- before 2012
Early days
South Wales and TenerifeGrew up between South Wales and Tenerife: valleys for half of it, a volcano for the other. Studied software engineering at Swansea University.
- software engineering
- Jun 2012 – Sep 2016
Freelance developer · Self-employed
Four years of building websites and web apps for clients, mostly in PHP, and usually as the whole team: scoping it, building it, shipping it and keeping it alive.
- PHP
- client work
- Sep 2016 – Mar 2018
Web developer · Horseware Ireland
Dundalk, IrelandBuilt and looked after the ecommerce behind Horseware’s 12+ equestrian brands, shipping features across every storefront and keeping the whole estate running.
Triple Crown Custom: from phone orders to a web configurator
- Context
- Triple Crown Custom, one of the group’s flagship brands, made rugs to order, and the only way to order one was over the phone.
- Decision
- Built a visual rug designer in the browser. Pick every colour and trim, watch the rug update in real time, and order it on the spot. Think Nike’s shoe customiser, but for horses.
- Outcome
- Custom orders moved online and the brand’s revenue grew by thousands of percent.
- ecommerce
- product configurators
- Apr 2018 – Jan 2021
Senior software developer · Aphix Software
Drogheda, IrelandJoined Aphix to build B2B ordering for wholesalers and distributors: webshops, sales-rep apps and customer portals, all running on live data from each customer’s ERP.
- React
- ERP integrations
- Jan 2021 – Oct 2024
Technical team lead · Aphix Software
Drogheda, IrelandLed engineering as the team grew to 10–15 people. Hired and interviewed, set the bar for code quality, and brought in the tooling to hold it there.
- leading teams
- hiring
- code quality
- Jan 2023 – Apr 2026
Software architect · Experlogix Digital Commerce
RemoteWhen Experlogix acquired Aphix, I became architect for the platform, now Experlogix Digital Commerce: PHP and React on top, the servers underneath, and every enterprise ERP integration in between.
Flo: taking data mapping out of the ticket queue
- Context
- Every customer brings their own ERP, and every ERP shapes its data differently. The rules for bringing that data in lived in code and config, so each change meant a ticket, a slot in professional services’ calendar, a code review and a release window.
- Decision
- Designed and led Flo, a visual workflow builder in the spirit of n8n. Implementers and customers drag together their own import rules and field mappings: no code, no release.
- Outcome
- Mapping changes go live the moment they’re saved, and around 80% of that work no longer touches professional services.
Two kinds of customer, one storefront
- Context
- The same storefronts served B2B buyers on live, customer-specific ERP pricing and retail guests on fixed prices, across catalogues of millions of products and customers.
- Decision
- Designed the ingestion pipeline: queue-based ERP sync pulling huge catalogues in, with caching and search in front, so guest traffic never waits on an ERP while B2B buyers still price and order in real time.
- Outcome
- Peaked at around 5 million page views a day.
- platform architecture
- caching and search
- queues
- Linux
- Apr 2026 – present
Software architect · Experlogix Document Automation
RemoteMoved across to Document Automation, a .NET and React platform that turns CRM and ERP data into contracts, quotes and every other document a business runs on. Now designing the AI agent that customers will work alongside inside the product.
- .NET
- AI agents
Richard Thomas
Fourteen years designing the systems that sit between messy enterprise data and the people who need it: B2B commerce on live ERP feeds, visual workflow engines, and now AI agents.
the story so far
side quests
- SchoonerTurns any cloud server or Linux box into a persistent, agent-ready dev workstation you can pick up from anywhere.active
- skillenvVirtual environments for agent skills, so every skill gets exactly the tools it needs and nothing else.open source
- ReviewThingA desktop app for reviewing code your AI agents wrote, with specialist AI reviewers that never replace your own judgment.in preview
- AI researchHobby research into how models and agents actually behave when you push them.ongoing
- Football analyticsShot data, expected goals, and arguing with the numbers.ongoing
outside work
Welsh, from the south, now living in Tenerife. Dad to a toddler, and to Daisy the Maltese and two tabbies, Pixie and Trixie, who between them run the house.