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CLI agents make self-hosting on a home server easier and fun

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Re: CLI agents make self-hosting on a home server easier and fun

#41

Post by Topgamer7 »

drnick1 wrote: post #26
simonw wrote: post #3

This posts lists inexpensive home servers, Tailscale and Claude Code as the big unlocks. I actually think Tailscale may be an even bigger deal here than sysadmin help from Claude Code at al. The biggest reason I had not to run a home server was security: I'm worried that I might fall behind on updates and end up compromised. Tailscale dramatically reduces this risk, because I can so easily configure it so my own devi…

I'd rather expose a Wireguard port and control my keys than introduce a third party like Tailscale. I am not sure why people are so afraid of exposing ports. I have dozens of ports open on my server including SMTP, IMAP(S), HTTP(S), various game servers and don't see a problem with that. I can't rule out a vulnerability somewhere but services are containerized and/or run as separate UNIX users. It's the way the Inter…

I don't have a static IP, so tailscale is convenient. And less likely to fail when I really need it, as apposed to trying to deal with dynamic dns.

Re: CLI agents make self-hosting on a home server easier and fun

#42

Post by chaz6 »

I would really like some kind of agnostic backup protocol, so I can simply configure my backup endpoint using an environment variable (e.g. `-e BACKUP_ENDPOINT=https://backup.example.com/backup -e BACKUP_IDENTIFIER=xxxxx`), then the application can push a backup on a regular schedule. If I need to restore a backup, I log onto the backup app, select a backup file and generate a one time code which I can enter into the application to retrieve the data. To set up a new application for backups, you would enter a friendly name into the backup application and it would generate a key for use in the application.

Re: CLI agents make self-hosting on a home server easier and fun

#43

Post by heavyset_go »

drnick1 wrote: post #26
simonw wrote: post #3

This posts lists inexpensive home servers, Tailscale and Claude Code as the big unlocks. I actually think Tailscale may be an even bigger deal here than sysadmin help from Claude Code at al. The biggest reason I had not to run a home server was security: I'm worried that I might fall behind on updates and end up compromised. Tailscale dramatically reduces this risk, because I can so easily configure it so my own devi…

I'd rather expose a Wireguard port and control my keys than introduce a third party like Tailscale. I am not sure why people are so afraid of exposing ports. I have dozens of ports open on my server including SMTP, IMAP(S), HTTP(S), various game servers and don't see a problem with that. I can't rule out a vulnerability somewhere but services are containerized and/or run as separate UNIX users. It's the way the Inter…

> I'd rather expose a Wireguard port and control my keys than introduce a third party like Tailscale.

This is what I do. You can do Tailscale like access using things like Pangolin[0].

You can also use a bastion host, or block all ports and set up Tor or i2p, and then anyone that even wants to talk to your server will need to know cryptographic keys to route traffic to it at all, on top of your SSH/WG/etc keys.

> I am not sure why people are so afraid of exposing ports. I have dozens of ports open on my server including SMTP, IMAP(S), HTTP(S), various game servers and don't see a problem with that.

This is what I don't do. Anything that needs real internet access like mail, raw web access, etc gets its own VPS where an attack will stay isolated, which is important as more self-hosted services are implemented using things like React and Next[1].

[0] https://github.com/fosrl/pangolin

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46136026

Re: CLI agents make self-hosting on a home server easier and fun

#44

Post by simonw »

ryandrake wrote: post #13
philips wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree! Before Tailscale I was completely skeptical of self hosting. Now I have tailscale on an old Kindle downloading epubs from a server running Copyparty. Its great!

Maybe I'm dumb, but I still don't quite understand the value-add of Tailscale over what Wireguard or some other VPN already provides. HN has tried to explain it to me but it just seems like sugar on top of a plain old VPN. Kind of like how "pi-hole" is just sugar on top of dnsmasq, and Plex is just sugar on top of file sharing.

If you're confident that you know how to securely configure and use Wireguard across multiple devices then great, you probably don't need Tailscale for a home lab.

Tailscale gives me an app I can install on my iPhone and my Mac and a service I can install on pretty much any Linux device imaginable. I sign into each of those apps once and I'm done.

The first time I set it up that took less than five minutes from idea to now-my-devices-are-securely-networked.

Re: CLI agents make self-hosting on a home server easier and fun

#45

Post by Humorist2290 »

heavyset_go wrote: post #31
Humorist2290 wrote: post #7

Fun. I don't agree that Claude Code is the real unlock, but mostly because I'm comfortable with doing this myself. That said, the spirit of the article is spot on. The accessibility to run _good_ web services has never been better. If you have a modest budget and an interest, that's enough -- the skill gap is closing. That's good news I think. But Tailscale is the real unlock in my opinion. Having a slot machine cosp…

I believe Vaultwarden keeps data encrypted at rest with your master key, so some of the problems inherent to hosting such data can be mitigated.

I can believe this, and it's a good point. I believe Bitwarden does the same. I'm not against Vaultwarden in particular but against colocation of highly sensitive (especially orthogonally sensitive) data in general. It's part of a self-hoster's journey I think: backups, isolation, security, redundancy, energy optimization, etc. are all topics which can easily occupy your free time. When your partner asks whether your photos are more secure in Immich than Google, it can lead to an interesting discussion of nuances.

That said, I'm not sure if Bitwarden is the answer either. There is certainly some value in obscurity, but I think they have a better infosec budget than I do.

Re: CLI agents make self-hosting on a home server easier and fun

#46

Post by dangus »

chaz6 wrote: post #42

I would really like some kind of agnostic backup protocol, so I can simply configure my backup endpoint using an environment variable (e.g. `-e BACKUP_ENDPOINT= https://backup.example.com/backup -e BACKUP_IDENTIFIER=xxxxx`), then the application can push a backup on a regular schedule. If I need to restore a backup, I log onto the backup app, select a backup file and generate a one time code which I can enter into th…

I use Pika Backup which runs on the BorgBackup protocol for backing up my system’s home directory. I’m not really sure if this is exactly what you’re talking about, though. It just sends backups to network shares.

Re: CLI agents make self-hosting on a home server easier and fun

#47

Post by comrade1234 »

simonw wrote: post #3

This posts lists inexpensive home servers, Tailscale and Claude Code as the big unlocks. I actually think Tailscale may be an even bigger deal here than sysadmin help from Claude Code at al. The biggest reason I had not to run a home server was security: I'm worried that I might fall behind on updates and end up compromised. Tailscale dramatically reduces this risk, because I can so easily configure it so my own devi…

I just have a vpn server on my fiber modem/router (edgerouter-4) and use vpn clients on my devices. I actually have two vpn networks - one that can see the rest of my home network (and server) and the other that is completely isolated and can't see anything else and only does routing. No need to use a third-party and I have more flexibility

Re: CLI agents make self-hosting on a home server easier and fun

#48

Post by Waterluvian »

chaz6 wrote: post #42

I would really like some kind of agnostic backup protocol, so I can simply configure my backup endpoint using an environment variable (e.g. `-e BACKUP_ENDPOINT= https://backup.example.com/backup -e BACKUP_IDENTIFIER=xxxxx`), then the application can push a backup on a regular schedule. If I need to restore a backup, I log onto the backup app, select a backup file and generate a one time code which I can enter into th…

Maybe apps could offer backup to stdout and then you pipe it. That way each app doesn’t have to reason about how to interact with your target, doesn’t need to be trusted with credentials, and we don’t need a new standard.

Re: CLI agents make self-hosting on a home server easier and fun

#49

Post by elemdos »

I’ve also found AI to be super helpful for self-hosting but in a different way. I set up a Pocketbase instance with a Lovable-like app on top (repo here: https://github.com/tinykit-studio/tinykit) so I can just pull out my phone, vibecode something, and then instantly host it on the one server with a bunch of other apps. I’ve built a bunch of stuff for myself (journal, CRM, guitar tuner) but my favorite thing has been a period tracker for a close friend who didn’t want that data tracked + sold.

Re: CLI agents make self-hosting on a home server easier and fun

#50

Post by 1shooner »

Others here mention Coolify for a homeserver. If you're looking for turnkey docker-compose based apps rather than just framework/runtime environments, I will recommend the runtipi project. I have found it to be simple and flexible. It offers an 'app store' like interface, and supports hosting your own app store. It manages certs and reverse proxy via traefik as well.

https://runtipi.io/

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