Matthew S. Smith (Smiffy)

Adelaide, South Australia

I’ve been building systems on UNIX since 1986 — started on IBM AIX, moved to Linux in the mid-90s, and never really stopped. Nearly 40 years of engineering across mechanical systems, electronics, software, and infrastructure.

More recently, I’ve been applying that experience to AI and LLM integration. Not the theoretical kind — the practical kind, where you build things that work and discover what breaks. Multi-agent coordination, retrieval systems, voice interfaces, edge deployment across consumer hardware. The tools I build are tools I use, often under the exact conditions they’re designed for.

I have AuDHD (autistic + ADHD). This shapes how I work: direct communication, pattern-first thinking, low tolerance for process that exists for its own sake. It also means I have a particular interest in cognitive accessibility — building systems that work with human cognition as it actually is, not as we wish it were.

This Site

Three sections, each with a different purpose:

Opera — long-form works. The word means works (plural of opus). Things that take time to write and are meant to last.

Dæmonologie — writing about AI, LLMs, and the practice of working with them. Named for the historical tradition of studying non-human intelligences, because the parallel amuses me.

Varia — everything else. Shorter pieces, observations, miscellany.

All content is published under Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 4.0 unless otherwise noted.

Elsewhere

Contact

Best reached via LinkedIn or through the contact details on smiffy.online.