Supporting practice / Infrastructure
Built locally.
Learned by operating.
My homelab is the working environment behind personal applications and everyday tools. It is where software meets deployment, service dependencies, monitoring and recovery.
Run the application
Containers and explicit configuration connect the application to its runtime. The work includes deployment and real browser checks, not only a successful build.
Understand the dependencies
Service records describe each component’s purpose and how it connects to the rest of the stack. Private addresses and operational access remain private.
Plan for recovery
Monitoring and backup workflows create evidence to investigate failures. A saved backup is not automatically proof that a restore will work.
Public architecture, private operations
This is a documented service catalog, not a live health feed or an uptime guarantee. Status labels reflect the recorded project state.
See the daily operations case study11 records / core
Core infrastructure
The network, hosts, backups, and access layer that keep every private app reachable and recoverable.
A companion note on giving private services memorable names.
DNS filtering for a quieter browsing experience.
A second DNS resolver for continuity.
A way to organize self-hosted applications into manageable groups.
A workspace for small self-hosted tools and experiments.
Readable web entry points and HTTPS for hosted applications.
A management interface for containerized applications.
Backup storage and recovery tools for virtual machines and containers.
Virtual machines and containers for the private homelab.
Private connectivity between trusted devices.
Container update discovery for the maintenance workflow.
9 records / media
Media library
A connected path for requesting, organizing, watching, and tracking films, shows, anime, and photos.
Keeps anime watch progress aligned between Plex and AniList.
A self-hosted home for personal photos and videos.
A home for watching a personal film, television, and anime library.
A filesystem bridge for the media workflow.
Media request handling, search, and library organization.
An anime-focused viewing and tracking interface.
Media discovery and request management for the library.
Plex playback activity and viewing insights.
A local searchable metadata index for the media workflow.
6 records / automation
Automation
Bots, smart-home routines, and small workflows that turn repeated chores into quiet background work.
A documented notification relay from the earlier Forge experiment.
Smart-home routines for lights, sensors, cleaning, and the home environment.
Small workflows connecting services and repeated tasks.
The private social-media creator hub for channel work and creative review.
A notification channel for background jobs and service alerts.
A documented experiment in reviewed project notifications.
4 records / monitor
Monitoring & alerts
Health checks, metrics, logs, and alerts that reveal drift before a small problem becomes an outage.
3 records / ai
Local AI
Private model runtimes, chat tools, and voice experiments running on hardware I control.
4 records / personal
Personal Cloud
Files, documents, passwords, and useful daily tools kept in a cloud that remains under my control.