springs on body content
- — infinite loops on text
- — parallax beyond the cursor crosshair
Grid, rhythm, restraint.
page · max-w
1200px
page · gutter
24px → 40px
section spacing
mb-24 (96px)
header → content
mb-10 (40px)
card padding
p-5 → p-6
tag gap
gap-1.5 (6px)
body line-height
1.65 - 1.7
label tracking
0.18em - 0.22em
What this site refuses to be.
- ✕ 01
No frosted glass / glassmorphism.
- ✕ 02
No background gradients on sections.
- ✕ 03
No drop shadows beyond the warm card lift in light mode.
- ✕ 04
No floating cards or tilt-on-hover gimmicks.
- ✕ 05
No bento grids or rainbow accent buttons.
- ✕ 06
No font-weight ≥ 700 on body content.
- ✕ 07
No emoji in UI labels.
- ✕ 08
No icons that aren't from react-icons or our SVG set.
[DOC_END]: spec compiled · 2026
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