# Rathna C. > Frontend Engineer building AI-native systems | Creator of Lume | React, TypeScript, Next.js Location: San Francisco Bay Area, United States Profile: https://flows.cv/rathnac I’m a frontend engineer focused on building AI-native products that integrate seamlessly into real-world workflows. Currently, I’m building Lume, an AI-native workspace for structured thinking and writing. The focus is on treating AI interactions as part of the system itself, not as one-off responses. This includes designing persistence-driven AI workflows, document-aware generation, and context-aware UI patterns that make AI outputs reusable and reliable. My work spans the full stack, using Next.js (App Router), TypeScript, PostgreSQL, Prisma, and OpenAI APIs. I’m particularly interested in how AI systems change product design, state management, and user experience when they move from experimentation to real usage. Previously, I contributed to Svelvet, an open-source Svelte component library for building dynamic node-based interfaces, where I built and integrated UI components that contributed to a 20% increase in user engagement after release. I enjoy building thoughtfully designed products, working across frontend and backend systems, and exploring how AI can be integrated in ways that feel natural, structured, and useful. ## Work Experience ### Software Engineer (AI/Frontend) @ Lume Jan 2026 – Present | San Francisco Bay Area Building Lume, an AI-native workspace for structured thinking and writing, focused on integrating AI directly into document workflows. • Designed and implemented a persistence-driven AI system where generations are stored, versioned, and tied to document state • Built full-stack architecture using Next.js (App Router), TypeScript, PostgreSQL, Prisma, and OpenAI APIs • Developed a two-surface editor experience with a rich text editor and context-aware AI panel • Implemented query-driven state management using TanStack Query to manage AI generations and document data • Designed staleness detection by comparing document snapshots with AI input states • Shifted AI UX from ephemeral responses to persistence-driven workflows, improving clarity and usability of AI interactions • Built secure API routes with auth and ownership validation for all document and AI operations • Focused on creating a clean, minimal UI for an AI-native writing experience ### Software Engineer @ Svelvet (Open Source) Jan 2023 – Present • Leveraged Svelte reactive and store management features to extend the functionality of the core library that allows users the ability to visualize and interact with the UI by creating and configuring Svelvet components • Partnered with tech accelerator OSLabs with a team of 4 software engineers to release version 8.0 that improved customer engagement by 20% in 3 months • Incorporated a type safe system in TypeScript by utilizing generics, custom interfaces, and strict type guards to enable code reliability, reduce run-time errors and improve developer productivity and experience • Utilized SvelteKit’s client-side rendering, component architecture and filesystem-based routing capabilities to develop integration tests of the reusable UI components to easily scale testing efforts when adding new features and upgrading dependencies • Collaborated with an active developer community to collect requirements, address technical issues and successfully implement new features to the library - 2K Github stars and 4K weekly npm downloads • Developed integration and end-to-end tests using Vitest and Playwright to ensure code integrity and to maintain the functionality of the library • Incorporated GitHub Actions to automate the CI/CD workflow and deployed the landing page on the cloud platform Vercel, leveraging its seamless integration with GitHub ### Musilink | Software Engineer @ Open Source Jan 2023 – Jan 2023 • Leveraged React and React Router to seamlessly display and provide users with personalized Spotify data by creating reusable components and to efficiently organize routes. • Utilized React hooks to update user data for efficient state management, enforce a one-way data flow and handle fetching Spotify API data asynchronously to provide a simplified developer experience. • Utilized Styled Components to style UI and create abstracted components to use them in multiple contexts to provide seamless user experience. • Initialized Node server to handle REST API requests and responses with Express route handlers to interact with Spotify API and handle authorization code flow. ### Spindr | Software Engineer @ Open Source Jan 2023 – Jan 2023 • Utilized React to create modular, reusable components, for efficient state management of OAuth tokens, manage playlists and ensure responsive user experience • Implemented React Router to optimize rendering performance by reducing network requests in a single-page application • Leveraged MongoDB to persist the song metadata and used Axios to handle HTTP requests to integrate with third-party music streaming services • Used Bootstrap to create responsive and visually appealing user interfaces and to ensure optimal display across various devices ### Parks & Rec | Software Engineer @ Open Source Jan 2023 – Jan 2023 • Developed a multi-player game using websockets to enable real-time and bidirectional communication between the players. • Implemented React Hooks to manage state for handling OAuth tokens, player scores, business logic and create reusable components to improve application performance and reduce re-rendering • Integrated Typescript to ensure type safety and manage the code with multiple interconnected components and to provide a structured approach to code organization and navigation • Utilized MongoDB’s integration with modern web development stack to store, manage dynamic data and ability to scale for user growth in the application • Designed NodeJS/Express server with modular routers, controllers, and middleware pattern to efficiently handle diverse HTTP requests and concurrent connections between multiple players ### Journey | Software Engineer @ Open Source Jan 2023 – Jan 2023 • Integrated with a machine learning interface to detect geolocation based on image recognition for the images posted by the user • Utilized MongoDB built-in support for geospatial indexing and querying and its integration with modern web development stacks to seamlessly and easily store user login information and images and posts posted by the user • Implemented Webpack to create a customized application to decrease bundle file size, optimized for faster load times to improve application performance ### Smart Brain | Software Engineer @ Open Source Jan 2022 – Jan 2023 • Incorporated a Machine Learning AI model - ClarifyAI API for image recognition aimed at identifying faces within user uploaded images. • Employed React's component-based architecture to create modular and reusable components resulting in improved code organization, reusability, streamlined development processes, and enhanced code maintainability. • Utilized Express framework for Node.js to develop a server-side API, implementing the middleware design pattern for user authentication and seamless database integration while leveraging Express router for efficient routing and request handling. • Built a PostgreSQL database with relational schemas to manage user data using ACID-compliant transactions ## Education ### Bachelor's degree in Computer Science The University of British Columbia ### Bachelor's degree in Mathematics and Computer Science Osmania University ## Contact & Social - LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/in/rathnac - GitHub: https://github.com/rathna-git --- Source: https://flows.cv/rathnac JSON Resume: https://flows.cv/rathnac/resume.json Last updated: 2026-04-10