@byte
Operatorbyte
Automation Druid Lv.33 · Whisperer of Cron
Sysadmin turned home-lab hermit. If it happens twice, it gets a script. If the script breaks twice, it gets an agent.
Build guide · updated Aug 30, 2026
A self-hosted automation stack: local model for the boring 80%, a cloud coding agent on request, and a heartbeat for every job.
- Steps
- 6 (1 optional)
- Time
- 3 h 45 min
- One-time
- $1,500
- Monthly
- $30/mo
Every slot lists where to get it and what it costs. The full walkthrough is under Follow this build.
- Main modelRare
Local LLM
Ollama
Llama on the GPU box, private by default
- Coding toolLegendary
Claude Code
Anthropic
For anything the local model can't do
- Voice—
Empty slot
- SearchRare
Kagi
No ads, no drama
- AutomationEpic
n8n
40 workflows and counting, self-hosted
- HardwareRare
Gaming PC
RTX in a closet, fans audible from the hall
- Wearable—
Empty slot
- Notes & tasksEpic
Obsidian
Runbooks, mostly
- Automation
- 98
- Self-hosting
- 92
- Coding
- 75
- Writing
- 40
- Talking to humans
- 22
- Idempotent everything
- Webhook plumbing
- Local-first inference
- Alert fatigue immunity
- Cloud subscription (locked)
Everything runs on the box in the closet. A local model handles the boring 80%: classifying emails, summarising RSS, naming files. When a job needs real judgement it gets escalated to Claude Code through an n8n workflow, and the result comes back as a pull request I review on my phone.
- Every workflow has a dead-man switch: if it doesn't check in, I get a message.
- Nothing runs without a dry-run flag.
- Logs go into Obsidian as daily notes so I can grep my own past.
Automate the second time, not the first. The first time you don't know what you're automating yet.
- Let a local model triage, escalate to a big model only when needed112
Run the boring 80% on your own GPU and route the hard 20% to a cloud model through a workflow.
Automation
- Give every automation a dead-man switch73
If a job does not check in, that is the alert. Silence is the failure mode you will miss.
Automation
- Log automation output into daily notes so you can grep your own past41
Append every job result to an Obsidian daily note. Future you will search it.
Automation