Claude Code running directly on the server. Just describe what you want.
CLI agents make self-hosting on a home server easier and fun
by Jordan Fulghum, January 2026
I've wanted to self-host at home for years, but I always bounced off it - too much time spent configuring instead of using. It just wasn't fun.
That changed recently, because CLI agents like Claude Code make self-hosting on a cheapo home server dramatically easier and actually fun.
This is the first time I would recommend it to normie/software-literate people who never really wanted to sign up to become a sysadmin and stress about uptime of core personal services.
Three things converged:
| Cheap, capable mini PCs | You can buy a silent, low-power Linux box for less than $500 |
| Tailscale | Simple, secure, private networking |
| Claude Code | Install the CLI agent directly on the box, and you no longer need to remember or look-up Docker syntax, Compose quirks, or config formats |
So instead of Googling things like “docker compose vaultwarden caddy reverse proxy” and piecing together a bunch of old blog posts, I just ran Claude Code directly on the machine and let it sort it out.
I previously ran my Plex server on an M1 Mac mini, which was great, but as I wanted to add more services I found myself running a lot of resource-hungry VMs (via UTM) and it was getting complicated anytime the Mac rebooted. So, I picked up a Beelink Mini N150. It is small, quiet, and just barely sips power. I paid around $379* for the device and another few hundred USD for 8TB in NVMe SSD. It's pretty wild how accessible these mini PCs have become in recent years!
| Install Linux | Flash USB, install Ubuntu Server (I picked 22.04 LTS) |
| Install Tailscale | Get it on your private network to make your life easier |
| SSH in | From my laptop, anywhere |
| Install Claude Code | On the server itself |
| Ask for what I want | Go get a coffee |
I've been using Claude Code and other agentic CLIs for my day-to-day development, but as others are realizing, they are generalized computer agents and native to the terminal.
I installed Claude Code directly on the Linux box. Then I asked it things like:
I explained the outcome I wanted and let Claude Code take care of the details and implementation.
I focused on things I already used, but wanted more control over - effectively starting to knock down the walled garden around my core services like passwords, photos, media.
| Service | What it replaces or does |
|---|---|
| Vaultwarden | Bitwarden, but self-hosted and fast |
| Plex | Media server - PSA get Plex Pass to unlock hardware-accelerated transcoding |
| Immich | Google Photos replacement |
| Uptime Kuma | Simple service monitoring |
| Caddy | Reverse proxy with automatic TLS |
| Home Assistant | Home automation hub |
| Readeck | Read-it-later. Honestly blown away by this one! |
Each one lives in its own container.
I can access everything from my phone, laptop, and tablet like it is local.
When something goes down, I get an email. When it comes back up, another email.
Vaultwarden is a Bitwarden-compatible password manager written in Rust. Lightweight, reliable, and you can use the existing Bitwarden clients (like native apps and browser extensions). You can even set it as the default password manager on iOS, at the OS level!
Once that was running, I exported my passwords from iCloud/Keychain, imported them easily into Vaultwarden, and haven't looked back since.
Immich is a Google Photos replacement. I thought I'd have to compromise and flinched a bit when I installed it. But nope, it's good. Mobile apps. Face recognition via a local (but slow) machine learning thread. Timeline and map view. Automatic uploads from your photo roll.
This is the kind of thing that used to feel fragile and half-baked when self-hosted. It does not anymore.
Mozilla killed Pocket. I needed a replacement.
I took a bet on Readeck. The UI is genuinely good. Clean typography, nice reading experience, good mobile support. It always remembers where I stopped reading and takes me right there. I even set up a shortcut that allows me to save an article for later right from mobile Firefox. Awesome.
This is exactly the kind of thing self-hosting is perfect for. A small, personal tool that you actually use every day.
I initially installed Lazydocker and Glances for monitoring. Uptime Kuma works pretty good. Still, it's so easy now to ask: why not do better? I asked Claude to build a single-page monitoring dashboard. It one-shotted it, building a local web app in Go and Svelte (what do I care?) that monitors the status and links out to each service.
In terms of utilization, 14 different containers use less than 10% of the CPU and about a third of the memory. Plenty of room to grow, perhaps indicating that the Beelink is a bit overkill for my needs.
Next, I have always wanted a redundant local + remote backup system for my irreplaceable media - namely my photos going back about 25 years now. I plugged in an old USB drive to the Beelink, told Claude to backup to the drive daily, and it was done seconds later.
Finally, I created a new IAM user in the AWS dashboard, installed the AWS CLI on the server, and asked Claude to backup to S3 weekly. On its own, it suggested Glacier Deep storage, which would run me about twenty cents per month for half a terabyte of photos. A minute or two later, I had remote backups, complete with monitoring + logs from the dashboard.
The feeling of ownership is powerful, but a bit hard to describe. I think you just have to try it, and I hope you get a strong feeling of independence like I have.
When something breaks, I SSH in, ask the agent what is wrong, and fix it. When I want to add something new, I describe it.
I am spending time using software, learning, and having fun - instead of maintaining it and stressing out about it.
This is for people who:
If that is you, I would encourage you to try self-hosting this year.
For the first time, I would say this is not just viable. It's fun!
*Update: I originally incorrectly listed the price of the Beelink as $200. It is actually $379. I've updated this post, but am unable to edit the original post on X. Sorry for the mistake!
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