# Aleksei Kakoulin

> Software Engineer & App Developer. I am a Senior iOS Engineer based in Almaty. I turn complex ideas into smooth, user-friendly apps. With experience at companies like inDrive, I have built applications for businesses and non-profits, always focused on delivering quality solutions.

## About

I am a Senior iOS Engineer based in Almaty. I turn complex ideas into smooth,
user-friendly apps. With experience at companies like inDrive, I have built
applications for businesses and non-profits, always focused on delivering
quality solutions.

Apple platforms are my main craft, but not the whole of it. I also write
command-line tools that other developers use daily, backend services in Swift,
Python and Node.js, and Telegram bots. Release automation and design-system
tooling take the rest of my time.

I enjoy coding, solving problems, and learning about new technologies. As an
avid Apple user, my deep knowledge of its ecosystem helps me create reliable,
scalable solutions with modern development practices.


## Projects

Tools and apps I build and maintain.

- [Foldy](https://blog.kakoulin.com/apps/foldy): Menu bar app that brings the iPhone Duo fold to a MacBook. As the lid closes, it reads the hinge sensor and bends a live capture of the desktop back like a sheet, drawn with Metal. No account and no network code. Source: https://github.com/alexey1312/foldy
- [iPhone Duo Agent Skills](https://blog.kakoulin.com/apps/iphone-duo-agent-skills): Five Agent Skills that audit SwiftUI and UIKit apps for iPhone Duo and plan the changes: vertical bars, hinge-aware layout and multiple displays. Each item cites the Apple session behind it and is checked against the installed SDK. Works in Claude Code, Codex and Cursor. Not affiliated with Apple. Source: https://github.com/alexey1312/iPhone-Duo-Agent-Skill
- [Reachy Mini Swift](https://blog.kakoulin.com/apps/reachy-mini-swift): Native Swift client for the Reachy Mini robot. It runs on macOS, iPadOS and iOS, and it speaks WebRTC to the robot. Unofficial project, not affiliated with Pollen Robotics. Source: https://github.com/alexey1312/reachy-mini-swift
- [ExFig](https://blog.kakoulin.com/apps/exfig): Design-to-code CLI for Figma and Penpot. It exports assets in parallel and caches them, and it writes output for iOS, Android, Flutter and Web. It runs on macOS, Linux and Windows. Source: https://github.com/DesignPipe/exfig
- [SnapshotTestingHEIC](https://blog.kakoulin.com/apps/snapshottesting-heic): Extension for SnapshotTesting. It records reference images in the HEIC format instead of PNG. Source: https://github.com/alexey1312/SnapshotTestingHEIC


## Contributions

Apps and libraries that I helped to ship.

- [Sporty Finder](https://apps.apple.com/kz/app/sporty-finder/id6473119423): Social app for sport events. A user creates an event, finds one nearby and joins it.
- [Realy.](https://apps.apple.com/kz/app/realy/id1485012603): Social app that helps people to find friends by shared values. It is not a dating app.
- [xcsift](https://github.com/ldomaradzki/xcsift): Command-line tool that parses xcodebuild output into token-efficient JSON for coding agents. This blog uses it for every build.
- [toon-swift](https://github.com/toon-format/toon-swift): Community Swift implementation of the TOON serialization format.

## Posts

- [Top 3 Mac Apps for Efficient Work](https://blog.kakoulin.com/blog/2024/04/01/top-3-mac-apps), 2024-04-01: Three free utilities that I install on each new Mac: Karabiner-Elements, PuntoSwitcher and Raycast

## Writing elsewhere

- [The CLI Is the Third Interface: Ship a Team Tool in One Evening](https://hackernoon.com/the-cli-is-the-third-interface-ship-a-team-tool-in-one-evening), HackerNoon, 2026-07-24
- [How a Weekend MVP Became inDrive's Cross-Platform Design Token Export Tool](https://hackernoon.com/how-a-weekend-mvp-became-indrives-cross-platform-design-token-export-tool), HackerNoon, 2026-06-12
- [How to add Live Activity to your existing project. Part I](https://medium.com/geekculture/how-to-add-live-activity-to-your-existing-project-part-i-67008064ae55), Geek Culture, 2023-01-29
- [The inDriver design system: don't try to leave Oymyakon](https://medium.com/geekculture/the-indriver-design-system-dont-try-to-leave-oymyakon-c9172f32c99a), Geek Culture, 2022-09-13

## Site structure

- [Blog](https://blog.kakoulin.com/): posts, newest first, and links to pieces written for other sites.
- [Apps](https://blog.kakoulin.com/apps): my projects, each with a page of its own, and the work of other teams that I helped to ship.
- [About](https://blog.kakoulin.com/about): background, stack and contact.
- [Atom feed](https://blog.kakoulin.com/atom.xml) and [sitemap](https://blog.kakoulin.com/sitemap.xml).

## Contact

- GitHub: https://github.com/alexey1312
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexey1312
- Telegram: https://t.me/akakoulin
- Email: me@kakoulin.com