tw.Todd WattsBook a call

Software engineer & fractional CTO

Full-stack development & business technology

Todd Watts.

Useful on the surface.
Considered underneath.

Book a free 20-minute ops teardown

I build full-stack software, interfaces and developer tools. My background combines software development since 2018 with experience in marketing and technology leadership.

Through Shell Command, LLC, I work as a fractional CTO and hands-on software engineer for small professional-services firms in finance, quant and tax.Open to software engineering roles, contract work and freelance projects.

See selected work Email Todd Read my résumé

A prerecorded clip of Todd Watts, redrawn live in text characters. A static text frame shows the same clip when motion is not available.

Fig. 01 · Todd, in eleven shades of typeFig. 02 · Todd, edges onlyFig. 03 · Todd, one bit per cell

Give Pi a clear shell policy and checkpoints before it acts. See the work

From first interaction to what happens next.Selected work

01The work behind the work

Since 2018Two roles

Engineering with business context.

  • Now Shell Command, LLC

    Fractional CTO. Hands-on engineer.

    I help small professional-services firms in finance, quant and tax set technical direction, shape system architecture and build the software.

    Book a free 20-minute ops teardownExplore fractional CTO services

  • 2018–2025 Engineered Tax Services

    Developer from the beginning.

    Hands-on software work throughout, including early marketing and technology leadership. A dedicated development role as the company grew.

    Explore my experience

02Public LinkedIn recommendations

7 recommendations

People who know the work.

Perspectives from people who have recommended my work. Browse short excerpts and summaries, then read their full recommendations on LinkedIn.

LinkedInPeople behind the words

Swipe, use the arrows, or focus the cards and use Left / Right. Home and End jump to the first and last.

  • ASCII portrait of Bianca Rendel

    Bianca Rendel

    Worked together at Engineered Tax Services

    October 2026
    In their words

    “he was truly one of those people you could always count on.”

    Recommendation summary

    Bianca highlights dependability, creativity and support across marketing and web development from more than six years working together.

  • ASCII portrait of Ian Miller

    Ian Miller

    Worked together at Engineered Tax Services

    June 2024
    In their words

    “sharp technical skills, particularly in API development”

    Recommendation summary

    Ian highlights API development, creative problem-solving and a collaborative approach to delivering software.

  • ASCII portrait of Julio Gonzalez

    Julio Gonzalez

    Managed me directly at Engineered Tax Services

    August 2025
    In their words

    “Easy to work with”

    Recommendation summary

    Julio emphasizes business value, ease of collaboration and making technical ideas understandable.

  • ASCII portrait of Daniel Benson

    Daniel Benson, MHA, LNHA

    CEO · Client and colleague

    October 2025
    In their words

    “bridging technical execution with market-facing growth”

    Recommendation summary

    A client and colleague connects full-stack development and API integration with creative marketing and commercial strategy.

  • ASCII portrait of Charina Padilla

    Charina Padilla

    Client

    September 2025
    In their words

    “meets deadlines reliably”

    Recommendation summary

    Charina highlights technical adaptability, clear communication and attention to business goals.

  • ASCII portrait of Louis Glover

    Louis Glover

    Worked together at Engineered Tax Services

    June 14, 2024
    In their words

    “I had the pleasure of working with Todd at Engineered Tax Services, and I can't recommend him highly enough. Todd is an exceptionally talented Web Developer with a keen eye for detail and a deep understanding of user experience. His developments are not only visually appealing but also highly functional and user-friendly. Todd and I collaborated closely on several SEO projects, and his contributions were invaluable. He has an excellent grasp of SEO principles and always ensures that his web developments are optimized for search engines. Todd’s ability to integrate SEO best practices into his development work significantly enhanced our projects' overall performance and visibility. Additionally, Todd played a pivotal role in integrating AI technologies into our workflows. His innovative approach to leveraging AI for web development and SEO analytics helped streamline our processes and improve our efficiency. His expertise in AI added a cutting-edge dimension to our projects, driving better results and staying ahead of industry trends. One of Todd's standout qualities is his collaborative spirit. He is always open to feedback and works seamlessly with other team members to achieve the best results. His positive attitude and dedication to his craft make him a pleasure to work with. Todd's expertise in web development, SEO, and AI integration, along with his collaborative approach, make him an asset to any team. I am grateful for the opportunity to have worked with him and am confident that he will excel in any future endeavors.”

  • ASCII portrait of Suzanne Fladell

    Suzanne Fladell, LPN

    Healthcare professional

    August 2022
    In their words

    “very professional and knowledgeable”

    Recommendation summary

    Suzanne highlights professionalism, knowledge, networking and troubleshooting.

01 of 07
Motion is off. Play turns it on.

03A closer look

4 projects

Selected work

Public-facing client work and independent engineering. Client entries show professional context; open-source work and original experiments make the technical decisions inspectable.

See all work

03 Agent tooling

MAINFRAME 

Shell work proposed by a Pi agent needs a clear permission boundary. MAINFRAME provides shell policy, checkpoints and status a person can inspect.

Agent tooling · shell policy and recovery workflows

Open source

Pi / Bash / TypeScript / Python
Read the case study : MAINFRAMEView the public source (MAINFRAME, external site)
Why this way? MAINFRAME: margin note
A retro computing illustration of MAINFRAME’s input, policy and execution workflow.
Generated illustration · conceptual policy workflowProject visual

04System in motion

Illustrative modelNo live requests

Follow the request.
Feel the consequences.

Travel through the decisions behind an answer. Then change a condition and watch the same journey take a different turn.

Illustrative model / no live requests
One request. Every handoff.01 / 10 events

Request → Gate

Request reaches the policy gate

Output withheld

Enables the site’s motion setting. You can pause at any point.

What happens here

The request asks for a cited summary of public documentation. Its text supplies intent; it cannot grant permission.

The rule that holds

Release follows authorization, a returned tool result and a passed check, in that order. This is a design invariant, not a claim of exactly-once delivery.

The happy path is only the beginning.

Deny permission. Exhaust a retry. Fail a check. The camera follows the consequence.

Eight responsibilities, in plain language
  1. 01Request
  2. 02Gate
  3. 03Orchestrator
  4. 04Agents ×3
  5. 04aTools
  6. 03aMemory
  7. 05Checks
  8. 06Output

Deterministic architecture, not production telemetry. See what MAINFRAME actually implements ↗

Inspect a real policy boundary

The invariant: a blocked command must stop before protected shell execution. MAINFRAME’s Pi hook checks the command and returns a blocking result when policy refuses it.

The regression: a test submits an obfuscated destructive command through that hook and requires the dynamic-executable-word refusal.

Inspect the enforcement hook ↗Read the failure test ↗

Source and test definitions at revision c6a4f639. This page does not run that test. The boundary covers supported Pi shell routes; native write/edit tools and an operating-system sandbox remain outside its scope.

05Original engineering experiment

Invented data

One request. Two ways to fail.

A fictional telescope lending desk. Retry a request, lose a notification and inspect which state should change. All data and scenarios are invented for this site.

Explore the lending lab

06Original writing

Engineering and business notes

Read the decisions behind the work.

Work through a build, buy or integrate decision, inspect what an API timeout means, or explore the process behind agentic coding.

Read all engineering and business notes

Project Advisor · a practical starting point

Find the smallest useful build.

Ask Project Advisor. It turns a few project decisions into a scoped plan, a first experiment and a way to tell whether it worked. The guided planner runs in your browser. For a direct route, read my résumé or contact me.

Open Project Advisor