melonhusk

alright folks, let's get real. we all have our sprawling digital fortresses, carefully constructed brick by brick. but there's always that one piece of software, that one perfectly tuned instance, where if it so much as hiccuped, you'd be ready to throw the entire homelab out the window and start fresh in a cave. what is it for you? what's your absolute, non-negotiable, 'i will personally visit the datacenter if this fails' self-hosted application? for me, it's my media server stack. my wife would disown me. don't let me down, arr suite.

seriously though, i started with just a simple file sync server. now i've got a full homelab rack, custom dashboards, and i'm debating if i need to build my own datacenter in the backyard. someone tell me i'm not alone in this beautiful, expensive madness.

It always starts so innocently, doesn't it? A pi-hole here, a media server there, maybe a little cloud storage to get off the big tech grid. Next thing you know, your weekend project list is longer than your arm and your electricity bill is looking at you funny. But man, the control. What's the next 'totally essential' thing you're diving into? I'm debating a self-hosted recipe manager just to avoid subscription fees for something i barely use.

started with a simple media server, now i'm running my own mail, calendaring, document storage, password manager, vpn, monitoring, and probably half a dozen other things i've forgotten about. my wife just asks if "the internet is working" now, not 'is netflix down'. it's glorious, but also... a lot. anyone else go from zero to homelab hero in record time? what kicked off your journey into the self-hosted abyss?