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Tags: homelab, self-hosting, server, proxmox, docker, ollama, networking, devops Last updated: 2026-07-02

Homelab for Vibe Coders Cheatsheet

What Is a Homelab for Vibe Coding?

A homelab is a personal server setup at home — a playground where you run your own services, host your own AI models, and build infrastructure without cloud bills. For a vibe coder, a homelab means:

Hardware Considerations

Recommended Specs by Use Case

🚨 Pro Tip: GPU Is Everything for AI

• For Ollama/LLM inference, the GPU is your most important component. A 24GB RTX 3090 is the best price-to-performance card for local AI. It runs 30B models at Q4_K_M comfortably.
• CPU-only inference is 10–50x slower. A 7B model on a modern CPU gets ~2–5 tok/s vs ~40–60 tok/s on a GPU.
• Used enterprise gear (Dell PowerEdge, HP ProLiant, SuperMicro) on eBay is cheap but loud and power-hungry. A quiet mini PC with an external GPU is often better for a home office.
• Intel Arc A770 16GB is a surprisingly good budget AI card (£200–250 used) with 16GB VRAM.

Hardware Shopping List

Operating System & Hypervisor

Proxmox VE (Recommended)

Proxmox is a free, open-source hypervisor based on Debian. It runs VMs (KVM) and containers (LXC) with a web UI.

# Download from https://proxmox.com — ISO installer
# After install:
apt update && apt dist-upgrade -y

# Remove enterprise repo (free users)
rm /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pve-enterprise.list
echo "deb https://download.proxmox.com/debian/pve bookworm pve-no-subscription" > /etc/apt/sources.list.d/pve.list

# Create a privileged LXC container for Docker (nesting)
pct create 100 local:vztmpl/ubuntu-22.04-standard_22.04-1_amd64.tar.zst \
  --storage local-lvm --memory 8192 --cores 4 \
  --net0 name=eth0,bridge=vmbr0,ip=dhcp \
  --unprivileged 0 --features nesting=1

Recommended VM / LXC Layout

Proxmox Host
├── LXC: Docker host (Ubuntu 22.04)  — 8GB RAM, 4 vCPU
│   ├── Ollama + Open WebUI
│   ├── Gitea + Woodpecker CI
│   ├── Postgres + Redis
│   ├── Nginx Proxy Manager
│   └── Uptime Kuma + Grafana
├── LXC: Media server  — 4GB RAM
│   ├── Jellyfin / Plex
│   └── Sonarr / Radarr / Transmission
├── VM: TrueNAS Scale (passed-through HBA)  — 8GB RAM
│   └── ZFS pools shared via NFS/SMB
└── VM: Development sandbox  — 16GB RAM, 4 vCPU, GPU passthrough
    └── Test builds, CI runners, experiment with new tools

Essential Services for Vibe Coders

AI / LLM Stack

Development Services

Databases (Self-Hosted)

# PostgreSQL
docker run -d --name postgres -e POSTGRES_PASSWORD=secret -p 5432:5432 postgres:16

# Redis
docker run -d --name redis -p 6379:6379 redis:7-alpine

# MariaDB
docker run -d --name mariadb -e MARIADB_ROOT_PASSWORD=secret -p 3306:3306 mariadb:11

# MongoDB
docker run -d --name mongodb -p 27017:27017 mongo:7

Monitoring & Backup

Networking

Basic Network Layout

Internet
  └─ Router / Firewall (OPNsense / pfSense / OpenWRT)
       ├─ VLAN 10: Servers (Proxmox, Docker hosts)
       ├─ VLAN 20: Trusted (Desktop, laptop)
       ├─ VLAN 30: IoT (smart devices — isolated)
       └─ VLAN 40: Guest WiFi (internet only)

Reverse Proxy with SSL

Use Nginx Proxy Manager or Traefik to route traffic:

• ollama.vibed.local → Open WebUI (port 3000)
• git.vibed.local → Gitea (port 3000)
• monitor.vibed.local → Uptime Kuma (port 3001)

For external access, use Cloudflare Tunnel or Tailscale instead of opening ports:

# Cloudflare Tunnel (no open ports needed)
docker run -d --name cloudflare-tunnel \
  cloudflare/cloudflared:latest tunnel --no-autoupdate run \
  --token YOUR_TOKEN_HERE

# Tailscale VPN mesh
curl -fsSL https://tailscale.com/install.sh | sh
tailscale up --accept-routes

Useful Tools

Storage

ZFS Basics

ZFS is the gold standard for homelab storage — it's a filesystem + volume manager with checksumming, snapshots, and RAID built in.

# Create a mirrored pool (2 drives)
zpool create tank mirror /dev/sda /dev/sdb

# Create a RAID-Z1 pool (3+ drives, 1 parity)
zpool create tank raidz /dev/sda /dev/sdb /dev/sdc

# Create datasets with different properties
zfs create tank/docker
zfs create tank/media
zfs create tank/backups
zfs set compression=lz4 tank/backups
zfs set atime=off tank/docker

# Snapshots
zfs snapshot tank/docker@2026-07-02
zfs rollback tank/docker@2026-07-02

# Send snapshot to remote backup
zfs send tank/docker@2026-07-02 | ssh backup-server zfs recv backup-tank/docker

• Use separate pools for fast (NVMe) and bulk (HDD) storage.
• L2ARC (read cache on SSD) helps ZFS if you have spinning rust + spare SSD.
• Special vdev for metadata on NVMe speeds up small-file operations.
• Don't use RAID-5 on HDDs over 4TB — rebuild times risk URE. Use RAID-Z2 or mirrors.
• For Docker volumes, disable atime and set recordsize=16K for database performance.

Security

First Steps

# SSH hardening
sed -i 's/#PermitRootLogin.*/PermitRootLogin prohibit-password/' /etc/ssh/sshd_config
sed -i 's/#PasswordAuthentication.*/PasswordAuthentication no/' /etc/ssh/sshd_config
systemctl restart sshd

# Firewall (UFW)
ufw default deny incoming
ufw default allow outgoing
ufw allow ssh
ufw allow https
ufw enable

# Fail2ban
apt install fail2ban
systemctl enable --now fail2ban

# Automatic security updates
apt install unattended-upgrades
dpkg-reconfigure --priority=low unattended-upgrades

General Rules

• Never expose SSH on a non-standard port — security by obscurity is not security. Use a VPN or Tailscale instead.
• Isolate services with Docker networks — each stack gets its own network.
• Use reverse proxy for HTTPS — never run a raw HTTP service on the open internet.
• Backups are security — ransomware can't hold you hostage if you have clean snapshots + off-site backups.
• Monitor login attempts — journalctl -u sshd -f and set up alerts for repeated failures.

Power & Cooling

Rule of thumb: A homelab that costs £500/year in electricity is fine. £2,000/year is a second car.

Sample Deployment: Vibe Coder Starter Lab (£300)

Budget-build hardware:
- Beelink N100 mini PC (16GB RAM, 512GB SSD)  — ~£150
- External 2TB USB3 SSD  — ~£80
- Raspberry Pi 4 (4GB)  — ~£50
- UPS: used APC Back-UPS  — ~£30

Services (all on the Beelink):
- Ollama + Open WebUI (7B models, CPU-only)
- Gitea + Woodpecker CI
- Postgres + Redis
- Nginx Proxy Manager
- Uptime Kuma

Pi 4:
- Pi-hole (DNS ad-blocking)
- WireGuard (VPN)
- Network-wide monitoring

Total electricity: ~25W = ~£30/year

Troubleshooting

Tips & Advice

• Start small. A used mini PC + Ollama + Gitea is more useful than an empty 42U rack.
• Document everything. Keep a homelab.md with passwords, IPs, and config notes.
• Use Docker Compose. Don't install services directly on the host. Compose files are reproducible.
• Separate fast and slow storage. SSDs for databases. HDDs for media and backups.
• Set up monitoring first. Uptime Kuma and Netdata should be the first services you deploy.
• Backups > RAID. RAID protects against drive failure, not fire, theft, or rm -rf. Have off-site backups.
• Don't expose services directly. Use Tailscale, Cloudflare Tunnel, or a VPN.
• Learn Proxmox backups. vzdump is built-in. Schedule nightly backups.
• Power matters. A £80 UPS is cheaper than a corrupted ZFS pool from a power cut.
• The best homelab is the one you actually use. Build for what you need right now.