Every tool here is one I open in a normal week. Nothing is listed because it is popular, and nothing is listed because I set it up once and forgot about it. Where something is self-hosted or open source, that is usually the reason it won.
Pick a category to narrow the list, or open a card to read why the tool stuck.
28 of 28
The editor everything else plugs into.
A fast first draft, never the final word.
A website that is just files in a repository.
Version control is the least interesting part.
The only deploy button, and it is a git push.
Where the LLM tokens and the money actually go.
A fast terminal with no tabs of its own to manage.
A shell that tells me where I am.
Shell history as a searchable database.
self-hosted
WebsiteDotfiles in git, secrets left out of it.
One keystroke instead of ten.
Open source, auditable and boring, which is exactly right for a vault.
A read-it-later pile that does not vanish with a startup.
self-hosted
WebsiteThe bibliography, and the reason it stays correct.
A magnet, an NFC tag, two taps.
The open-source app behind the brick.
My machines behave as if they were on one LAN.
A window into the containers, not a replacement for the compose file.
self-hosted
WebsiteOne door in front of thirty containers.
self-hosted
WebsiteA public URL without an open port.
The DNS server is the cheapest ad blocker.
self-hosted
WebsiteThe house runs locally or it does not run.
self-hosted
WebsiteThe glue between things that do not speak.
self-hosted
WebsiteThe photo library that stopped being rented.
self-hosted
WebsiteContainer logs without an SSH session.
self-hosted
WebsiteMonitoring light enough to leave running.
self-hosted
WebsiteOne page that knows what is running.
self-hosted
WebsiteThe only container whose failure would actually hurt.
self-hosted
Website
Some of these get a longer treatment on the blog, and a few of them show up in the projects they helped build.