Encore Shao
Full-stack Engineer & AI Researcher

Building web software at Ekohe since 2011. Open source author. Currently focused on AI tooling, MCP infrastructure, and shipping things that actually get used.

GitHub icmoc.com
8 articles
2 languages
10+ years shipping
5+ open source libs

Projects

Things I built and still maintain
bamboohr-mcp MCP · TypeScript

MCP server wrapping BambooHR's API — lets any LLM query HR data in natural language.

GitHub
Bookmark Dashboard Chrome · AI

Chrome extension that replaces new tab with an AI-powered full-featured bookmark manager.

GitHub
RanBot AI Agents · Product

Multi-agent automation platform. Define workflows in natural language, let agents handle execution.

ranbot.online
china_regions Ruby · Open Source

Rails engine providing province/city/district models pre-loaded with official CN region data.

GitHub

Writing

Thoughts on engineering, AI, and shipping software
2026
Jun 2026 AIMCP 8 min
Building bamboohr-mcp: An MCP Server for HR APIs
I wanted to let any LLM talk to BambooHR's API. Three days later I had a production MCP server in TypeScript. Here's exactly what I built and what surprised me along the way.
May 2026 RubyOpen Source 8 min
china_regions: Lessons from a 25-Star Ruby Gem
What I learned shipping a Ruby library for Chinese administrative regions — and why documentation matters more than the code itself.
Apr 2026 AIChrome 8 min
AI-Powered Bookmark Dashboard: A Chrome Extension Story
Replacing the new tab page with something actually useful — how I built a bookmark dashboard powered by agentic AI, and what I'd do differently.
Mar 2026 AIAgents 8 min
Agentic AI in Production: What I Learned Building RanBot
Autonomous workflows sound great until they hit the real world. Twelve months of running agentic systems in production, and the lessons I keep coming back to.
2025
Dec 2025 RubyRails 8 min
10 Years of Rails: What I Still Reach For Every Day
Not a framework review. A personal account of which Rails patterns aged well, which didn't, and what I've built that I'm still proud of.
Oct 2025 AIProduct 8 min
Building TrendShop: When AI Meets Fashion Discovery
How we built a social fashion platform powered by AI recommendation — what worked, what the users actually wanted, and the pivot we almost didn't make.
Sep 2025 RubyOpen Source 8 min
Building a Ruby Wrapper for the Crunchbase API
What I learned wrapping a third-party API in idiomatic Ruby — rate limits, authentication flows, model design, and the V3 to V4 migration I didn't see coming.
Jul 2025 RailsProduct 8 min
WorkflowPro: Building Office Automation That Actually Gets Used
How I built an approval workflow system for an elevator manufacturer that ran three years without downtime — and what I learned about getting enterprise software right the first time.