Hi, I'm Mirza Ishraq
I'm a data and backend software developer with over eight years of experience building, deploying and maintaining software across research, higher education and enterprise. I design secure, scalable systems, from backend APIs and cloud infrastructure to AI assistants and agentic workflows.
I built this space to share and discuss what I know, explore late-night thought experiments, and document my research and studies.
How I build and ship full-stack agentic AI apps
My workflow in 10 steps: Scope, the job, and how we'll know it works; Data model, the data it reads and writes; Embeddings, documents into searchable vectors; LLM, the model, through its SDK; Tools, what it may call, in a loop; Memory, what it keeps between conversations; Guardrails, asks before any change, tools by role; Interface, the front end and UI; Evals, scored test runs before it ships; Deploy + monitor, traces and costs feed the next round.
Selected work
AI agent that acts safely
A full-stack agentic AI application built with Django, Claude API and htmx. It's an AI data request and ticketing tool for the district's roughly 13,000 staff to submit, track and update data requests in plain English. The agent picks its own tools, asks before it changes anything, and only gets the tools a user's role allows.
Django · Claude API · htmx · PostgreSQL
Secure data delivery for a biotech lab
GMP-compliant Django tools that upload research imaging data, process it in parallel and deliver it to clients through AWS S3. Automated tracking cut manual handling and sped up delivery.
Django · htmx · AWS S3 · Celery · Docker
Canvas course enrollment tool
A Django web app that lets SDSU ITS staff cross-list, combine and move course enrollments across Canvas sections, replacing hours of manual work every semester.
Django · REST API · PostgreSQL
Identity and access automation
A set of Python, Bash and LDAP tools for 10k+ university accounts. They cut provisioning and cleanup time by 50%, connected Box to the campus directory, and used AWS Lambda to email sponsors before guest accounts expired.
Python · Bash · LDAP · AWS Lambda · Box API
Recent posts
Keras in Python, Rebuilding My 2020 Notebook (Step by Step)
Keras in Python in eight steps. Predict California house prices with a small neural network, beat linear regression, then save the model the Keras 3 way.
Comprehensive Tutorial on Django ORM, Migrations and makemigrations
Learn the ORM in Django, django makemigrations and django migrations by building a small store, with backfills, rollbacks and team conflicts fixed.
Einstein 3, Me 0 (My Impulsive Attempt at General Relativity in Python)
I drafted a plan with Claude to rebuild space navigation on Einstein. My Python tests and a 3D black hole show why it can't get us to the stars.
How to Build a Claude Dashboard for PRs, CI and Deploys
How to build a Claude dashboard with live GitHub data in Claude Code. Open PRs, CI runs and deploys, the GitHub connector setup, and every number checked.