Arya Koste

Posted on Feb 1

⚡ Back to the Roots: A Retro Terminal Portfolio That Takes You to 1995 🖥️

#devchallenge #googleaichallenge #portfolio #gemini

New Year, New You Portfolio Challenge Submission

This is a submission for the New Year, New You Portfolio Challenge Presented by Google AI

🖥️ System.Init() > About Me

Hello, World! I'm Arya Khochare, a developer who believes that sometimes, to move forward, you have to look back.

Remember the early 2000s? When portfolios were viewed in terminal windows, when green phosphor monitors were cutting-edge, and when hackers typed cat portfolio.txt to see your resume?

Yeah, those were the days. 🕹️

🎯 What I Wanted to Express:

Technical Roots: A tribute to the command-line interfaces that shaped modern development
Personality Through Code: Not just another Bootstrap template—this IS my personality
Old Meets New: Vintage aesthetics powered by modern engineering
Interactive Storytelling: Your mouse becomes a time machine

In an era of heavy frameworks and complex UIs, I wanted to strip everything down to the bare metal. My portfolio isn't just a website; it's a homage to the roots of computing—the Terminal. It represents how I work: clean, efficient, and command-driven.

🚀 ./deploy_portfolio.sh > The Project

"Graphic design is the gloss, but the Command Line is the soul."
I built a fully interactive Terminal Portfolio that runs directly in your browser. No buttons, no scroll guessing—just you, the keyboard, and the prompt and if you want the GUI you can access that too.

Try it live here: 👇

🚀 LIVE DEMO: Click here to access the terminal](https://arya-khochare-terminal-portfolio-818474269873.us-central1.run.app)

Pro Tip: Type help in the terminal to unlock all commands! Try gui for a retro Windows 95-style experience 🪟

🛠️ ./view_source > How I Built It

The Philosophy: Going Back to Basics

In an era of React, Next.js, and complex build pipelines, I asked myself:

"What if portfolios were reviewed like in the early 2000s—viewed in a terminal, read as plain text files, judged purely on content and creativity?"

So I built exactly that. A portfolio that embraces constraints and turns them into features.

I wanted this to feel authentic. No fake static images—this is a living, breathing command line interface.

**Tech Stack (Beautifully Simple)

The Stack

Frontend: Pure HTML, CSS, and Vanilla JavaScript. No bloat. Fast load times.
Containerization: Docker + Nginx (Alpine) for an ultra-lightweight image.
Deployment: Google Cloud Run. The container scales to zero when not in use, making it efficient and serverless.

Google AI's Role (Antigravity)

This project was accelerated using Google's Antigravity (AI-first IDE).

Infrastructure as Code: The AI generated the optimized Dockerfile and Nginx configuration to make this container production-ready in seconds.
Cloud Deployment: It guided me through the complex IAM permissions and gcloud commands to ensure a secure deployment on Cloud Run.
Code: The AI also helped me generate some boilerplate code and also helped me validate my design strategy.

Development Process

1. Design Philosophy

Started with terminal window mockups
Researched vintage CRT monitor effects
Studied Matrix (1999) color grading 😎

2. Core Features Built

Interactive command-line interface with tab completion
File system simulation (ls, cat, pwd)
Command history (↑/↓ arrow keys)
Easter eggs (try the Konami Code!)
Dual-mode interface (Terminal + GUI)

3. Google AI Integration

Used Gemini AI via AI Studio to:
- Generate optimized CRT shader effects
- Create responsive layout patterns
- Suggest accessibility improvements
- Debug complex CSS animations
Antigravity for rapid prototyping and deployment testing
Gemini CLI to automate Cloud Run deployment scripts

🎨 Design Decisions

Color Palette

Inspired by classic terminal emulators:

Primary: #00ff41 (Matrix green)
Accent: #ffb000 (Amber warnings)
Background: #0c0c0c (True black for OLED screens)
Error: #ff0000 (Classic red alerts)

Typography

VT323: Authentic monospace terminal font
Font size: 20px base (optimized for readability)
Line height: 1.4 (terminal-standard)

Animations

Matrix rain background (opacity: 0.1 for subtlety)
Blinking cursor (1s interval)
CRT flicker (0.15s randomized)
Smooth command input
Fade-in text reveal

✨ ./features --verbose > What I'm Most Proud Of

Authentic Feel: The blinking cursor, the typing effect, and the color palette are tuned to feel like a retro CRT monitor.
Easter Eggs: Try typing random commands. I've hidden a few surprises for the curious explorers.
Speed: Because it's serving static files via Nginx on Cloud Run, it loads instantly.

🤝 Try It Yourself!

Available Commands:

help          # View all commands
about         # Learn about me
experience    # View work history
skills        # Check technical skills
opensource    # See OSS contributions
contact       # Get in touch
resume        # Download resume
gui           # Switch to GUI mode
themes        # List available color themes
theme <name>  # Change theme (matrix/amber/hacker/etc.)
neofetch      # System info (developer stats)
clear         # Clear terminal

Easter Eggs:

Type sudo rm -rf /
Explore the GUI mode
Switch between 7 color themes

🏁 exit 0

Building this portfolio reminded me why I fell in love with coding in the first place: the power of typing a command and seeing the machine obey.
It is my digital time machine—a bridge between the terminal-loving hacker I was and the full-stack engineer I've become.
I hope you enjoy exploring my work as much as I enjoyed building this interface.
Happy Coding! 🖖

⭐ If you enjoyed this nostalgic journey, drop a reaction! Let's bring back the terminal aesthetic! ⭐

Built with ❤️, ☕, and way too much Matrix nostalgia

Deployed on Google Cloud Run | Powered by Pure HTML/CSS/JS | Inspired by 1995

Created for the Dev.to x Google AI Challenge 2026.