Custom WordPress plugins, Next.js front-ends, Django apps, and a small publishing studio of free public-good tools for Californians. No third-party builders, no plugin debt, nothing rented from a platform that might change its mind. The other face of this page is in Arabic — a short digital diwan, for the same person.
I'm a freelance software engineer in Los Angeles. I work mostly with professors, nonprofits, small law firms, and family businesses — people who need a real person to maintain the thing, not a vendor that might pivot away from them in eighteen months.
Most of what I do is invisible: a custom WordPress plugin that replaces a $30/mo SaaS, a Next.js front-end that talks to a hand-rolled REST API, an anti-spam layer that runs without phoning home to a third party. The visible work lives at alumniyat.com — a small studio I publish under, releasing one focused, free tool at a time for Californians who keep getting locked behind paywalls in front of public data.
On the other side of this page I write Arabic poetry. The astrolabe is the metaphor: a tool of Arab science that helped poets find the stars they were already writing about. Both faces are honest. Click العربية to see the other one.
Three free legality checks for California tenants — AB 1482 rent caps, AB 12 deposit limits, just-cause eviction notices — with citation-backed verdicts and a demand-letter draft. No login, no email capture.
Open the toolType any VIN, see the same NHTSA recalls and NMVTIS title brands CarFax wraps in a paywall. Federal data was always public. We just put it in one screen and printed the sources.
Open the toolA wildfire-risk dashboard for homeowners trying to keep insurance. WUI distance, fire-perimeter history, FAIR-plan eligibility, all scored per address with an underwriter-ready PDF export.
Open the toolA self-hosted task manager fit to the way a tiny studio actually runs its days. Django on the VPS, daily backups, git discipline. Owned, scriptable, exportable — not screenshots-as-a-service.
Visit TaskHubA custom WordPress theme — no third-party builders, no plugin debt. Hand-rolled blocks, performance budget, every line maintainable by a single developer. Theme name: tiktiktime-custom.
Visit the siteA pricing engine that lives inside WordPress admin and feeds a Next.js front-end via REST. Pricing tiers, ad-hoc packages, currency rules — all editable by a non-technical owner.
See it in productionA custom anti-spam plugin deployed across six production WordPress sites. Token-bound forms, header signatures, time gates, IP curves — zero third-party calls.
Internal · case study on requestA magazine-shaped studio that publishes one focused, free tool at a time — wildfire insurance, ADU planning, court finders, used-car history, Arabic poetry. Seven live; more in the pipeline.
Visit the studioThe astrolabe is turning. Press the button and it will stop at one of the live builds, with the stack and where it ships. Pull again for another. Skip the ones you don't care about.
If you have a site that's slow or stuck on a plugin no one can maintain, write to me. If you want a tool built for a small community of users — homeowners, tenants, professors, lawyers — write to me. If you came in through the Arabic side, you can write to me there too.
EMAIL · oabuassaf@yahoo.com CITY · Los Angeles, California STUDIO · alumniyat.com