Notes on owning your stack.
Field guides for self-hosting: honest setups, real sharp edges, and the case for keeping your apps and data on hardware you control.
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Self-Host on a Free Oracle Cloud Server with Greffon
A free ARM box from Oracle, turned into a greffer that runs your own apps. The honest setup from start to finish, including the sharp edges most walkthroughs skip.
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Self-Host Activepieces with Greffon
A no-code automation builder is glue between every account you have. Running it on a greffer you own keeps those connection secrets off a vendor's servers.
Self-Host Excalidraw with Greffon
A whiteboard for sketching diagrams, on a box you own. Grafts onto a greffer in minutes. The honest catch: drawings live in your browser, not the server.
Self-Host Forgejo with Greffon
Your code history is the one asset you cannot regenerate. The honest setup for Forgejo, a lightweight Git forge, on a greffer you own.
Self-Host FreshRSS with Greffon
An RSS reader is how you follow the web on your own terms, no algorithm in the middle. Here is the honest setup for FreshRSS on a greffer.
Self-Host Ghost with Greffon
Ghost runs blogs and member-funded newsletters for a lot of independent writers. Here is the honest setup for running it on a greffer you own, email and all.
Self-Host GlitchTip with Greffon
Error tracking sees every stack trace and request your apps throw. That is a lot of trust to hand a vendor. Here is the honest GlitchTip setup on a greffer you own.
Self-Host Grafana with Greffon
Grafana turns metrics into dashboards you actually read. Run it on a greffer you own, with honest notes on data sources, storage, and backups.
Self-Host Linkding with Greffon
Bookmarks are a quiet record of what you read and care about. Linkding keeps that list small, fast, and yours, on a greffer you own.
Self-Host Mealie with Greffon
Your recipe collection is the kind of thing you want to keep for decades. That is a poor fit for a service that might shut down. Here is the honest setup for Mealie on a greffer.
Self-Host Memos with Greffon
Quick notes are the most personal thing you type all day. Memos is a small, fast place to keep them, on a greffer you own. The honest setup.
Self-Host Metabase with Greffon
Metabase points at your data and turns it into dashboards and questions. When that data is your business, the box it runs on should be one you own.
Self-Host Multica with Greffon
Multica manages AI coding agents as team members. Run the server on a greffer with HTTPS, wire the SMTP its login needs, point your local daemon at it.
Self-Host Paperless-ngx with Greffon
Every invoice, contract, and tax form you own, scanned and searchable on hardware you control. The honest setup for Paperless-ngx on a greffer.
Self-Host Stirling-PDF with Greffon
Splitting, merging, and OCR-ing PDFs usually means uploading them to a website you do not control. Run the whole toolkit on a greffer instead.
Self-Host Umami with Greffon
Most analytics tools pay for themselves by mining your visitors. Umami does not collect that, and self-hosting keeps the data on a box you own.
Self-Host Uptime Kuma with Greffon
A monitor has to outlive the things it watches. Honest setup for Uptime Kuma on a greffer, including the one place you should not host it.
Self-Host Vikunja with Greffon
Your to-do list knows your whole life. Here is the honest setup for Vikunja on a greffer: HTTPS, email for reminders, external access, and backups.
Self-Host Visio with Greffon
A video call is one of the most personal things you route through someone else's servers. Here is the honest setup for Visio video conferencing on a greffer you own.
Self-Host VS Code with Greffon
Run VS Code in your browser on a server you own. Honest setup for openvscode-server on a greffer: HTTPS, tunnel access, sizing, and backups.
Self-Host WordPress with Greffon
WordPress runs a huge slice of the web, mostly on rented hosting. Here is the honest setup to graft it onto a greffer you own, sharp edges and all.
Self-Host a WireGuard VPN with Greffon
Run your own WireGuard VPN on a greffer, sharp edges and all: the UDP port you must open, the host kernel modules that bite, and the peer trust model.
Self-Host Immich with Greffon: Your Own Google Photos
Run a self-hosted Google Photos alternative on a greffer, with honest notes on storage, memory, and why backups are non-negotiable.
Self-Host Nextcloud with Greffon: Own Your Files
Files, calendar, and contacts on a server you own. The honest setup for Nextcloud on a greffer, including the hardware it rewards.
Self-Host Plausible Analytics with Greffon
Privacy-friendly web analytics on a greffer, with your visitors' data staying on hardware you own.
Self-Host n8n with Greffon: Own Your Automations
A Zapier-style automation tool on your own server, holding your own keys. The honest setup, including the security that matters.
Self-Host Vaultwarden (Bitwarden) with Greffon
Your passwords belong on hardware you own. Graft Vaultwarden onto your greffer for a Bitwarden-compatible vault with automatic HTTPS, and the honest setup notes that matter when the data is this sensitive.
Self-Hosting vs Public Cloud: How to Choose in 2026
A practical rubric for deciding when to self-host, when to reach for a hyperscaler, and how to run both without adding chaos.
Avoiding Cloud Lock-In: A Playbook for Platform Teams
Keep your optionality while still delivering the experience your engineers and knowledge workers expect.
GDPR, Data Residency and Modern App Stacks
A practical guide to keeping collaboration and developer tools compliant without slowing teams down.
New posts, no noise.
Field notes on self-hosting and the occasional changelog. Follow along where you already are.