I revived react-native-gifted-chat after 14 months without a release. I took a learning app to 200K+ installs as its only engineer. I have launched my own products since 2015.
I used no AI tools before autumn 2025. Written by hand: my merges into rails (2016), react-native and tdlib (2019), expo (2023), Gifted Chat 08.2024 to 08.2025 (156 commits, 14 releases), my libraries, SportSoul, Magisteria.
React Native's default chat UI went 14 months without a release. 150K developers a month still installed it, and issues went unanswered.
Became the maintainer in August 2024 on my own initiative and set a release cadence.
400+ commits, 26 releases: TypeScript, Reanimated, new architecture, keyboard, Web.
Open issues: from 154 down to 3.
Monthly downloads went from 169K to a 525K peak. Then I moved on to my drop-in successor, react-native-chat.
A drop-in Gifted Chat replacement: same messages and props, migration in one command. iOS, Android, Web, Expo, TypeScript, New Architecture.
Lectures, courses and audiobooks. iOS, macOS, Android
The only engineer since 2018, 4,823 commits. Offline audio, purchases, push and deep links, built on my own libraries.
In 2023 I proposed and built the Library: saved courses, lectures and books with filters and new-lecture alerts.
I designed many app animations myself, looking at Spotify and Telegram, and built them pixel perfect.
Keywords, listings and screenshots for the App Store, Google Play and RuStore are all mine.
Many screens and flows in the app today started as my proposals.
Google suspended the original Android listing (90K+ installs, 4.5 from 670 reviews) in 2026, so the app was republished.
White-label React Native app. iOS and Android. Under NDA
One codebase, a branded app per clinic network: booking, records, lab results, doctor chat and video, payments. I am also its product manager.
I replaced a paid per-clinic video SDK with our own LiveKit service, built alone. No license fees, and the module is 54% lighter on iOS, 80% on Android.
Main author of the patient-doctor chat package: 410 of 994 commits since 2022.
Open source React Native bridge for the clinics' previous video SDK: 294 commits since 2019. react-native-trueconf-sdk
I own the feature list, read store reviews and ship features to all 26 brands, plus part of the ASO.
Client and clinic names are under NDA.
Ticket booking site with online payment and a custom CRM. 20,000+ visitors in the first year.
Widgets for the Aviasales partner program
Flight search widgets that partner sites embed to sell aviasales.ru tickets through Travelpayouts.
Web studio, co-founder, 2018
Found clients, negotiated, led a designer and contractors, wrote code.
Crypto portfolio tracker
iOS, Android, Apple Watch and Wear OS, relaunched in 2026 with subscriptions. I run its ASO in 21 App Store and 18 Google Play locales plus RuStore.
Social network for people who do sport
A Rails social network for finding sport partners, then iOS and Android apps: 1,668 commits since 2015. In 2018 it got into the FRII accelerator mentoring track.
Telegram Mini App on TON, 2024. Under NDA
A Telegram farming game with boosts, referrals and a TON Connect wallet. I built almost all of the backend and bot, and co-built the frontend.
Printed goal planner, 2017
I designed it, printed it in six cover colors and prepared a Boomstarter campaign.
Fitness tracker as a Telegram Mini App
Gamified workouts with referrals for Telegram users.
Falling in Fall, Sports Sticker Pack
Two sticker packs, still downloaded every month.
3.2K downloads
| Library | Last month | All time | Stars |
|---|---|---|---|
| react-native-gifted-chatThe default chat UI of React Native. Maintainer. | 344K | 15.7M | 14K |
| @kesha-antonov/react-native-chatDrop-in Gifted Chat successor: chat list, streaming AI messages, reactions, Web. | 19K | 63K | 82 |
| react-native-zoom-reanimatedApple Photos-style pinch, pan and double-tap zoom. | 195K | 2.09M | 320 |
| @kesha-antonov/react-native-background-downloaderDownloads and uploads that survive backgrounding. | 78K | 1.42M | 224 |
| @kesha-antonov/react-native-action-cableRails ActionCable channels over WebSocket. | 18K | 660K | 68 |
| react-native-cloud-synciCloud, CloudKit and Google Drive under one API. | 158 | 1K | 6 |
2nd place $6,000
Fixed bugs and animations in Telegram's own apps.
3rd place $2,000
Hunted for flaws in TON's new consensus algorithm. Prize fund $100,400.
4th place $1,000
Fast interactive charts with no libraries, 2019.
Entries on contest.com are anonymous. Mine was "Busy Unicorn", marked "your entry" in these screenshots from my account.
Programmer at ЦНИИ РТК, web UI for firewall management.
Master of technical cybernetics, Peter the Great St. Petersburg Polytechnic University.
Founded SportSoul and built its web version, then iOS and Android apps.
Launched CryptoC: 31K downloads since.
SportSoul got into the FRII accelerator. Co-founded skill.surf. Became the engineer of Magisteria.
Started the patient app, my main client since. First Telegram contest win.
Took over react-native-gifted-chat. Built a Telegram farming game: 400K users at peak.
Launched react-native-chat and relaunched CryptoC.
Top 10% of IT salaries by monthly income (Habr Career, 2026)
I like meeting people and making new friends. Ask me about a trip, a trail or a good coffee place.
