Yatao Li
Senior Researcher at Microsoft
Beijing, China
Summary
🤩
Rockstar🎓
Top SchoolYatao Li is a Senior Researcher at Microsoft Research Asia with nine years of experience building bridges between human and computer understanding through both research and systems engineering. Based in Beijing, he combines deep academic training (MPhil in Computer Science from HKUST) with practical contributions to high-impact open-source projects such as Neovim, coc.nvim, Z3, and the linux-surface kernel for Microsoft Surface devices. His work spans the stack—from editor UI and language-server integration to kernel power management and CI infrastructure—highlighting a rare fluency across user-facing tooling and low-level platform code. Known for improving core stability and cross-platform build processes, he frequently tackles platform-specific challenges (e.g., X11 rendering, PowerShell installer fixes, PCI power control) that quietly enable smoother developer experiences.
9 years of coding experience
Bachelor of Engineering (B.Eng.), Computer Science, Bachelor of Engineering (B.Eng.), Computer Science at University of Science and Technology of ChinaHong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST)
English, Chinese
Github Skills (63)
ls10
editors10
hook10
javascript10
docker10
text-editor10
xaml10
msbuild10
api-design10
wp-api10
windows10
net10
typescript10
dotnet10
cmake10
Programming languages (26)
Github contributions (5)
RamonUnch/AltSnap
Mar 2021 - Jul 2022
Maintained continuation of Stefan Sundin's AltDrag
Role in this project:
Full-stack Developer
Full-stack DeveloperContributions:13 commits, 8 PRs, 37 comments in 1 year 4 months
Contributions summary:Yatao focused on implementing and refining the AltDrag application's context menu functionality. They introduced features such as "AlwaysOnTop" and "Borderless" options, adding UI elements and handling their associated actions. The contributions involved modifying the mouse hook to display the menu, managing its behavior, and integrating it with the application's core logic, indicating a strong understanding of the Windows API. They also made some cleanup changes.
windowscontinuationdesktopmsys2window-manager
neovim/neovim
Feb 2020 - Sep 2021
Vim-fork focused on extensibility and usability
Role in this project:Back-end Developer
Back-end DeveloperContributions:27 reviews, 9 commits, 5 PRs in 1 year 7 months
Contributions summary:Yatao's commits primarily focus on enhancing the Neovim popup menu (PUM) functionality and the supporting UI API. They implemented features like setting PUM geometry from the UI, allowing floating-point coordinates, and improving how the UI retrieves and handles PUM position data. Their work involved changes to the core API, UI, and popup menu logic within the Neovim codebase, demonstrating a strong understanding of the editor's internal structure. They also contributed to tests and incorporated updates to utilize and validate new functionality.
usabilityapiluavimvim-plugin
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