Notebook
I review tools I have run myself: AI agents, local model servers and self-hosted software. Every review gives a verdict, what it costs, its licence, and what I actually tested. Once a month there is also a token-price round-up.
Showing all posts, newest first.
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AI token market: November 2026
In short: headline prices barely moved; the real changes are in cached-input and batch discounts, so check your usage pattern before you switch.
Market -
Ollama, three months in: local models without the yak-shaving
Verdict: use it for one box and one user. Move to vLLM once a team shares the GPU.
Use it -
A fortnight with a coding agent on my own repos
Verdict: real time saved on tests and refactors, but anything touching infrastructure needed line-by-line review.
Use with care -
AI token market: October 2026
In short: two new mid-tier models undercut last month's value picks; long-context surcharges now matter more than list price.
Market -
Forgejo and CI runners on a single mini PC
Verdict: a quiet, cheap Git forge for personal work. Keep the runners in VMs, not on the host.
Use it -
Open WebUI as a shared chat front-end for a small team
Verdict: a good front-end, but sort out auth, backups and the upgrade routine before you hand it to anyone else.
Use with care -
AI token market: September 2026
In short: a quiet month. This edition adds a column for the output-to-input price ratio, because output tokens drive most agent bills.
Market -
A month with a hosted "autonomous" browser agent
Verdict: impressive demos, but too many unattended runs failed for me to trust it with billable work.
Skip -
Homelab backups: restic, two targets, one restore drill
Verdict: boring and reliable, which is the point. Schedule the restore test, not just the backup.
Use it
These entries are sample content written to show the layout. Review titles link to the one finished sample review; market titles link to the sample November market post.
Read enough? I'm open to contract work.
Full-stack builds, CI/CD and Kubernetes, and getting self-hosted or AI tooling into production with sensible guardrails.