JACOB — PHOENIX, ARIZONA
Developer and tinkerer out of Arizona. I figure out how things work — usually the undocumented ones — and write up what I find. Some of it turns into open source; the rest turns into notes.
Mostly figuring out how things work and building around them — with a standing habit of getting outside when the screen's been on too long.
01
When a device speaks a protocol nobody bothered to document, I go find it. I reversed Chamberlain/LiftMaster's API, was first to document Wink's local-access API and Ring's private API, then handed the findings to the open-source projects that could use them.
02
I'm on the Homebridge management team, working with the founders on a friendlier experience for everyone — support, issue triage, the verified plugin program. I've personally walked hundreds of people through getting their setups working.
03
I like making things fit the way I actually live. My house runs on Home Assistant with custom interfaces I built for it, and most gadgets end up speaking HomeKit whether the manufacturer intended it or not.
04
Eagle Scout and lifelong camper. When I'm not in a terminal I'm usually somewhere in the middle of nowhere with a camera, shooting the kind of landscapes most people drive past.
Detailed writeups of reversed APIs and open-source work — the documentation the vendors never shipped.
Happy to talk shop about anything here — or lend a hand on tech work for a good cause.