The notebook
Posts, with verdicts.
Reviews of AI tools, agents and self-hosted software I have actually run, notes from the home lab, and the monthly token market tables. Each one opens with a verdict so you can decide whether the detail is worth your time.
Sample entries. The list shows how posts, tags and verdicts work. Only the gateway review has a full sample page; the other titles and verdicts are placeholders.
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AI token market, November 2026
In one line: input, output and cached-token prices per million for the main hosted models, side by side, with what moved since October.
Monthly12 min read -
LiteLLM as a home-lab model gateway: three weeks in front of four providers
In one line: worth running the moment you call more than one provider; not worth it if you only ever call one.
Keep14 min read -
Two weeks of a terminal coding assistant in a real repository
In one line: quick and tidy on small, well-described changes; you still have to hold the plan.
Try11 min read -
AI token market, October 2026
In one line: the same tables, plus a first pass at comparing batch and cached pricing where providers offer them.
Monthly10 min read -
Moving the home lab from Compose files to a self-hosted PaaS
In one line: nicer deploys, but I gave up more control over networking than I wanted to.
Wait9 min read -
A self-hosted chat front end for the whole household
In one line: easy to stand up; user management and updates need more care than the README suggests.
Try10 min read -
Leaving a coding agent running unattended overnight
In one line: it finished the tasks and broke the tests it never ran. Not yet.
Skip8 min read -
AI token market, September 2026
In one line: the first issue, and the method: list prices only, per million tokens, checked against each provider's own pricing page.
Monthly9 min read -
Self-hosted photo backup, after the first full restore
In one line: it replaced the cloud album for us; I only trust it because I tested the restore.
Keep12 min read -
Uptime checks and push alerts I actually read
In one line: fewer, louder alerts; three checks did more than the thirty I started with.
Keep7 min read