cd ~/work

Things I’ve built and run.

Three hosting ventures and a publication, starting with the first one at 14. Here’s what each one does, or did, and what it taught me.

utkarsh@samdani~/work
ps --sort=start -o pid,start,state,name
PIDSTARTSTATENAMEWHAT
1 2022 exited dynacore hosting for sites, bots and game servers
2 2025 merged qixla-cloud hosting, domains and servers
3 2025 restarting conflict.asia defence publication, OSINT
4 2026 running helstify hosting your AI can work on
4 processes. PID 1 was the first. Pick one to jump to it.

PID 4 · 2026 – NOWRunning

Helstify

Hosting where your AI can do the work.

Helstify sells web hosting, mail on your own domain, databases, runtimes, self-hosted apps, and game and voice servers. Every machine comes with a file manager and a terminal in the browser.

The difference is what happens next. You connect the AI you already pay for, whether that’s Claude, Codex, opencode or Antigravity, decide what it’s allowed to do, and it works directly on the files, the database, the DNS and the mailboxes. On managed plans, a set of agents keeps mail, DNS and deployments running for you.

It grew out of what I learned running Qixla Cloud, and Qixla’s servers are what it runs on.

The Helstify homepage: a business, built from an idea
claude@helstify~/bakery-site
you › mail from the bakery site keeps landing in spam
● checking the domain's mail records
SPF missing
DKIM present
DMARC missing
● adding an SPF record for the Helstify mail servers
● adding a DMARC policy
✓ records are live. Send yourself a test email.

An example of the kind of job an agent does on Helstify, within the permissions you give it.

PID 3 · 2025 – NOWRestarting

conflict.asia

A defence publication that shows its working.

conflict.asia is a defence and geopolitics publication I run with a small team of OSINT analysts. The rule is simple: every claim has to point back to something a reader can check, whether that’s a satellite image, a tender document or a statement on the record.

OSINT, or open-source intelligence, is investigation using only public material. Nobody hands you a secret file. You gather what’s already out there, from dated satellite passes to procurement notices, local reporting and posts from people on the ground, and you cross-check it until a claim either holds up or falls apart. The console on this page replays how that went for one hangar.

The site is offline while we rebuild it. The longest piece of that kind of work lives here in the meantime: Four Days in May.

osint@conflict.asia~/cases/jacobabad
geolocate hangar.jpg
PAF Base Shahbaz, Jacobabad 28.28°N 68.45°E
compare --before 2024-08 --after 2025-09
hangar roof intact → open to the sky
aircraft 2 on the apron → 0
crosscheck "PAF repair tenders"
✓ 30+ airbase repair contracts on record
publish --with-sources
→ Four Days in May, 7,800 words, 34 images, 24 sources
Satellite image, August 2024: the hangar at PAF Base Shahbaz with its roof intact Satellite image, September 2025: the same hangar with its roof torn open AUG 2024 SEP 2025 HANGAR ROOF
The frame the console is talking about. Drag to compare.Imagery: Esri World Imagery, dated captures

PID 2 · 2025 – 2026Merged

Qixla Cloud

The one that became the foundation.

Qixla Cloud put web hosting, domains and server provisioning in one place. I built it to be fast, simple and cheap enough to keep running, using everything DynaCore had taught me.

It isn’t a separate product any more. I folded it into Helstify in 2026, and its infrastructure now runs Helstify’s hosting.

root@qixla~
systemctl status qixla-cloud
● qixla-cloud.service - hosting, domains and servers
Loaded: loaded (/etc/helstify/qixla.service)
Active: merged into helstify since 2026
The servers still run. They answer to Helstify now.

PID 1 · 2022 – 2025Exited

DynaCore

The first one. I was 14.

DynaCore hosted websites, Discord bots and game servers for three years. It’s where I learned the unglamorous half of running a venture: billing, support, keeping servers up when something breaks without warning, and working out what infrastructure really costs.

It’s retired now. Most of what I’ve built since started with something it taught me.

root@dynacore~
last --since 2022 dynacore
dynacore 2022 – 2025 up 3 years
hosted websites, discord bots, game servers
taught billing, support, pricing, uptime
systemctl status dynacore
● dynacore.service - inactive (retired 2025)

ls ~/side-projects

Smaller things I made for fun.

This site is one of them. It’s Laravel on a Linux box I run, with a terminal on the homepage you can type into.

There’s also an arcade: Battleship, three murder mysteries you solve from a command line, a cabinet of puzzle games and Terminal Tycoon, a business sim where you run a data centre and your progress is saved between visits.

Open the arcade