kai.takahashi // bento-os v4.2
Kai

Kai Takahashi

Staff Design Engineer • Tokyo / SF

Crafting 120fps WebGPU shaders, local-first CRDT collaborative canvases, and tactile developer tools. Previously Principal UI Architect at Linear & Vercel.

Rust + WASM WebGPU TypeScript SwiftUI
OPEN-SOURCE COMMITS (2026) 2,418 Contributions
★ 31,400 Stars across 18 public repositories
BASE OF OPERATIONS
Shibuya, Tokyo
● Available for Q4 Advisory
SYNTHESIS ROTATION
Ryuichi Sakamoto — Async
♫ Lossless FLAC Stream
CAREER TENURE
Principal Design Engineer — Linear2024 — Present
Staff UI Systems Engineer — Vercel2022 — 2024
Senior Graphics Engineer — Figma2019 — 2022

Shipped Engineering Systems (04)

HyperCanvas
RUST + WEBGPU • 18.4K ★

HyperCanvas 2D/3D Engine

Zero-allocation infinite spatial canvas rendering 250,000 vector nodes at 120Hz.

ChronoDB
TYPESCRIPT + INDEXEDDB • 9.2K ★

ChronoDB Local-First Sync

Sub-millisecond optimistic UI state engine with Merkle-tree delta compression.

ShaderStudio
WGSL + THREE.JS • 6.8K ★

Kuro Real-Time Raymarcher

Node-based signed distance field (SDF) shader composer with hot-reload uniforms.

CommandK
REACT + ARIA • 14.1K ★

Kirei Command Palette

Zero-dependency keyboard-first command menu with fuzzy Wasm scoring in 1.8KB.

Workstation & Hardware Inventory

Monitor
DISPLAY
Apple Pro Display XDR 6K

Nano-texture glass on counterbalanced VESA arm.

Keyboard
INPUT
HHKB Professional Hybrid Type-S

45g Topre electrostatic capacitive switches (Blank Charcoal).

Synth
AUDIO DSP
Teenage Engineering OP-1 Field

Used for synthesizing custom UI micro-interaction sound packs.

Camera
OPTICS
Leica Q3 Summilux 28mm f/1.7

Documenting Tokyo brutalist architecture & street light.

Published Essays & Keynotes (05)

Why 60fps Is No Longer Enough: Designing for 120Hz ProMotion
Keynote at Figma Config • 42,000 Views
OCT 2026 ↗
Zero-Copy SharedArrayBuffer Pipelines Between Rust & WebGPU
Published in ACM Queue & Hacker News #1
AUG 2026 ↗
The Physics of Tactile Interfaces: Spring Damping over Bezier Curves
Interactive Essay with Live WebGL Sandboxes
MAY 2026 ↗
Local-First CRDTs in Production: Lessons from 10M Synced Documents
Talk at Local-First Conf Berlin
FEB 2026 ↗
● ACCEPTING 1 DESIGN ENGINEERING ADVISORY CLIENT

Need a 120fps Interface or Design System Overhaul?

I partner directly with seed and Series A technical founders to architect flagship product interfaces, custom shaders, and ultra-fast web applications.