AI Integration & Agents
Connect AI with existing data, APIs, and applications. Build agent workflows with clear tasks, permissions, and verifiable results.
Independent AI & Software Engineer
Integrate AI.
Modernize software.
I help businesses and agencies build AI workflows, improve PHP applications, and connect systems. From architecture and implementation to Linux operations - backed by more than 25 years of hands-on software experience and my own server infrastructure.
Freelance projects · Remote & Vienna area · Start by arrangement
- AI agents, model integration, and automated workflows
- PHP, APIs, and modernization of existing business applications
- Linux, VDC, and hands-on operation of server and agent systems
Professional experience at Schrack Technik: contributions to a webshop platform with 18 country instances, API development, and a live migration from PHP 5 to 8.2.
Services
How I can support your project
A specific workflow, an existing application, or a new integration: we clarify the desired outcome and a practical first assignment.
PHP Modernization
Understand existing business applications, review dependencies, and modernize step by step with traceable changes and appropriate tests.
APIs & Automation
Connect systems and automate recurring data flows through APIs, webhooks, validation, and traceable error handling.
Linux & Operations
Set up and develop server environments. Operate applications and AI services with access management, deployment, monitoring, and documented handover.
Selected organizations
Professional background and project contexts
Schrack Technik, CANCOM, Kapsch, ISHAP, ÖGB/ÖGJ
Profile
Hands-on software experience since the 1990s
My work combines software development, architecture learned through practice, and extensive Linux and server experience. I build systems whose data, interfaces, and operations need to work together.
My background includes Schrack Technik, ISHAP, Kapsch / K-Businesscom / CANCOM, and many years of independent web and software projects with goodconnect.
Today, I also work extensively with AI agents, custom model setups, and Hugging Face. I operate numerous OpenClaw instances and my own servers in a virtual data center.
I support businesses as an independent project partner, from a scoped analysis or integration to agreed application development and technical maintenance.
Suitable project assignments
- AI workflows and model integration
- PHP application modernization
- APIs and data integration
- Linux and agent system operations
Experience that connects
- Over 25 years of hands-on development
- Enterprise web systems and APIs
- My own server and VDC infrastructure
- Architecture, implementation, and operations
AI in Practice
From agents and models to running systems
This experience comes from my own development and operating environments. For client projects, I turn it into scoped assignments with verifiable value.
OpenClaw & Agents
Operating numerous OpenClaw instances and working with agents, tool integration, and automated workflows.
Models & Hugging Face
Experience with custom models, model setups, and Hugging Face. Integrating models and services for the application at hand.
Linux & VDC
My own Linux servers and API-controlled infrastructure. Treating applications, access, and operations as one connected system.
Software Architecture
Planning data, APIs, applications, and operations together. Reviewing AI outputs and integrating new features into existing systems step by step.
Skills
Skills & Technical Focus
My work sits at the intersection of development, architecture, operations, and product logic. I come from web development, but I think strongly in systems, interfaces, and long-term operation.
Backend & Architecture
- PHP 8, Laravel, OOP, and procedural legacy systems
- MySQL / MariaDB
- REST APIs, web services, middleware
- refactoring and modernization of existing systems
- roles, permissions, and access concepts
- maintainability, performance, and technical structure
Frontend & Web
- HTML5, CSS3, JavaScript ES5 / ES6
- jQuery, AJAX, Vanilla JS
- Bootstrap and responsive UI implementation
- TypeScript, Vue.js, React, and Tailwind in current projects
- browser-based workflows and product-oriented interfaces
Infrastructure & Operations
- Linux, Debian, Ubuntu
- Apache, nginx, web server and hosting setups
- Bash, cron jobs, and API-controlled VDC automation
- deployment, monitoring, and operational responsibility
- Git / GitHub
- Docker and CI/CD basics
Interfaces, Data & Integration
- API integration and interface logic
- data models and database work
- OAuth / authentication concepts
- performance, caching, CDN, and optimization
- security, SSL, data protection, and access control
Working Style & Tools
- requirements analysis and technical concept work
- documentation and structured handover
- Jira, Confluence, Scrum / agile workflows
- collaboration with business teams, customers, and external partners
- second-level-style analysis and troubleshooting
- AI-supported research, prototyping, and delivery with technical control
AI Integration, Models & Agents
- Operating numerous OpenClaw instances of my own
- Custom models, model setups, and Hugging Face
- LLMs, tool use, context design, and agent workflows
- API integration and connections to existing applications
- Codex and AI-assisted development with technical review
- Linux/server operations and API-controlled VDC infrastructure
- Audio-related AI experiments and workflow automation
Application & Business Focus
- operation and further development of existing applications
- translation of business requirements into technical solutions
- stability, performance, and process improvement
- interfaces between software, users, and operations
- cost-benefit thinking from long-term self-employment and entrepreneurship
Selected Work
Selected roles and projects from business web development, operations, and product work.
Not a full archive. A compact selection of professional stations, live systems, and own product ideas.
Business / Platform / Web Development
Professional roles, platform work, and managed web systems
What it is: Work on a large enterprise webshop platform with 18 country instances.
Why it matters: PHP modernization of legacy parts to PHP 8.2, API work, refactoring, and stability in a live system.
My role: Senior PHP development focused on maintainable implementation, data and interface logic, and technical analysis of existing structures.
Short description: My own hosting and website platform under development, with AI-assisted maintenance as a goal.
What it is: In HostingCenter, I am developing the integration of managed hosting, website support, website checks, domain workflows, and an AI-supported HostingAgent. The goal is not blind autopilot, but a controlled process of analysis, proposal, technical preparation, and human approval.
Why it matters: The project connects web development, hosting, Linux operations, product logic, permissions, admin flows, customer value, automation, and AI-supported implementation.
My role: Product concept, technical architecture, frontend/backend logic, hosting and operations model, website audit ideas, agent workflows, trust and approval processes.
What it is: Full-stack web development in a business software environment with PHP and JavaScript.
Why it matters: Product-oriented work on existing applications where business requirements, data, UI, and operations come together.
My role: Implementation and extension of web applications with a focus on clarity, stability, and day-to-day usability.
What it is: Custom solutions close to hosting, servers, operations, and web applications.
Why it matters: Roles where troubleshooting, infrastructure understanding, customer/support proximity, and development practically overlap.
My role: Technical support, development, and analysis at the interface between application, operations, and infrastructure.
Product / Audio / Own Projects
Own product work, audio tools, and selected websites
What it is: A self-hosted platform for audio sessions with customer access, playlists, playback, and clear roles.
Why it matters: The system is live in production; media, permissions, workflow, and responsibility have to line up cleanly.
My role: Product logic, system structure, access model, technical implementation, and ongoing operation.
What it is: Platform work around websites, content, media logic, and managed web presences.
Why it matters: The project shows product-oriented web development for recurring needs instead of one-off websites without an operations model.
My role: Structure, frontend/backend logic, reusability, content flows, and technical care.
What it is: A browser-based audio workflow built on APIs around stem separation, voice tools, LLM-supported audio processing, and DAW-adjacent automation.
Why it matters: The interesting part is not the individual AI feature, but whether it becomes a tool that holds up in real workflows.
My role: Product concept, workflow design, API integration, and AI-supported audio experiments within a controlled technical frame.
What it is: Internal plugin concepts, mostly around tuner and modulation tools, with a possible later release perspective.
Why it matters: With tools like these, the idea itself is not enough; interaction and technical precision have to work in day-to-day use.
My role: Use case, interaction logic, and technical frame before it can become a product.
What it is: A substantial band website with controlled support for ongoing operations, content maintenance, and editorial structure.
Why it matters: An example of a custom solution that uses modern tools while still staying technically controllable.
My role: Concept, technical structure decisions, and implementation from prototyping to go-live.
What it is: The live public website karlhorak.com, including a production audio player.
Why it matters: A public website where structure, frontend implementation, media logic, and production readiness have to work together.
My role: I handled the technical implementation from structure to frontend and brought it to production readiness.
Vita
Vita in Brief
2024 - 2025
Schrack Technik GmbH
PHP Senior Software Developer in an enterprise e-commerce environment. Work on a large webshop platform with 18 country instances, API development, refactoring, and PHP modernization from PHP 5 to PHP 8.2 in a live system.
2023 - 2024
Kapsch / K-Businesscom / CANCOM
Senior Software Developer in custom solutions. Focus areas included hosting, servers, DevOps-adjacent work, web applications, technical support, and operations.
2021 - 2023
ISHAP Softwareentwicklung GmbH
Full Stack Web Software Developer focused on PHP, JavaScript, and web applications.
2003 - 2025
goodconnect IT Services e.U.
Self-employed work in web, software, and custom solutions. Delivery of many projects of different sizes for SMEs, organizations, and larger customer environments.
2014 - today
Bigfield Tonstudio & Audio Services
Audio, studio, and product work with technical ownership. Today this is especially relevant at the intersection of audio workflows, software, web technologies, and internal product ideas.
YaWK / yawk.io
Own CMS/web kit
Own CMS/web kit with module and plugin architecture, developed over many years and used as the basis for numerous websites. Documented pre-AI legacy work on GitHub.
How I Work
I sort out the system first. Then I build.
I am most useful when the work is not just about a screen, but about what should be built, how it fits together, and what has to hold up once people actually use it.
Before the build starts
I clarify the problem, the boundaries, the interfaces, and the operating model early. That saves expensive churn later.
Structure that lasts
Shipping fast matters. So does having a structure that does not fall apart after the second release.
Product and system belong together
User flow, API contracts, data, permissions, and infrastructure are usually the same conversation. I treat them that way.
AI is a tool
I use AI where it genuinely adds speed. I do not hand off architecture, quality, integration, or final judgment.
Background
What my work is built on.
I have worked on enterprise e-commerce systems across 18 country instances. That included PHP modernization, API integration, performance work, and the less glamorous question of how a live system stays maintainable.
I host my own sites and client sites in a virtual datacenter setup. That means I naturally think about operations, reliability, access, and what happens after launch.
YaWK was a long chapter and it mattered. It teaches you a lot when you carry a system over years instead of shipping a release and moving on.
Audio and studio work sharpen my product judgment. Signal flow, interaction, responsiveness, and technical detail all have to work together.
This mix of development, operations, infrastructure, product work, and entrepreneurship is why I do not see technical roles as implementation only. I care whether a system works in day-to-day use, remains maintainable, and is usable for people who did not build it themselves.
Emerging technologies interest me when they become practically useful. With AI and agents, I am less interested in the next hype term and more interested in how such systems can be integrated safely, operated with control, and connected to real workflows.
Project Enquiry
What should your software do next?
Send a short description of your system, the task, and your preferred timeframe. I will follow up to clarify the scope and a practical starting point.
Enquire by emailYour project in a few sentences
- What needs to be solved or automated?
- Which application, data, and APIs are involved?
- What outcome do you need?
- What timeframe and budget range do you have in mind?
How we can work together
- Independent project work, remote or in the Vienna area
- Scoped analysis, integration, or application development
- Agreed scope and documented handover
- Ongoing maintenance when there is a recurring need
Direct contact
- Email danielretzl@gmail.com
- LinkedIn linkedin.com/in/danielretzl
- Phone +43 676 9094197
- Location Austria