Taking new projects · US & Taiwan

AI agents, apps and websites — built and shipped live.

I'm Yufan Chen, an engineering leader and full-stack engineer. I find what's actually in the way, then build the fix into the systems you already run: AI agents and automations, mobile apps, websites and back ends — and I make sure Google and AI search can find you.

Book a free call See services

Fixed-price quotes · replies within 1–2 business days · English or 中文

  • Former CTOTalentSmartEQ
  • Enterprise portals for3M · Adobe
  • Agentic AI certificateJohns Hopkins
  • B.S. Computer ScienceUC San Diego
  • Based inSan Diego · Taipei
  • 40Musers reached by a gifting widget I built
  • 1M+people took an assessment I built
  • 26countries served by platforms I ran as CTO
  • 2apps live on the App Store, built solo

Services

What I can build for you

One owner from architecture to deployment. Specialists come in when a project needs them, and you end up owning the result.

AI agents & assistants

Assistants that answer from your own documents and data, with sources attached, and can take the next step: look up the record, draft the reply, file the result.

  • RAG
  • LangChain
  • LangGraph
  • OpenAI · Claude

Automation & integrations

The copy-paste loop between two systems, replaced. Internal tools, admin consoles, APIs and webhooks that connect what you already use.

  • REST & webhooks
  • Salesforce
  • MySQL
  • Python

Mobile apps

iPhone, Android and Mac from one codebase, designed, built and taken all the way through App Store review.

  • Flutter
  • React Native
  • Expo

Websites & web platforms

Fast bilingual (English / 中文) sites, plus the platforms behind them: memberships, checkout, assessments and reporting.

  • PHP · Laravel
  • Cloud Run
  • GitHub Actions

Search visibility

Get found on Google and named in ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini answers, through technical SEO, structured data and an llms.txt layer.

  • SEO
  • AEO
  • GEO
  • JSON-LD

Project rescue & modernization

A stalled build or an aging system nobody wants to touch. I find what's actually blocking it, then fix it, modernize it and get it shipped.

  • Code audit
  • Legacy PHP
  • UI refresh
  • Migrations

Selected work

Shipped and in use

Everything here is live. Open the links and try it.

Tally billable-time app

Own product · iPhone & Mac

Tally

A billable-time and invoicing app for lawyers and freelancers. Designed, built and shipped solo to the App Store and Mac App Store.

  • Flutter
  • iOS
  • macOS
tallybillable.com
Tadapop habit tracker

Own product · iOS & Android

Tadapop

A social habit tracker where friends compete on streaks and points in a private leaderboard. 100+ users, built solo.

  • React Native
  • Expo
tadapop.app

Client platforms & websites

Bilingual sites and web platforms, deployed with CI/CD.

Experience

From programmer to CTO, and back to building

  1. 2026 – present · San Diego & Taipei

    Ship to Live

    Founder & Principal Engineer

    • AI agents, automation and AI search optimization for US and Taiwan businesses.
    • Built the EQ 360 platform for LEADx / TalentSmartEQ: assessment engine, scoring, admin console and credit system.
    • Shipped two App Store apps solo: Tally (Flutter) and Tadapop (React Native / Expo).
    • Bilingual client websites on GCP Cloud Run with GitHub Actions CI/CD.

  2. 2022 – 2026

    Get Real Gifts

    Full-Stack Engineer

    • Built the core gifting widget, used by 40 million members of a partner platform.
    • Shipped a full order-history system and redesigned the widget UI.
    • Built gift.me as a standalone gifting site and led its SEO / GEO.

  3. 2005 – 2021 · San Diego

    TalentSmartEQ

    Chief Technology Officer (2013 – 2021) · Senior Programmer · Programmer

    • Led engineering; owned architecture, infrastructure and security for 20+ assessments in 26 countries.
    • Built the Emotional Intelligence Appraisal for the bestseller Emotional Intelligence 2.0, taken by over 1 million people.
    • Enterprise portals for 3M and Adobe, a Salesforce REST integration, and an encrypted data exchange with TruScore.
    • Membership, checkout and learning platform, plus an internal CMS for support, finance, assessments and shipping.

Education

  • Certificate Program in Agentic AIJohns Hopkins University · 2026 · RAG and LangGraph agent projects
  • B.S. Computer ScienceUniversity of California, San Diego

Skills

  • AI & agentsRAG, multi-agent orchestration, LangChain, LangGraph, ChromaDB, OpenAI API, Claude Code
  • LanguagesPHP, Python, JavaScript, Dart, SQL, Solidity
  • Apps & frameworksFlutter, React Native / Expo, Laravel, REST APIs
  • Data & cloudMySQL, MariaDB, GCP Cloud Run, GitHub Actions, Docker, nginx
  • Search visibilityTechnical SEO, AEO, GEO, JSON-LD, llms.txt

How it works

Three steps, no six-month contract

  1. 1 Free

    Talk it through

    Tell me where the work piles up or what you want built. I'll tell you straight what's in the way, and whether AI is the right tool at all.

  2. 2 Fixed price

    Scope and quote

    A short written plan with what gets built, what it costs, and when it's done, quoted in one email. Larger AI projects start with a two-week pilot on your real data.

  3. 3 Build → live

    Ship it live

    Built, tested and deployed, with permissions, logging and handover docs, so it keeps running without me. You own the code and the accounts.

About

Hi, I'm Yufan.

I started as a programmer at TalentSmartEQ and finished there as CTO, running the platform behind assessments taken in 26 countries. Since then I've built a gifting widget used by 40 million people, two App Store apps of my own, and AI agents for the businesses I work with. I completed Johns Hopkins' Agentic AI certificate in 2026.

"Ship to live" is the last step of any build: shipping the code to production. It's the step most projects never reach, and the one I care about most. My job is to find what's really blocking it and get the thing running where people use it.

US work is contracted through QY LLC (San Diego); Taiwan work through 夏裕科技股份有限公司, which can issue 統一發票.

LinkedIn GitHub

FAQ

Questions before we start

What services does Ship to Live offer?

AI agents and assistants, workflow automation and integrations, mobile apps (iPhone, Android, Mac), websites and web platforms, search visibility (SEO, AEO and GEO), and rescuing or modernizing stalled and aging projects. One person owns each project from architecture to deployment.

How does a project start, and how is it priced?

With a free conversation about what you need. Then you get a short written plan with a fixed price, quoted in one email. Larger AI projects usually start with a two-week pilot on one workflow, running on your real data.

Can an AI agent answer from my company's own data? Is that safe?

Yes, and that's the most common thing I build. Your documents, policies and records become the source the assistant answers from, with citations back to the original. I scope exactly what the agent can read and do, log every action, and keep a person in the loop wherever a mistake would be costly.

SEO, AEO, GEO: what's the difference?

SEO gets your link into Google and Bing results. AEO (answer engine optimization) gets your content into featured snippets and AI Overviews. GEO (generative engine optimization) gets your business cited in answers from ChatGPT, Perplexity and Gemini. All three rest on fast pages, clear answers, structured data and an llms.txt layer.

Who is Yufan Chen?

Yufan Chen is an engineering leader and full-stack engineer based in San Diego, California and Taipei, Taiwan, and the founder of Ship to Live. He was CTO of TalentSmartEQ, built a gifting widget used by 40 million people at Get Real Gifts, and holds a B.S. in Computer Science from UC San Diego and a Certificate in Agentic AI from Johns Hopkins.

Do you work in Chinese, and where are you based?

Yes. I work in English and Traditional Chinese, from San Diego and Taipei, so US and Taiwan clients each get a workable time zone. US projects are contracted through QY LLC; Taiwan projects through 夏裕科技股份有限公司.

Contact

Tell me what you need built.

You don't need a spec. Describe the problem, or the part of the week that keeps eating your time, and I'll reply with what I'd do and what it would cost.

Or message me on LinkedIn