BEHIND THE PROJECTS
About
From an idea to a system. From a system to the real world.
Hello, and welcome! I'm Cassiano Mangini da Costa. Since you've made it this far, I'd like to share a little about the person behind the projects on this site.
I grew up when computers and the internet were not yet part of everyday life. I watched that change unfold and built my career through banking systems, programming, software development and technical leadership. I also worked with COBOL and mainframes, where checking the details was essential.
But not everything that brought me here began with a computer. In Ireland, I started over in a different field: I worked in kitchens, became a chef and helped run a small café. There, deadlines, coordination and customer service had immediate consequences.
Imagination & experience
Not every idea could fit into the time I had to build it.
I started creating small businesses early: at 13 I sold homemade truffles at school, and at 17 I opened my first shop. Products, customers and costs interested me long before I started building the current system.
I often pictured the whole project before knowing how to build every part of it. I was more comfortable with the logic behind software than with designing its interfaces, which mattered whenever I tried to turn an idea into something people could actually use.
One large system could take up most of my time. Other ideas had to wait — not because I lacked interest, but because I couldn't build everything at once.
Technology & artificial intelligence
AI did not give me ideas. It changed what I can do with them.
Today I use different AI models and agents to research, write code, review work and try solutions. On larger projects, I organize the work into tasks and inspect what was built instead of treating the first answer as final.
I also build tools that let AI consult information and use functions inside a system. That raises practical questions: what can it do, what needs approval, and how do we verify that an action really happened?
This way of working lets me move several projects forward where I once would have struggled to build even one at a time. I am still learning, questioning results and looking for better ways to make things work.
What I am building
A real business became my biggest laboratory for ideas.
CM ORBE OS grew out of the needs of my own 3D-printing and marketplace business. What began as tools to organize the work expanded to connect products, materials, machines, production, inventory, sales, finances and AI.
The system is still evolving, and it is only one part of what I do. I also build digital experiences, music-related projects and other ideas I want to bring to life.
