Profile

The engineer behind the notebook.

I'm José Manuel — a firmware and software engineer based in Valencia, Spain, with an R&D background. Day to day I'm programming across a range of languages, building and maintaining open-source projects, and keeping up with what's new in software and the open-source world.

I came to engineering from acoustics and instrumentation — a degree in Telecommunication Engineering and a Master's in Acoustical Engineering, followed by predoctoral research at the UPV on ultrasound and acoustic metamaterials, before redirecting toward software. I still gravitate to problems that sit where signal, system and software meet.

Most recently I built industrial embedded firmware in C on STM32 and FreeRTOS for solar inverters and storage — low-level optimization, industrial communications (Modbus) and hardware test automation. The open-source projects I maintain are used by developers worldwide, and I care about doing the work with engineering rigor and a focus on quality.

This site is my notebook: what I learn I write down, what I build I publish.

José Manuel Requena Plens

I build

  • Embedded firmware (C, STM32, FreeRTOS)
  • Industrial comms & test automation (Modbus)
  • MCP servers & tooling in Go
  • Self-hosted infrastructure & security

I write about

  • Firmware & low level
  • Networking (MikroTik, nginx)
  • Homelab & security (CSP)
  • Acoustics & DSP

Say hi

Featured open source

gitlab-mcp-server

Go · Model Context Protocol server

Open-source GitLab MCP server that exposes 1,000+ GitLab operations to AI assistants through a dynamic 2-tool find/execute design, with stdio/HTTP/OAuth transports and safe & read-only modes.

phonometry

Python · DSP · Acoustics

Acoustic measurement toolkit: fractional octave-band filter banks, A/C/Z and Fast/Slow/Impulse weighting, and sound level metrology (Leq, percentiles), conformance-tested against IEC 61260-1 and IEC 61672-1 class 1 tolerances. Formerly PyOctaveBand.

cs-routeros-bouncer

Go · Firewall · MikroTik · WAF

CrowdSec bouncer for MikroTik RouterOS: feeds the collaborative IPS/WAF CrowdSec decisions into the RouterOS firewall (address lists) through its API, blocking malicious IPs in real time.

TFG-TFM_EPS

LaTeX · Academic template

LaTeX template for Bachelor's and Master's theses at the University of Alicante (EPS), with an automated CI build pipeline.

Education

  • 2019–2023
    Predoctoral research — Health & Wellness Technologies UPV · i3M / UMIL Acoustic metamaterials & ultrasound imaging; redirected to industry.
  • 2019
    Master's in Acoustical Engineering UPV · EPSG Gandia Graduated with honors; thesis with special distinction.
  • 2018
    Degree in Telecommunication Engineering (Sound & Image) University of Alicante Acoustic Engineering + Audiovisual Technology.