Roadmap determined
I will be releasing parts of the Geodineum Eco-system while I get it production-ready in its entirety. Today I am unveiling gCube & gCore. gCube…
Home
I dream. and then I build.
I’m always looking to connect with builders.
Let’s dream. and then build it.
Niels Erik Toren
Welcome to the builder’s den
The Age of Artificial Intelligence should also be the Age of Builders.
For the first time, the primary limitation on what can be built is no longer capital or access
but imagination, clarity, and the ability to execute.
We need to think, build, and deploy in weeks, sometimes days.
I build tools that make that possible.
Not to chase outcomes, but because building is how I think.
To the builders
If you prefer:
Dedicated hardware you control over sprawling cloud abstractions
Simple, fast primitives over systems held together by inertia
Rust or C where performance matters and higher-level stacks only where they truly earn their place
Then we’re likely circling the same ideas from different angles.
If you’re building something that feels slightly unreasonable,
something that doesn’t fit neatly into existing boxes,
I’m in that position myself. Constantly.
I’m always open to a conversation.
To the investors
This is not a pitch.
You can watch me build.
You can watch things fail, be reworked, and sharpened.
Or you can decide to engage; not with hype,
but with systems designed to endure pressure, pivot cleanly, and compound usefulness over time.
I’m building a coherent ecosystem of developer tools: modular, scalable, distributable.
Meant to be extended by others, not guarded behind gates.
No spectacle.
Just capability, throughput, and time.
If that resonates, we should talk.
Why?
Because the cost of building has drifted away from the people doing the thinking.
Because dependence has been normalized and relabeled as “best practice”.
And because somewhere right now, someone with a genuinely good idea is being told
they need infrastructure they cannot afford –
when what they actually need are better tools.
Why me?
Because I operate in a permanent tension.
On one side: the conviction that exceptional things can be built from first principles.
On the other: a quiet suspicion that mediocrity is always nearby, waiting.
I’ve stopped trying to resolve that tension.
I use it. Contradiction, and duality as fuel.
“It is the tension between these poles — a restless idealism on one hand and a sense of impending doom on the other — that kept me going.”
— Hunter S. Thompson
About
I’m Niels Toren (nierto), a full-stack developer building modular systems from first principles.
My work focuses on enabling serious software to run on modest, owned hardware, without unnecessary dependencies on cloud platforms or closed ecosystems.
I’m interested in building modular components from first principles that scale and perform, while remaining easy to extend and understand, an eco-system of everything a Disruptor might need to launch their idea.
If you care about owning your stack and building systems that last, we’ll likely work well together.
Services
I build in three ways:
For me and my family. I built things I needed, component by component, as my appetite evolves.
Open-source infrastructure – for disruptors, the vanguard of progress, who want to prototype rapidly.
Premium extensions – when the lemons are worth the squeeze.
Direct collaboration – when the problem challenges me.
Ways of building together
Ignition
From idea to existence
Turning a clear idea into a deployed, working system.
Focus:
Architecture from first principles
Fast, deliberate implementation
Immediate deployment on owned or minimal infrastructure
Outcome: something real, running, and ready to be tested against reality.
Scaling
From functioning to flourishing
Aligning systems with growth, resilience, and long-term compounding.
Focus
Structural clarity over defensive complexity
Performance where it matters most
Trustworthy, comprehensible operations
Outcome
Systems that invite growth instead of resisting it.
Modular
From monolithic to expandable
Making systems easy to grow without breaking.
Focus:
Modular design and clear boundaries
Extension points instead of rewrites
Enabling others to build on the system safely
Outcome: long-term durability.
Distillation
From complex to clear
Reducing systems to what actually matters.
Focus:
Removing unnecessary layers
Simplifying architecture and dependencies
Restoring clarity and intent
Outcome: leaner systems that are easier to understand, maintain, and extend.
Engagement usually starts at one phase and flows naturally into the next.
Send me a message for the budget you have in mind for your project and I’ll let you know what I think.
Open and free dialogue is the bedrock upon which progress and collaboration thrive.
Projects
G* Ecosystem Vision
A modular infrastructure ecosystem designed to run serious systems on modest, owned hardware.
At its core is the GSD: a high-performance service layer written in Rust; responsible for coordination, caching, and performance-critical workloads outside the application runtime.
The ecosystem also includes a client implementation that allows higher-level applications to interact with GSD cleanly, enabling gradual adoption without tight coupling.
Built to reduce dependency, simplify deployment, and preserve system clarity as scale increases.
Pro Humanitate
Open-source contributions
gCore
A lightweight PHP framework focused on modularity, clarity, and long-term maintainability.
Provides focused managers for common concerns such as security, caching, assets, and templating. Runs independently in standard environments and integrates with the G* backend when available for enhanced orchestration.
gCube
A set of WordPress themes engineered as systems rather than skins.
Designed to run efficiently in standalone mode on ordinary hosting, while automatically unlocking additional capabilities when paired with the G* stack. Emphasizes predictable performance and minimal dependency overhead.
Hobby Research
Exploratory work focused on mathematical structure, validation, and cryptography.
GeoM(under development, Q2 2026)
Rust – A comprehensive mathematics library featuring base-10, base-2, base-60 and symbolic representations.
GeoV(to be released)
Rust – A gamble on geometric validation of data, aiming to move beyond rule-based schemes towards geometric validation.
GeoQ(to be released)
Rust – Experimental post-quantum cryptography research based on elegant and minimal mathematical constructions using discrete finite fields. KEM+Symmetric
Professional Work
RINO Amsterdam
Product Owner & Developer
Active in designing and streamlining digital systems for higher education, with a focus on reliability, efficiency, and long-term maintainability.
Key projects include:
MijnRINO Portal – a core platform for RINO Amsterdam, integrated within our existing infra in collaboration with Ruben V. and stenversonline.nl
System streamlining initiatives aimed at reducing operational overhead and improving institutional workflows
News
Launch of the website. GSD's hello world
It was a quiet, until then, unremarkable night in December of the good year of our Lord 2025, in which I managed to finally, after…