Automation is the backbone of my homelab. This wiki covers the tools, patterns, and workflows that keep 50+ services running with minimal manual intervention.
Automation Stack # n8n Workflow Automation # n8n is my primary workflow automation platform—think Zapier/Make but self-hosted with full code access.
The Challenge # I’ve been running a homelab for years, constantly deploying new services, debugging issues, and learning from mistakes. Every time I solve a particularly gnarly problem or build something interesting, I think, “I should write this up.” And then I don’t.
The friction is real. By the time I finish a project—maybe deploying Wazuh XDR or migrating from Watchtower to WUD—I’m mentally done. The last thing I want to do is sit down and reconstruct what I did, sanitize my internal network details for public consumption, and format everything into a proper blog post. The motivation is there when I’m in the middle of solving a problem, but it evaporates the moment I’m done.
