Saad Tarhi

Senior Full-Stack Engineerex-Automattic (WooCommerce Core Team)

I help teams stabilize, refactor, and scale their web applications: clean, tested, and production-ready.

> shipping resilient systems

About

About Me

I'm a senior software engineer with over 9 years of experience building and maintaining production-ready systems. At Automattic (WooCommerce Core Team), I worked across the full stack: React, TypeScript, and PHP; shipping stable features to millions of stores worldwide.

Deep expertise in React, TypeScript, Redux, and WordPress.
Experienced in testing (E2E + unit), CI/CD pipelines, and release automation.
Skilled in codebase stabilization and large-scale refactoring.
Focused on long-term code health and clean architecture.
Passionate about building maintainable software that scales safely.

I value clarity, reliability, and technical craftsmanship. My work centers on writing code that outlives trends: robust, maintainable, and easy to evolve.

Expertise

What I Do

Focused engagements for teams who need a steady, senior partner on code quality, reliability, and delivery.

Codebase Stabilization

I diagnose and fix brittle or AI-generated codebases. Refactoring, debugging, and restoring reliability in production systems.

Plugin & Maintenance Development

Modern WordPress / WooCommerce plugins built with React and PHP, Composer autoloading, and CI tests for long-term maintainability.

Testing & CI/CD Implementation

From flaky tests to full pipelines: I set up automated coverage, Playwright E2E tests, and GitHub Actions CI flows to keep deployments safe.

Work With Me

Work

Featured Projects

Selected engineering initiatives spanning architecture migrations, developer tooling, and launch-critical UX.

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Playwright E2E Migration

Rebuilt the WooCommerce Blocks suite in Playwright with deterministic fixtures, storage states, and GitHub Actions reporting. Releases regained trustworthy CI signals.

Playwright
TypeScript
Puppeteer

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Hardening AI Sandboxes in Shipper

Stabilized Shipper's AI driven app builder by gating AI edits, integrating the auto-fix system, and repairing proxy middleware so sandboxed apps could reliably recover from failures.

Next.js
TypeScript
Node.js

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WooCommerce Data Store Migration

Moved WooCommerce Blocks checkout state from fragile React Context into WordPress Data Stores so extensions share one observable source. Checkout regressions fell once the shared store shipped.

React
WordPress
WooCommerce Blocks

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Social Proof

Testimonials

Notes from teammates who partnered with me on platform-level work.

“Saad is an exceptional Senior Software Engineer with an impressive skill set and a deep understanding of complex technical concepts.”

— Former colleague at Automattic

“I can attest to his technical abilities in both frontend, backend, and dev tooling, and most importantly, his character.”

— Team Lead, WooCommerce Blocks

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Articles

Latest Articles

Long-form write-ups on testing, migrations, and delivery practices.

What It's Really Like Debugging An AI Generated Startup Codebase

A look inside a small AI startup where most of the code was generated by models. I share what it actually felt like to debug the system, what broke, and what that says about AI driven “ship fast” culture.

Nov 25, 202510 min read

AIDebuggingCodebase

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AI Generated Comments And Docs You Can’t Trust (And What To Do Instead)

AI makes it trivial to flood a repo with comments and documentation that look helpful but are not. This piece breaks down how that happens and offers a few simple rules to keep docs honest and useful.

Nov 25, 20255 min read

AIDocumentationCodebase

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Why AI Makes Testing More Important, Not Less

AI helps small teams build complex systems way earlier than before. I argue that this “complexity compression” is exactly why tests, even a few targeted ones, matter more in AI era startups.

Nov 25, 20256 min read

AITestingCodebase

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Contact

Let's Work Together

Need help stabilizing, refactoring, or maintaining your product? I'm available for focused engagements or ongoing retainers.

Email Me LinkedIn

Remote · UTC+1 (Morocco / EU hours)

hello@saadtarhi.com