# Rajat Kapoor > Rajat Kapoor is a product engineer and solopreneur in Bengaluru, India. He builds Typefully, and runs his own apps for Shopify merchants and Slack teams. Hi! I am Rajat. A product engineer and solopreneur from Bengaluru, India. By day I build [Typefully](https://rajatkapoor.me/work/typefully); the rest of the time I ship small, delightful products for the web. I've been at it since 2016, mostly in small teams at early-stage startups. I built [the editor behind 2M+ articles on Hashnode](https://rajatkapoor.me/work/hashnode), worked on [proposals that close deals at Qwilr](https://rajatkapoor.me/work/qwilr), and before all that, wrote [open source for Google Summer of Code](https://rajatkapoor.me/projects/sciruby). On my own, I build things to scratch my own itch. Most stay experiments. A few catch on, like [a Slack app that tells the time in everyone's timezone](https://rajatkapoor.me/projects/timely) or [a weekend project that went #1 on Product Hunt](https://rajatkapoor.me/projects/mockly). Right now it's [a dating app for people who already have each other's number](https://rajatkapoor.me/projects/dono). ## Work - [Typefully](https://rajatkapoor.me/work/typefully.md): Product Engineer · Remote · 2024 – present. The AI-powered, collaborative social media scheduler for X, LinkedIn, Bluesky, and Threads. - [Hashnode](https://rajatkapoor.me/work/hashnode.md): Engineering Lead · Remote · 2022 – 2024. A blogging platform for developers with millions of monthly readers. - [Qwilr](https://rajatkapoor.me/work/qwilr.md): Software Engineer · Remote · 2018 – 2021. Web-based proposals and quotes for sales teams. - [SciSpace (earlier Typeset)](https://rajatkapoor.me/work/scispace.md): Software Engineer · Bengaluru · 2017 – 2018. An AI research and writing platform for researchers. - [Eltropy](https://rajatkapoor.me/work/eltropy.md): Software Engineer · Bengaluru · 2016 – 2017. A sales enablement platform when I was there; today, an AI conversations platform for credit unions and community banks. - [Sabre](https://rajatkapoor.me/work/sabre.md): Software Developer Intern · Bengaluru · 2015 – 2016. The technology behind global travel: booking and operations software for airlines, hotels and travel agencies. ## Projects - [Shopify apps](https://rajatkapoor.me/projects/shopify-apps.md): Single-use-case Shopify apps that help merchants save time and sell more. (currently building, monetized) - [Timely](https://rajatkapoor.me/projects/timely.md): A Slack app that converts timezones in your chat messages automatically. (currently building, monetized) - [Dono](https://rajatkapoor.me/projects/dono.md): A dating app for people who already have each other's number. (currently building) - [Svar](https://rajatkapoor.me/projects/svar.md): Private, on-device voice-to-text for macOS. (currently building) - [TweetAssist](https://rajatkapoor.me/projects/tweetassist.md): A Chrome extension that writes posts and reply ideas for X with AI. (dead, monetized) - [Mockly](https://rajatkapoor.me/projects/mockly.md): A launch experiment: could a weekend project get to #1 on Product Hunt? (monetized) - [Let Them Kill](https://rajatkapoor.me/projects/let-them-kill.md): An endless Android game where enemies shoot each other while you dodge. (dead) - [Range-IT](https://rajatkapoor.me/projects/range-it.md): A wearable's vision system, guiding visually impaired people indoors. - [SciRuby](https://rajatkapoor.me/projects/sciruby.md): Google Summer of Code: scientific computing for Ruby. - [SimpleCV](https://rajatkapoor.me/projects/simplecv.md): Google Summer of Code: an interactive renderer for SimpleCV. ## Public appearances - [Building a Notion-like editor for the masses](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uCSN5D_BLnI), React India - [Serverless webhook delivery with Step Functions](https://web.archive.org/web/20240919212346/https://blr.serverlessdays.io/), ServerlessDays Bengaluru 2024 - [Gen AI meets Open source](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Z4W2Je-SoQ&t=8392s), thegeekconf 2024, Berlin (remote) - [Leverage Hashnode's AI editor as a developer](https://youtu.be/uEL4tas64jA?t=4673), Hashnode Bootcamp, Fall 2023 - [Building a Markdown-based WYSIWYG editor](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7C18AxEjVc), Podcast · The Commit Podcast ## Contact - [X](https://x.com/rajatkapoor) - [LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/in/rajat100493) - [GitHub](https://github.com/rajatkapoor) --- ## Work in detail ### Typefully _Product Engineer · Remote · 2024 – present_ > The AI-powered, collaborative social media scheduler for X, LinkedIn, Bluesky, and Threads. Stack: Python, Django, TypeScript, Next.js, React, TipTap, Celery, Redis, PostgreSQL, AWS, Claude Code, Codex - Built Typefully's [public API, MCP server and webhooks](https://typefully.com/changelog/all-new-api-zapier-integration-mcp-and-126), which let people integrate and automate with Typefully. They serve about 30M API and 1.4M MCP requests a month, and also power our [Claude connector](https://typefully.com/changelog/typefully-claude-connector) and Zapier integration. - Built team and collaboration features end to end, including [plan mode and the multi-account calendar for teams](https://typefully.com/changelog/plan-mode-calendar-for-teams), comments and reviews on drafts, [edit history tracking](https://typefully.com/changelog/draft-activity-130), [tagging teammates](https://typefully.com/changelog/mention-teammates-and-slack-notifications-136) and the [Slack integration](https://typefully.com/changelog/notify-slack-channels-on-publish-141). - Worked on Typefully's AI features, like the [Writing Assistant](https://typefully.com/changelog/writing-assistant-133) that [works through feedback on drafts](https://typefully.com/changelog/writing-assistant-comments), [AI caption (alt text) generation for images](https://typefully.com/changelog/generate-image-descriptions-with-ai-124) and [custom instructions](https://typefully.com/changelog/custom-instructions-for-typefully-ai-106), which help people draft, rewrite and polish posts in their own voice. - Decoupled the product from X (Twitter) and made it multi-platform, with a cross-platform editor for LinkedIn, Bluesky, Threads, Mastodon and Substack. - Set up the serverless stacks for media processing and uploads as infrastructure as code with AWS CDK. Link: https://typefully.com HTML version: https://rajatkapoor.me/work/typefully --- ### Hashnode _Engineering Lead · Remote · 2022 – 2024_ > A blogging platform for developers with millions of monthly readers. Stack: TypeScript, Next.js, React, Node.js, GraphQL, Apollo GraphQL, Stellate, TipTap, AWS, SST - Led the product engineering team of 7 engineers, building a blogging platform with 4M+ reads and 70k+ blogs published every month. - Created [Neptune](https://townhall.hashnode.com/introducing-neptune-our-new-wysiwyg-blog-editor), Hashnode's WYSIWYG editor, used to write over 2M articles since its launch in November 2022. Built the whole extensible editor on [TipTap](https://tiptap.dev), with AI assistance, custom widgets, drag and drop, and Google Docs-style live collaborative editing. - Initiated and led the development of [Hashnode Pro](https://hashnode.com/pro) (the premium offering), discussion feeds, ISR-based blog generation, serverless newsletter sending infrastructure (on AWS using CDK), the component library, legacy code migrations and more. Also worked on Hashnode's [public GraphQL APIs](https://apidocs.hashnode.com/) (Stellate, Apollo, SST), feed computation and scaling, product analytics, onboarding, and the docs product. - Represented Hashnode at in-person and online community events, investor events and conferences. Link: https://hashnode.com HTML version: https://rajatkapoor.me/work/hashnode --- ### Qwilr _Software Engineer · Remote · 2018 – 2021_ > Web-based proposals and quotes for sales teams. Stack: TypeScript, MongoDB, Express, React, Node.js, Slate.js - Worked on a MERN stack in TypeScript, building new features for the Qwilr editor (built on [Slate.js](https://www.slatejs.org)), Google Docs-style workspace management for teams at our enterprise customers, and the Kaleidoscope design system. - Involved in all decision making, including interviewing for hiring and leading discussions on moving to better-suited technology, and attended retreats and meetings in Sydney to work with the remote devs, the onsite crew and the co-founders. Link: https://qwilr.com HTML version: https://rajatkapoor.me/work/qwilr --- ### SciSpace (earlier Typeset) _Software Engineer · Bengaluru · 2017 – 2018_ > An AI research and writing platform for researchers. Stack: Python, Django, Flask, Celery, React, Substance, WebSockets - Contributed as a full-stack developer, building features for the research writing platform (built on Substance) and leading teams of 3–4. - Developed product features end to end, including the architecture, backend, frontend, CI/CD and the infrastructure to support them. - Projects included a reference management system, an authors and affiliations manager, analytics for the whole platform, and collaborative writing over websockets. Link: https://scispace.com HTML version: https://rajatkapoor.me/work/scispace --- ### Eltropy _Software Engineer · Bengaluru · 2016 – 2017_ > A sales enablement platform when I was there; today, an AI conversations platform for credit unions and community banks. Stack: Go, Groovy, Grails, Electron, AngularJS, AWS, DigitalOcean, Jenkins - Worked in a team of 6 developers on a sales enablement platform in Go, Groovy and Grails. - Created a Dropbox-like, cross-platform app for syncing Eltropy files, using Electron with AngularJS. - Worked on deployments to AWS EC2 and DigitalOcean servers, deployment automation with Jenkins, website performance and security, and wrote core business logic across the frontend and backend. Link: https://eltropy.com HTML version: https://rajatkapoor.me/work/eltropy --- ### Sabre _Software Developer Intern · Bengaluru · 2015 – 2016_ > The technology behind global travel: booking and operations software for airlines, hotels and travel agencies. Stack: Python, Django - Single-handedly developed a Django web app that ran tests on multiple VMs in parallel and intelligently analysed the logs, automatically identifying and grouping tests that failed for a similar cause. - Saved 640 hours of work a month, and was adopted by Sabre in over 4 offices worldwide. Link: https://sabre.com HTML version: https://rajatkapoor.me/work/sabre --- ## Projects in detail ### Shopify apps _17k+ installs · 5.7k+ active stores · Recurring revenue_ > Single-use-case Shopify apps that help merchants save time and sell more. #### How these apps help Shopify store owners - Faster product and listing management. - More sales, by showing shoppers real stock levels, so they know when something they want is about to sell out. - Better visibility in AI search, so assistants like ChatGPT and Perplexity can find and recommend a store's products. #### How I got into Shopify apps - In 2023 I went to an indie hacker retreat at [AltSpace](https://www.altspaced.com/) in Dharamshala, India, and met a lot of indie hackers doing really well with their Shopify app businesses. - They pushed me to give it a try. Within two months, my first app was at $700 MRR. Since then, Shopify has had my attention, and I've launched more apps. - I've never looked back. Now I'm the one pushing other indie hackers to try Shopify. #### Are Shopify apps still worth building? - The market is crowded, and Shopify is moving fast in AI. The features it builds into the platform kill apps every day. - But there's still room to build great apps and make good revenue from them, if you play it smart. - Choose your niche carefully, invest in App Store optimization, and focus on your merchants: their use case, and making them succeed. HTML version: https://rajatkapoor.me/projects/shopify-apps --- ### Timely _2.1k+ installs · 1.1k active Slack workspaces · Recurring revenue_ > A Slack app that converts timezones in your chat messages automatically. #### How Timely helps distributed teams - Every time mentioned in Slack shows up in each teammate's local time, even casual ones like "end of day" or "next Tuesday". - Works in channels, threads and DMs, and only teammates in another timezone see the conversion. - Used by teams at Salesforce (yes, the company that owns Slack needed a Slack app to tell the time), Globant, Vistaprint, HelloFresh, Warner Music Group, Carta, Indeed, Square, Zillow, Meltwater and PUBG Studios. #### How Timely started - I've worked remotely since joining [Qwilr](https://rajatkapoor.me/work/qwilr) in 2018, way before Covid made it cool, as the only one on the team outside Australia. - The team always mentioned times in both their timezone and mine. I felt bad that they had to. - So one weekend in August 2020, I built a Slack bot to do it for us, then launched it as a free app in the Slack App Directory. - Beyond one Indie Hackers post and a couple of tweets, I never promoted it. Teams with the same problem found it on their own. Link: https://timely.day HTML version: https://rajatkapoor.me/projects/timely --- ### Dono _iOS · Android · Experiment_ > A dating app for people who already have each other's number. #### How Dono works - Add the number of someone you like. They don't even need to be on Dono yet. - If they add your number too, you both find out it's mutual. If they don't, they never learn it was you. - Live on the web in India, with the iPhone and Android apps launching soon. #### Why I'm building it - I wanted to learn go-to-market for a B2C app, and Dono is my playground for it: running ads, working with influencers, short videos and UGC content on Instagram and TikTok, Reddit-based marketing, and getting the word out in colleges and schools. - I see it as a product that can go viral in waves, and that can also grow if I put enough money into ads. Link: https://trydono.app HTML version: https://rajatkapoor.me/projects/dono --- ### Svar _macOS · Local LLMs · Personal software_ > Private, on-device voice-to-text for macOS. #### Why I built it - I was using [Wispr Flow](https://wisprflow.ai), but transcription was slow, and I wanted things very specific to me, like pasting my last transcript into an input box that wasn't selected while I was dictating. - So I built my own, in public, in [a thread on X](https://x.com/rajatkapoor/status/2009944937203462594). #### What it is - A native macOS app in SwiftUI, my first time with it. - Fully offline, with a choice of local models for transcription and cleanup. I keep trying new ones; right now it's Parakeet Ultra for transcription and S1-mini by [Superwhisper](https://superwhisper.com) for cleanup. - Uses macOS's accessibility and OCR APIs to read what's on screen, so names and terms come out right. - Keeps my recordings and transcripts for fine-tuning, and as evals to test new models when I add them. - It will most likely never launch. It's a personal tool I use every day. Link: https://x.com/rajatkapoor/status/2009944937203462594 HTML version: https://rajatkapoor.me/projects/svar --- ### TweetAssist _Killed by me · Monetized_ > A Chrome extension that writes posts and reply ideas for X with AI. - One of the first AI tools for writing posts and replies on X. - As it grew, I could see it adding to the flood of AI-written replies on X, which wasn't the kind of thing I wanted to build. - So I shut it down then and there, and refunded every user. HTML version: https://rajatkapoor.me/projects/tweetassist --- ### Mockly _#1 Product of the Day · Monetized_ > A launch experiment: could a weekend project get to #1 on Product Hunt? #### The experiment - In 2021, info products were everywhere, and so were the 3D ebook mockups people used to sell them on Gumroad. - Mockly made those mockups in a few clicks. I built it over a weekend or two, and it was a very simple product. That was the point. - The real question was whether something this simple could get to #1 on Product Hunt if I followed a proper launch system. #### How it went - It reached #1 soon after launch and stayed there until the end of the day. - In the first week: 530 upvotes, 103 comments (a lot of them me replying) and 27 sales. A few people even asked me to raise the price. - Plenty of info product creators found it genuinely useful, which never would have happened if I hadn't launched it. #### What I learned - People are extremely helpful. You just have to ask kindly. - Something that seems small or simple to you can be really valuable to someone else. - So build small things, and launch them. You'll never know unless people see them. Link: https://mockly.xyz HTML version: https://rajatkapoor.me/projects/mockly --- ### Let Them Kill _Android · Unity_ > An endless Android game where enemies shoot each other while you dodge. #### Why I made it - I wanted to give Android apps a shot, and I'd watched far too many Unity game development videos not to try it myself. - [Unity](https://unity.com) games could be written in C# back then, so I picked that. I used to fiddle around with C# in college to build Windows apps, so it was a fun experiment and a nice refresher too. #### What happened - I launched it on the Google Play Store and experimented with showing ads during gameplay. Over its whole life, those ads made less than a dollar. - It was eventually delisted: I stopped maintaining it, and it needed an Android version upgrade and had review concerns I never addressed. HTML version: https://rajatkapoor.me/projects/let-them-kill --- ### Range-IT _TU Dresden · Human computer interface · Point Cloud Library_ > A wearable's vision system, guiding visually impaired people indoors. - Worked on the vision system for Range-IT at the Human-Computer Interaction Lab, TU Dresden: a standalone, wearable assistive device that processes stereo data in real time to help visually impaired people get around indoor environments. - Captured data with a 3D time-of-flight camera, filtered it with SoftKinetic's proprietary APIs, and analysed it in C++ with the [Point Cloud Library](https://pointclouds.org) to detect stairs, walls and doors up to 7 metres away. Link: https://tu-dresden.de/ing/informatik/ai/mci/forschung/forschungsgebiete/range-it?set_language=en HTML version: https://rajatkapoor.me/projects/range-it --- ### SciRuby _GSoC 2014 · Open source_ > Google Summer of Code: scientific computing for Ruby. - Worked on SciRuby's integration, minimization and matrix libraries in Ruby and C++ for Google Summer of Code 2014, adding features and support for the [GNU Scientific Library](https://www.gnu.org/software/gsl/) for faster computation. - Grew the Integration gem to thirteen quadrature algorithms, including Gauss–Kronrod, Simpson's three-eighths rule, Milne's method and Boole's rule. - Added one-dimensional optimizers to the Minimization gem, like Newton–Raphson, golden section search and Brent's method, most of which can use the GNU Scientific Library to run faster. - The work was featured in [Google's Summer of Code wrap-up for SciRuby](https://opensource.googleblog.com/2015/01/google-summer-of-code-wrap-up-sciruby.html). Link: http://sciruby.com/blog/2014/06/04/introduction-to-the-minimization-and-integration-project/ HTML version: https://rajatkapoor.me/projects/sciruby --- ### SimpleCV _GSoC 2013 · Open source_ > Google Summer of Code: an interactive renderer for SimpleCV. - Built a new interactive rendering system for SimpleCV for Google Summer of Code 2013 ([Revisiting the Rendering System](https://web.archive.org/web/20250128195153/https://www.google-melange.com/archive/gsoc/2013/orgs/simplecv/projects/rajatkapoor.html)), making it independent of the obsolete PyGame library. - Developed it with PyGTK and Cairo, along with a web counterpart for IPython Notebooks using JavaScript and Processing.js. - Before the summer, contributed image-processing features to SimpleCV: image normalization, Prewitt edge detection, a channel mixer, motion blur, and running averages and peak finding for line scans. Link: https://web.archive.org/web/20250128195153/https://www.google-melange.com/archive/gsoc/2013/orgs/simplecv/projects/rajatkapoor.html HTML version: https://rajatkapoor.me/projects/simplecv