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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

#451

Post by oarsinsync »

mpalmer wrote: post #443
b112 wrote: post #398

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There was a time when people were allowed to drive cars unlicensed. These days, that seems insane. As the traffic grew, as speeds increased, licensing became necessary. I think, these days, we're almost into that category. I don't say this happily. But having unrestricted access seems like an era coming to an end. I realise this seems unworkable. But so was the idea of a driver's license. Sometimes society and safety…

I'll take this to mean that you think arbitrary access to a computer's capabilities will require licensure, in which case I think this is a bad metaphor. The point of a driver's license is that driving a ton of steel around at >50mph presents risk of harm to others . Not knowing how to use a computer - driving it "poorly" - does not risk harm to others. Why does it merit restriction, based on the topic of this post?

Your unpatched Wordpress install is someone else’s botnet host, forming part of the “distributed” in DDoS, which harms others.

It’s why Cloudflare exists, which in itself is another form of harm, in centralising a decentralised network.

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

#452

Post by legoxx »

I am building a homelab with the help of various AI services. I started with ChatGPT, then moved to Claude, and I am now working with Cursor and Gemini.

In my experience, this approach works extremely well—I would not have been able to accomplish this much on my own. However, there is an important caveat: you must understand what you are doing. AI systems sometimes propose solutions that do not work, and in some cases they can be genuinely dangerous to your data integrity or your privacy.

AI is therefore a powerful accelerator, not a replacement for expertise. You still need to critically evaluate its suggestions and veto roughly 10% of them.

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

#453

Post by johnisgood »

oarsinsync wrote: post #451
mpalmer wrote: post #443

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'll take this to mean that you think arbitrary access to a computer's capabilities will require licensure, in which case I think this is a bad metaphor. The point of a driver's license is that driving a ton of steel around at >50mph presents risk of harm to others . Not knowing how to use a computer - driving it "poorly" - does not risk harm to others. Why does it merit restriction, based on the topic of this post?

Your unpatched Wordpress install is someone else’s botnet host, forming part of the “distributed” in DDoS, which harms others. It’s why Cloudflare exists, which in itself is another form of harm, in centralising a decentralised network.

The argument is self-defeating:

1. "Unpatched servers become botnet hosts" - true, but Tailscale does not prevent this. A compromised machine on your tailnet is still compromised. The botnet argument applies regardless of how you access your server.

2. Following this logic, you would need to license all internet-connected devices: phones, smart TVs, IoT. They get pwned and join botnets constantly. Are we licensing grandma's router?

3. The Cloudflare point undermines the argument: "botnets cause centralization (Cloudflare), which is harm", so the solution is... licensing, which would centralize infrastructure further? That is the same outcome being called harmful.

4. Corporate servers get compromised constantly. Should only "licensed" corporations run services? They already are, and they are not doing better.

Back to the topic: I have no clue what you think Tailscale is, but it does increase security, only convenience.

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

#454

Post by dizhn »

drnick1 wrote: post #203
tstrimple wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sure you can. It’s what cloudflared and services like it are designed for.

Is it still self-hosting though?

Of course it is. You get to maintain all the server architecture yourself.

I don't have a need to give people public access but if I did I would set up Authentik and proxy everything through it and hand out usernames to people I want for the whole thing (or per app). You would open only :443 and not worry about a thing.

As a bonus use caddy as forward auth, create a wildcard subdomain (cloudflare dns supports it), configure caddy for wildcard domains for sub-sub domains and dns cert verification via cloudflare token. This way nobody even knows your real domain names. Nothing they can see in DNS or certificate transparency logs. (This is my working theory. I haven't actually researched it too deep but I am doing it.) You add a new app/site in caddy's config and everything else is completely automatic. You can even use dynamic dns with a client or a script that uses the same cloudflare token to update your IP.

As I said above. Don't even need to have a public IP on this machine. Better if you don't in case something like docker or an AI agent accidentally opens a port. (Your router already protects you but I am talking about if this was on a cloud host or an ISP that gives you real IPs for each of your machines)

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

#456

Post by jordanf »

valcron1000 wrote: post #221

> When something breaks, I SSH in, ask the agent what is wrong, and fix it. > I am spending time using software, learning What are you actually learning? PSA: OP is a CEO of an AI company

who cares if I'm the CEO of an AI company? I didn't mention anything related to my company once in the post.

Wrote about learning and fun here: https://fulghum.io/fun2

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

#457

Post by ruszki »

xboxnolifes wrote: post #450
croes wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How can you review if you don‘t know in the first place? You can watch your doctor, your plumber, your car mechanic and still wouldn’t know if they di something wrong if you don’t know the subject as such.

The primary way humans learn anything at all is by watching and mimicking. Sure, there will be mistakes, but that doesn't preclude learning.

Your hypothetical situation would cause all progress to halt. Nobody would be able to fix genuine problems.

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

#458

Post by rkomorn »

doctoboggan wrote: post #299
croes wrote: post #265

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How can you review if you don‘t know in the first place? You can watch your doctor, your plumber, your car mechanic and still wouldn’t know if they di something wrong if you don’t know the subject as such.

You can learn a lot from watching your doctor, plumber or mechanic work, and you could learn even more if you could ask them questions for hours without making them mad.

> You can learn a lot from watching your doctor [...] work

Very true but I'll still opt for that general anesthesia...

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

#459

Post by jordanf »

tbyehl wrote: post #434

My favorite genre of post in r/homelab and r/selfhosted this past year has been "I used AI to set all this stuff up and something broke so I asked AI to fix it and now all my data is gone." There are so many NAS + Curated App Catalog distros out there that make self-hosting trivial without needing to Vibe SysAdmin.

I keep hearing this, and asking for examples, and there aren't really any.

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

#460

Post by q3k »

jordanf wrote: post #456
valcron1000 wrote: post #221

> When something breaks, I SSH in, ask the agent what is wrong, and fix it. > I am spending time using software, learning What are you actually learning? PSA: OP is a CEO of an AI company

who cares if I'm the CEO of an AI company? I didn't mention anything related to my company once in the post. Wrote about learning and fun here: https://fulghum.io/fun2

It's (at least) common courtesy to declare potential conflicts of interest.
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