building things that actually work. systems programmer who values simplicity over complexity.

about karol broda

hi, i'm karol broda, a developer from poland currently living near munich. i build tools that solve real problems without unnecessary complexity. from low-level systems in C to web applications with React, i focus on what actually works.

i specialize in systems programming and network tunneling solutions. i believe in creating software that developers actually want to use.

my philosophy: start simple, stay simple. boring technology that works beats the shiny new framework. if it takes more than 5 minutes to explain, it's probably too complex.

when i'm not coding, i'm probably reading about why someone rewrote their entire stack in rust, or actually touching grass (revolutionary concept, i know).

latest writing

it's going to be fine (and even if it isn't, that's also fine)

on urgency, stakes, and why almost nothing is as serious as it feels

February 2, 2026•5 min read•life / perspective / humor

read the full article→

02keeping it simple: why postgres and a framework are enoughNovember 8, 202512 min→03moving my raspberry pi's to nixosNovember 3, 202511 min→

deep dives

structured series

curated curriculums that bundle related chapters into book-like experiences.

browse all→

networking

in progress

progressive content without fluff.

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nix

in progress

why nix exists, what it actually solves, and how this series approaches it.

→

systems design

in progress

the concepts, tradeoffs, and patterns behind building software systems that hold up.

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selected works

snitch

a prettier way to inspect network connections. a real-time terminal ui for monitoring tcp and udp connections, listening ports, and the processes behind them.

GoTUINetworking

view on github

snitchgo

│sort: port ↑

PROCESSPORTPROTOSTATELOCAL

↑ 0 more

▸–53tcpLISTEN_localdnsstub

▸next-server3000tcp6LISTEN*

▸bun3005tcp6LISTEN*

▸electron6463tcpLISTENlocalhost

▸chromium39247tcpLISTENlocalhost

↓ 0 more

w watchK kills sort/ searchq quit

funnel

a blazingly fast network tunneling solution and proxy written in Go. funnel is the perfect alternative to ngrok for exposing localhost to the internet. ideal for webhook testing, API development, remote debugging, and sharing local development environments. supports secure tunneling, custom domains, and provides a simple tunneling solution without unnecessary complexity.

GoNetworkingWebSockets

view on website view on github

funnelzsh

$ funnel http 3000

starting tunnel...

✓ tunnel ready

locallocalhost:3000publicnvy2vd3ptl.funnel.karolbroda.com

GET/api/users20012ms

POST/webhook2008ms

systems programming

a collection of low-level projects in C: database with B+ trees and ACID transactions, privacy-preserving network protocol, DNS server, HTTP server, fuzzy matching with BK-trees, and custom data structures. built to understand how things actually work.

CSystemsNetworking

database betanet dns server http server fuzzy match

btree.cc

/* b+ tree - O(log n) */

int insert(BTree *t,

u64 key, void *val) {

Node *leaf = find_leaf(t, key);

if (leaf->len == MAX)

split_node(t, leaf);

return leaf_write(leaf, key, val);

}

catalyst

a typesafe python SQL query builder. making database queries less painful, one type at a time. yes, even in python.

PythonSQLType Safety

view on github

query.pypy

result = (

Query(User)

.where(User.active)

.select("id", "name")

.order_by(User.name)

.limit(100)

.fetch()

)

# fully typed, zero magic

zubr

a modern desktop GUI for PostgreSQL. because sometimes you don't want to type 15 commands from muscle memory just to inspect a database.

TypeScriptReactPostgreSQL

view on github

userssql

> SELECT * FROM users;

idnamerole

1aliceadmin

2bobuser

3caroluser

3 rows · 0.8ms

let's build something

working on something interesting? want to collaborate on tools that actually solve problems? or just want to chat about why we keep rewriting everything? reach out.

get in touch