Services
A running list of what I self-host at home. I'm not publishing the URLs to my own instances — these are notes on what each thing is and where to start if you want to run your own.
Infrastructure
Proxmox VE
Open-source virtualization platform — KVM virtual machines and LXC containers managed from one web UI. It's the foundation everything else in my lab sits on.
Where to start: proxmox.com
TrueNAS
NAS operating system built on ZFS. Handles VM storage, media, and backups for the rest of the lab. Snapshots and replication are the killer features.
Where to start: truenas.com
Portainer
Web UI for managing Docker containers and stacks. Friendlier than the CLI when you're juggling a dozen services and want quick visibility into logs, networks, and volumes.
Where to start: portainer.io
Networking
Pi-hole
Network-wide DNS sinkhole that blocks ads and trackers before they ever reach your devices. Every phone, TV, and laptop on your LAN benefits — no per-device extension. I pair mine with Unbound so there's no third-party recursive resolver in the loop.
Where to start: pi-hole.net
Media
Jellyfin
Self-hosted media server for movies, shows, and music — your own Netflix/Plex replacement. Fully open source, no accounts required, no telemetry.
Where to start: jellyfin.org
Jellyswarrm
A reverse proxy that combines multiple Jellyfin servers behind a single interface. Browse, search, and play media across all your libraries as if they were one — useful when your content is split across multiple boxes. Still in active development.
Where to start: github.com/FancyWaifu/Jellyswarrm
Jellyseerr
Request manager that pairs with Jellyfin (and the *arr stack — Sonarr, Radarr). Lets you or your users browse and request media; the back-end stack handles the rest.
Where to start: github.com/Fallenbagel/jellyseerr
qBittorrent
Open-source BitTorrent client with a clean web UI. I run it headless and manage it from the browser.
Where to start: qbittorrent.org
PhotoPrism
Self-hosted photo library with AI-driven tagging, face recognition, and search. A privacy-respecting alternative to Google Photos that keeps every image on hardware you control.
Where to start: photoprism.app
Communication
Matrix / Synapse
Federated, end-to-end encrypted messaging. I run my own Synapse homeserver, which means my conversations live on hardware I control while still being able to talk to anyone on matrix.org or other federated servers. Element is the easiest client to get started with.
Where to start: matrix.org • Synapse docs
Productivity & Home
Vaultwarden (Bitwarden-compatible)
Lightweight password manager that speaks the Bitwarden API. Works with every official Bitwarden client — web vault, browser extensions, desktop, mobile — but the server and the encrypted vault data live on infrastructure you own.
Same client UX as hosted Bitwarden, no subscription, no vendor lock-in. If self-hosting isn't your thing, the official hosted Bitwarden service is excellent — the point is to use a real password manager.
Where to start: github.com/dani-garcia/vaultwarden
Home Assistant
Open-source home automation platform. Local-first by design — no cloud requirement, no vendor lock-in — and integrates with thousands of devices and protocols, from Zigbee bulbs to smart plugs to weather data.
Where to start: home-assistant.io
Heads up: Anything you self-host is yours to secure. Use strong passwords, enable two-factor where it's available, keep things patched, and put a reverse proxy with TLS in front of anything you expose to the internet.