Homelab as Code

A small lab should be easy to understand, rebuild, and set aside when life gets busy. This project concept puts configuration and recovery documentation together.

Illustrative starter project: the architecture and milestones below are examples. No uptime, performance, or deployment claims are being made. Update this page as you build and test your own environment.

Project shape

Start with a single test service and the minimum infrastructure needed to run it. Expand the repository when a new experiment needs something concrete.

homelab/
├── README.md
├── compose/
│   └── example-service/
├── inventory/
└── runbooks/
    ├── rebuild.md
    └── recovery.md

Secrets belong in an appropriate secret store or local configuration excluded from the repository. Documentation should explain how to supply them without including their values.

Proposed milestones

Milestone	Evidence of completion
First service	A documented clean installation
Configuration history	Changes reviewed in version control
Recovery procedure	A restore exercised from recorded steps
Operational notes	Known limitations and maintenance tasks

Design choices

Keep the first deployment small enough to recreate in one sitting. Prefer readable configuration over layers of abstraction until repetition gives those abstractions a clear purpose.

Questions for the first build

• What experiment does this service support?
• Which data must survive a rebuild?
• Can the setup be understood without the original author present?
• What will need attention after a month away?

Next steps

Choose the first experiment and record the setup from a clean host. For related context, see Current State of my Homelab.