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Privacy, cost, convenience, and flexibility were all common responses from users when asked why they self-host in this year's annual survey. Couple this with the number of new projects marketed as "I grew tired of X so I built Y" and a pattern emerges – the rationale behind self-hosting for many often isn't what it has to offer, but rather what it doesn't have to offer (lack of privacy, hidden costs, walled gardens, etc.). And while there's nothing inherently wrong with this, I've noticed at times it can take away from some of the crazy and cool things people have created (even if it's occasionally AI slop). I find myself guilty of it, too, which is why so many of the topics covered in this newsletter are tech-adjacent and only loosely related to self-hosting. However, this week – instead of getting riled up over Jeff Bezos' prediction that cloud computing will replace physical machines – I spent my time diving into IRC (welcome to 1995) and deployed ZNC and The Lounge for a fully-functional bouncer/client deployment. And despite not being able to find active communities to participate in (IRC might actually be dead), I reveled in the process of researching options, deploying apps, troubleshooting errors, and finally making contact with what I'm sure was a server full of bots anyway. So in an effort to celebrate what self-hosting is rather than what it isn't, below are some updates, launches, and recommendations focused entirely on self-hosted platforms in place of the usual smattering of related topics that most people will have forgotten by Monday: - Nametag, a personal relationship manager for all the friends self-hosters are notorious for having, launched this past week and filled the void left in many of our lives by Monica (which reminds me – whatever happened to Chandler?)
- Calibre-Web Automated Downloader, a platform for downloading free (and definitely not pirated) books, has been rebranded to Shelfmark
- In their 2025 recap, the team behind qui – a sleek new qBittorrent frontend and multi-instance manager – announced they're working on an *arr replacement (quirr?)
- The developer of BentoPDF addressed a surge in similar projects utilizing its tools under the hood without proper attribution (the project also just hit 10k stars – in less than three months!)
- A wild Forecats appeared – a Home Assistant integration for generating themed pictures of cats representing the day's weather forecast (my favorite Reddit take from the launch post: this is the reason 2 sticks of ram cost as much as a used car)
- NocoDB (low-code database/spreadsheets) finally released dark mode...in a bug fix release?
- Youlag, a novel take on alternative YouTube frontends via FreshRSS plugins, has been making the rounds given a recent batch of updates (definitely worth checking out if you're a YouTube junkie)
- C.A.F.E., a visual automation builder/editor for Home Assistant, made me question why this functionality isn't already built in to the platform
- There's a new mobile music streaming client on the block for Jellyfin and Navidrome named Yuzic (spoiler alert: it's pretty)
- Mattermost recently imposed a 10,000-message limit (that may or may not be avoidable by switching to a different edition?), so someone developed a CLI tool to assist users with making the switch to Matrix
- A newsletter reader recently introduced me to an all-in-one Anytype deployment for self-hosters interested in the Notion-like platform but a bit intimidated by its official deployment process
Happy selfh.st/ing! Newswire
Software Updates
- Colanode v0.4.0 | Workspace: JSON-based configuration, simplified storage limits, workspace read-only mode, redesigned clients
- Cosmos OS v0.20.0 | Deployment: Samba storage support, upload custom icons, container hardware constraints, CORS passthrough, .env file uploads
- Edit Mind v0.13.0 | Video Editing: Split indexer into stages, new database models, audio/visual embedding, new image search
- Ente Photos v1.3.0 | Photos: Comments and reactions for shared photos, assign other Ente users as album admins
- Forgejo v14.0.0 | Git: Search syntax for issues and pull requests. new file editor, stateless CSRF protection for longer tab sessions, pull request trust management, commit status cleanup, database foreign keys
- Kavita v0.8.9 | Books: Reworked auth stack, client devices, scanner improvements, OPDS rework, progress overhaul
- Multi-Scrobbler v0.11.0 | Scrobble: Libre.fm source and client support, MusicBrainz search improvements, removed deprecated sources
- NoteDiscovery v0.13.0 | Note-Taking: Public note sharing via private links
- Pocket ID v2.2.0 | Authentication: E-mail verification, renew API key option, disable built-in rate limiting variable, configurable homepage URL
- Postiz v2.12.0 | Social Media Scheduling: Transition from BullMQ to Temporal for synced workflows, dropped Alpine from Docker image, updated application port
- Poznote v2.3.0 | Note-Taking: New home page, optimized database queries, drag-and-drop folders, enhanced Markdown parsing
- Reitti v3.3.0 | Location: Location ingestion via MQTT, dedicated GPSLogger ingestion endpoint, editable memory times, random default home location for new users
- Shelfmark v1.0.0 | Downloads: Support for downloads via torrents, Usenet, and IRC; audiobook download support via Prowlarr
- Stirling PDF v2.2.0 | PDF: eBook conversion, manual redaction, new compliancy conversions, auto-background removal for signatures, desktop app SSO
- Youlag v4.1.0 | Videos: Whitelist specific categories for video mode layouts, block YouTube shorts, modernized article interface, swipe down to activate mini player
- Zerobyte v0.22.0 | Backups: 2FA support, restic read operation performance improvements, additional notification context, increased backup name length
New Software
- Anchor | Note-Taking: Offline-first note-taking application
- Aurral | *arr: Streamlined artist request manager for Lidarr
- Chalkboard | Events: Billiard hall management platform
- Coneshare | File Sharing: Secure document sharing with in-depth analytics
- Docker DNS Exporter | DNS: Create DNS records from Docker labels
- dumpsterr | *arr: Automated Plex trash management tool
- Grafana Alerts Dashboard | Monitoring: Grafana alerts dashboard optimized for wall displays
- Immich Viewer | Photos: Digital Immich photo frame for Apple TV
- Nametag | Relationships: Simple yet effective personal relationship manager
- Pteroca | Billing: Client management and billing for Pterodactyl servers
- Redd-Archiver | Backups: Archive generator for Reddit, Voat, and Ruqqus
- Reddit Monitor | Monitoring: Reddit monitoring bot with a web interface and Pushover notifications
- RetroRTC | Project Management: Backend-free WebRTC-based retrospective tool
- RICE Score Calculator | Project Management: Single-page RICE score calculator and comparisons
- Sendinator | File Sharing: Chunked file sharing with progressive downloads
- SimpleDMS | Document Management: Document management for small businesses
- Sortarr | *arr: Lightweight web dashboard with library insights from Radarr and Sonarr
- Spreadsheet | Spreadsheets: Lightweight, client-only spreadsheet web app
- Spreadsheet | Spreadsheets: Collaborative spreadsheets with a SQLite backend
- Umay Gantt Builder | Visualization: Simple, elegant Gantt chart generator for project planning
- Unraid Deck | Server Management: Native iOS companion app for Unraid
- VaultOS | Server Management: Terminal-based interface for managing Linux desktop environment Docker containers
- Your LastFM | Music: Turn Last.fm scrobbles into a web dashboard
Recently Discovered
- ERPNext | ERP: Powerful and intuitive enterprise resource planning
- GeoPulse | Location: Location tracking and analysis platform
- Keeper | Calendar: Calendar syncing and booking tool
- nodecast-tv | IPTV: Web-based IPTV player
- yubal | Downloads: YouTube Music album downloader with metadata tagging
Project Updates
Atlas CMMS | Maintenance License: GPL-3.0 --> AGPL-3.0
CWA Book Downloader | Books Name: CWA Book Downloader --> Shelfmark
Immich MediaKit | Photos Name: Immich MediaKit --> Immich Deduper
NocoDB | No-Code / Low-Code License: AGP-3.0 --> Sustainable Use
Unblink | NVR Repository: zapdos-labs/unblink --> unblink/unblink
Wanderer | Trail Database Repository: Flomp/wanderer --> open-wanderer/wanderer
Zola | Static Site License: MIT --> EUPL-1.2
Content SpotlightMeet Rackula, a web-based drag-and-drop server rack visualizer. With Rackula, users can easily build, plan, and visualize the layout of a physical server rack from the comfort of a browser. Features include various device types (server, networking, storage, power, KVM, AV, cooling, shelves), front/rear rack planning, various rack sizes, device images, and more. Rackula can be easily deployed via Docker and doesn't require additional storage as configurations are saved via unique URLs and downloadable ZIP files.
Links: Source Code, Demo Videos and PodcastsCommand Line CornerUee diff -u file1 file2 to quickly compare differences between two files: $ cat example.txt
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$ cat example2.txt
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$ diff -u example.txt example2.txt
-self-
+self
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Click here for an archive of commands shared in past newsletters. Thanks to following executive sponsors, whose continued support makes this newsletter possible: Share Your ContentI'm always looking for new and existing self-hosted content to share in Self-Host Weekly. Reach out using the button below if you'd like to have your own content featured or have a suggestion for content types you'd like to see featured in future newsletters.
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