👋 Hey!
I'm raf, more commonly known as NotAShelf on various parts of the world wide
web. I am a sailor, sailmaker, political scientist and an academic. FOSS
contributor and digital artist when stars align.
Ever since my introduction to the world of FOSS and Linux in late 2010s, I have
been very passionate about operating systems, open-source software and
system administration. I am also interested in the role of information
system and data integrity/privacy within the policymaking process in
contemporary politics, which I have decided to base my PhD thesis on.
Most of my code here are solutions to small itches, or my answers to
different curiosities. Exploring solutions to known pain points in software and
home-made CLI applications to manage different components of my setup are some
of my pastime activities. Reliable and scalable systems are also within
my interest. I work with and contribute to @NixOS in my free time to help me
towards this goal. Sometimes I write about Nix and NixOS (among other things) on
my blog.
There are many means to my ends; I work with any and all languages or tools that
I find interesting. My experience and knowledge (both in very heavy quotes)
span over multiple languages, tools and frameworks, however, my primary focus
remains as C and Rust (or sometimes Go) for building reliable
backend applications alongside some Typescript for frontend. I also rely on
Nix infrastructure, deployments and distributing software. See below for a
list of languages and tools that I work, or have worked with before. Take a look
at the projects section if you are interested in seeing what I am
currently working on.
I also take part of the Hyprland community, playing an active role in
community management and acting as a supporting developer for Nix. Do feel free
to contact me for either of those matters.
- 📅 Programming since 2018
- ⛵ Professional Sailor
- 🏫 Part-time Political Scientist and lecturer, forever student
- 🖥️ NixOS / Hyprland / Neovim
- 🔧 Despite its shortcomings, Go is my go-to language (pun fully intended)
- 🌐 Frontend via React/NextJS used to be my primary stack, now I focus on
backend applications, applications security and system administration.
- ❄️ NixOS remains my favorite Linux distro for both personal and enterprise
use. I manage my own fleet of servers and virtual machines powered by it.
- 📫 Contact me by email via
raf [at] notashelf [dot] dev or on Discord, by
sending a friend request to @notashelf I'm also available on Matrix, though
downtimes may occur on my homeserver...
- 🎲 Fun fact: I have entered the world of Linux, programming and OSS through a
lengthy misadventure back in 2018 that involved a Linux VPS, a large-scale
Minecraft server and an imminent crisis. I have been passionate about Linux
and programming ever since.
🔭 Projects
I have many projects, usually fruits of my most recent obsession. Almost all of
them are bootstrapped with Nix, but languages vary. Note that I am currently in
the process of moving beloved projects out of Github. You will not be affected
by this, but let me know if you are.
| Nix | Go, Rust, Python, JavaScript, TypeScript |
| --- | --- |
| • nvf - a highly extensible and distro agnostic configuration framework for Neovim using Nix
• Nyx - the first child of Chaos and also an alias for my configuration for the ultimate declarative Linux distro, NixOS!
• Nyxpkgs - collection of packages not found in Nixpkgs
• Hjem - streamlined and modern home-management solution with Nix
• MicrOS - Experimental operating system based on Nixpkgs module system, bringing Runit to NixOS
• Basix - Purely functional collection of Base16/Base24 themes to be used with Nix
• ndg - alternative documentation generation for any Nix based module system
• Schizofox - privacy and security oriented Firefox configuration for Home-manager
• Wallpkgs - easy-to-install wallpapers collections, designed to install with Nix
• Nixpkgs - Nix Packages collection and NixOS | • CatApi - Minimal API for serving pictures of your cats. Now with a convenient frontend.
• Hyprkeys - Powerful and easy to use keyboard utility designed for my favorite Wayland Compositor, Hyprland.
• nff - experimental nftables configuration beautifier in Python.
• batmon - Dead simple battery monitor in Go, with the ability to emit events on change.
• Goblin - termbin-inspired paste service to replace Fiche, written in Go.
• Tailray - Rust implementation of Tailscale systray.
• Microfetch - Microscopic fetch tool in Rust, for NixOS systems.
• SSA - Simple, streamlined and pretty aggregator for systemd-analyze security.
• mrc - Minimalistic, yet robust API wrapper and remote controller for MPV, the video player.
• watt - Modern CPU frequency and power management utility for Linux. |
...and some projects I take part in co-maintaining. For more projects, active
or inactive, visit the repositories page. If you are interested in
supporting my work, then please consider
becoming a GitHub sponsor.
I appreciate everyone who actively sponsors me, or has sponsored me at some
point in time <3
📫 How to reach me
Want to talk to me? Ask me a question? Call me a nerd personally? Sure! Feel
free to contact me from one of the links below. I am available most of the time,
but I sometimes take some time to reply. Prefer Matrix if you use it!
Below is a poorly updated chart of my languages. Some of them are exluded, for
reasons unknown... In addition to what's already here, I also work with R,
Ruby, Kotlin and copious amounts of Typescript code that I have never
uploaded to Github.
I despise Javascript, Nix despises me
Look mom, I'm winning at GitHub!
I like chess, but I'm not particularly good at it... Here is an ASCII tracker
of my 100 previous chess.com rapid games.
♟︎ | Chess.com Rapid Rating Chart
Rating Chart:
1150.00 ┤ ╭╮
1143.38 ┤ │╰╮╭╮ ╭╮ ╭╮╭╮╭╮
1136.75 ┤ ╭╯ ╰╯╰╮ ╭╯╰╮╭╯╰╯╰╯│
1130.12 ┤ ╭╯ │ │ ││ ╰╮╭╮
1123.50 ┤ ╭╮╭╮╭╮ ╭╯ ╰╮ ╭╯ ╰╯ │││
1116.88 ┤ ╭╯╰╯╰╯╰╮╭╮ ╭╮ ╭╯ ╰╮ ╭╯ ╰╯│
1110.25 ┤ ╭╯ ╰╯╰─╮ ╭─╮ ╭╯╰╮ ╭╯ ╰╮╭╮╭╯ ╰╮
1103.62 ┤ │ ╰╮╭╮╭╮ ╭╯ ╰╮ ╭╯ ╰╮ ╭╯ ╰╯╰╯ │ ╭
1097.00 ┤ ╭╯ ╰╯╰╯╰╮ ╭╮╭╯ ╰─╯ │ ╭╯ │ │
1090.38 ┤ ╭╮╭╮ ╭╯ ╰╮╭╯││ ╰╮ │ │ │
1083.75 ┤ ╭╮╭╯╰╯╰─╯ ││ ╰╯ ╰╮╭╯ ╰╮╭╯
1077.12 ┤ ╭╯╰╯ ╰╯ ╰╯ ││
1070.50 ┤ ╭─╮╭╮│ ││
1063.88 ┼─╮ ╭╯ ╰╯╰╯ ╰╯
1057.25 ┤ ╰╮╭╯
1050.62 ┤ ╰╯
1044.00 ┤
Chart last updated - 2026-02-01