HomeLabGuides

I started this because I couldn't find a guide that was actually written by someone who'd done it.

A few years ago I had an old Intel NUC sitting on a shelf. I knew there was something useful I could do with it — I just couldn't find a resource that explained it the way a knowledgeable friend would. Everything I found was either too basic ("here's how to turn on your computer") or way too deep in the weeds, assuming I already knew what Docker was, why I needed it, and how it related to Home Assistant.

So I built my own setup by trial and error. I learned what a Docker/UFW bypass was the hard way — by running a port scan on myself from my phone hotspot and finding Portainer wide open to the internet. I learned the BIOS power restore setting existed after a power outage left my server offline for two days before I noticed. I learned MCP by being the first person in my social circle to connect Claude AI to a real running home server and ask it "are all my containers running?" from a commuter train.

These guides are the resource I wished I'd had. Every section is written from real experience, not documentation. Every warning comes from a real mistake. Every recommendation is something I actually run in my own setup, right now.

I work in client success and operations, I have a family, and I built all of this in evenings and on weekends. If I can do it, you can too — and with these guides, it'll take you a fraction of the time it took me.

Welcome to the lab.
— Bob, HomeLabGuides