Leaster · IT engineering

Good IT goes unnoticed. It just works.

I build websites, cloud setups and automation. After that I also take care of the part nobody sees, so things stay secure and keep running. This site is the first example. It is built on the server, loads fast and needs no cookie banner.

0 KB JavaScript / Light and dark / Structured data and llms.txt / Built with AI, by clear rules

Capabilities

Five things I can do and have already shipped.

For every point there is software that runs today.

  • Headless & API-first web

    Frontends that load fast and that search engines and AI can read well. Depending on the project with Astro, React/Next or SAP Commerce Cloud. Rendering happens on the server, so the browser is not stuck with a sluggish app.

    React/Next / Astro / SAP Commerce Cloud / API-first / SEO/GEO/GAIO / Matomo

  • Cloud, identity & Zero Trust

    Azure, EntraID and Azure AD B2C, plus Zero Trust and ringfencing. In a large corporation I managed this for several providers at once, with the governance that comes with it. A single tenant setup is the small part of that.

    Azure / EntraID / Azure AD B2C / Zero Trust / Ringfencing / IT governance

  • Automation & AI integration

    Python for the routine work, so data sync, ETL and pipelines. I had LLMs in production before everyone started saying “GenAI”. That was real work from day one and it saved time every week.

    Python / LLM pipelines / Claude Code / ETL / Scraping / REST APIs

  • DevSecOps & self-hosting

    The operations you don’t see. Deployment pipelines, containers, reverse proxy, security scans, DNS and whatever else comes up, mostly on my own hardware with Portainer, Plesk and Nginx Proxy Manager. You only notice any of it when something goes down.

    Docker / Portainer / Plesk / Nginx Proxy Manager / Git / CI/CD / Trivy / DNS & domains

  • Cross-platform & mobile

    Apps for Android, iOS and desktop from one hand. With offline sync and a clean connection to my own API, built with Kotlin, .NET MAUI and WPF.

    Kotlin / Java/Android / .NET MAUI / WPF / Offline sync

Work

A few things I’ve built.

Where I’m allowed to name names, I do. Otherwise I only describe what I built.

  • live · IT responsibility

    diebema.de · new website and IT operations

    I’m responsible for the entire IT of a financial and real estate advisory firm. I replaced their old WordPress site with a new one, headless with Next.js and TypeScript, and it is live now. Pages are rendered ahead of time and refreshed in the background. On top come a strict Content Security Policy and self-hosted analytics.

    stack
    Next.js, TypeScript, headless
    rendering
    prerendered (ISR)
    pages
    around 55
    security
    strict Content Security Policy
    site check
    95 / 100

    Next.js / TypeScript / Headless / IT operations / DevSecOps

    diebema.de →

  • named

    sandys-beestore.de · web shop and IT operations

    I built the online shop and have kept the technical side running ever since, with hosting, updates and everything around it. The owner does the selling, and I make sure the shop doesn’t stall while she does.

    shop
    WordPress + WooCommerce
    hosting
    Hetzner web hosting
    care
    updates, plugins, legal texts, GDPR
    backup
    versioned, outside the hosting
    analytics
    Matomo without cookies

    Web shop / eCommerce / IT operations / Hosting

    sandys-beestore.de →

  • own project · offline

    SquareDancers.Info (SDI)

    A platform for the square dance scene, designed for all of Europe from the start. I extended the CMS core with my own Python and REST ecosystem. Then came an Android app, a .NET MAUI version, automatic newsletter and social media posting and an import for events from many sources. From 2023 on, GPT read the clubs’ flyers and wrote the events straight into the ticketing system. The platform is no longer online, after a storage loss and losing the domain. The code is still in my repos.

    period
    2022 to 2025
    reach
    Europe-wide
    stack
    Python, REST, Java/Android, .NET MAUI
    ai
    GPT reads flyers, writes tickets
    status
    offline, code in my repos

    Python / REST / Android / .NET MAUI / GPT → ticketing / Automation

  • in progress

    Multi-tenant headless SaaS

    A multi-tenant SaaS platform on React and Python, in containers and API-first. Database, backend and operations are all mine. I’ll name it once it’s live.

    React / Python / Multi-tenant / Docker / API-first

  • Enterprise · behind SSO

    Identity and web tools in a large corporation

    Internal tools behind single sign-on, so integrations with Azure AD B2C, claims and SAML and a few web applications in production. None of it is visible to the public, which is why it only appears here as experience.

    EntraID / Azure AD B2C / SAML / ASP.NET Core / SSO

  • ongoing support

    Smaller sites, in the same hands for years

    Built and still maintained, the hosting sits elsewhere in each case. That includes hundeschule-frankenalb.de and zenn-pflege.de, which I once built for a care service. I’ve looked after most of them for quite a while now.

    Web / Maintenance / Support

  • Open Source

    mtg_benchmark

    A public Python project. You can read in the source code how I work instead of just taking my word for it.

    Python / Open Source

    github.com/mikeGafert/mtg_benchmark →

Tools

A few small tools, free.

Self-built and free to use, without tracking and without sign-up.

  • live

    QR code generator →

    QR codes in your own colors, as SVG or PNG. There is an open API as well.

  • live

    Business-card creator →

    A digital business card as a vCard QR on a phone wallpaper. You can share or print it and you don’t need an account.

  • live

    Site-Check →

    Checks a website for SEO, AI readability, privacy and performance. It takes a few seconds, the API is open and nothing gets tracked.

Origins

Started in 1999, at 16, with hand-written HTML.

My first keyboard still had a five-pin DIN plug, the monitor was black and green and the modem whistled for a while before any page showed up. That’s when I started building web pages. By hand and evening after evening, because it simply got hold of me.

Since then there have been a lot of projects, on almost as many systems. First WordPress, phpBB3 and Joomla, later headless and API-first. The clients changed, the technology too, and every time the legal situation. Most of it happened on the side and as volunteer work, and I didn’t earn much from it. I did it anyway, because I could and, to be honest, because I’m a nice guy. Some of it was probably for my karma as well.

More than 25 years of trying things out eventually turned into a craft. What you see on this site comes from exactly those many evenings.

Five-pin DIN plug / Windows 3.0 / 56k modem / Black-and-green monitor

Approach

How I work.

I prefer to take on a project as a whole, from the first architecture to day-to-day operations. I do it myself rather than spreading it across three subcontractors. You won’t get much slideware or agency talk from me.

I don’t come from computer science. For almost 20 years I led teams in healthcare, at the end around 100 people. In 2020 I started over from scratch and retrained. You can still tell from my work, because I look at the people who have to cope with a system first and at the technology after that.

Whatever can be automated, I automate, and whatever needs protecting goes behind Zero Trust. That isn’t spectacular, but it holds.

I built this site with Claude Code. So with AI, but by clear rules, with a clean architecture and documented decisions. For me that is the normal way to build software in 2026. Whether it works, you’re looking at right now.

Questions

Short answers.

  • What is Leaster?

    My private label for everything I build next to my job, so websites, self-hosting, automation and a few free tools. There is no company and no agency behind it, just me.

  • Are the tools really free?

    Yes. The QR generator, the Site-Check and the open API cost nothing, you don’t need to sign up and nothing gets tracked. Everything runs on my own infrastructure.

  • Why no cookie banner?

    Because I only measure sparingly. Reach is counted with a self-hosted Matomo without cookies and with a truncated IP, and nothing goes to third parties. There is no cookie you would have to consent to, so there is no need for a banner. If you still don’t want to be counted, you can opt out with one click in the privacy policy.

  • Do you take requests?

    I’m not trying to sell anything through this site. We can still talk, of course. If you have a project in mind, write to me on LinkedIn or by email.

Contact

Say hello.

This site doesn’t sell anything, it just shows what I work on. If you fancy a chat, LinkedIn is the easiest way to reach me.