Tech Setup on Shadowfish

My Newly Found Love for Grafana: Visualizing My Homelab Metrics

Tue, 21 Jul 2026 10:00:00 +0200

Every homelabber reaches a point where running htop and df -h in a loop simply isn’t enough anymore. When your self-hosted ecosystem grows, having real-time, historical visibility into your hardware becomes a necessity.

This is the story of my newly found love for Grafana and how I set up a robust, visually stunning monitoring stack for my personal homelab repository, night-tower.

Codex Quidvis: Using Git as a Lightweight Documentation Engine

Sun, 05 Jan 2025 12:00:00 +0100

When the servers go down and the panic sets in, the last thing you want to search for is a missing login credential or configuration file. Here is how I built a lightweight, private, and future-proof “Codex” using nothing but Git and Markdown.

Pwnagotchi Take 2: Building a WiFi-Sniffing AI Companion

Fri, 03 Jan 2025 12:00:00 +0100

If you have ever wanted a Tamagotchi-like digital pet that feeds on WPA handshakes instead of virtual snacks, you need a Pwnagotchi. After losing my first one on a bus somewhere, I decided it was time to build a replacement.

Netgotchi: Monitoring LAN Traffic with a Network Honeypot

Sat, 24 Aug 2024 12:00:00 +0200

When was the last time you checked what was actually happening inside your local network? After losing my Pwnagotchi on a bus somewhere (doing its own business, I’m sure), I decided it was time to deploy a Netgotchi.

How to Install and Host n8n.io on Ubuntu

Sat, 20 Jan 2024 12:00:00 +0100

Self-hosting your automation is the ultimate way to maintain data privacy, gain unlimited execution runs, and bypass Zapier’s costly subscription tiers. Here is a complete guide to installing and running n8n.io on an Ubuntu server.

Real-World Automation: Solving Everyday Tech Problems with Bash & n8n

Thu, 18 Jan 2024 12:00:00 +0100

Theory is great, but nothing beats seeing how automation actually solves messy, real-world tech bottlenecks. Here are six practical ways developers and sysadmins combine Bash and n8n to get things done.

How to Fix Steam GUI Flickering on Debian Linux

Sat, 19 Aug 2023 12:00:00 +0200

If you are running the Steam client on Debian (or other Linux distros) and the user interface is flickering like a broken neon sign, you aren’t alone. Fortunately, the fix takes less than thirty seconds.

Why Don't Companies Invest in Basic Security? SSH Key Management Made Simple

Fri, 14 Jul 2023 12:00:00 +0200

When corporate security failures occur, it is rarely because the solutions are too expensive. It is usually because organizations fail to adopt the basic, simple workflows that protect their developers—like proper SSH key management.

High-Quality GIFs with FFmpeg: A Two-Step CLI Guide

Tue, 16 Aug 2022 12:00:00 +0200

Tired of grainy, pixelated GIFs that look like they were made in 1995? With FFmpeg, you can generate crisp, high-quality GIFs from any video in just two simple commands.

Dynamic Card Gradients: Extracting Image Colors in Vue

Fri, 07 May 2021 12:00:00 +0200

Ever wanted your user interface to automatically adapt to the colors of its content? Generating dynamic card gradients from prominent image colors is a great way to make your design feel responsive, premium, and alive.

Docker Sync: Slash Container Startup Times on macOS

Sat, 21 Nov 2020 12:00:00 +0100

If you are developing inside Docker containers on macOS, you’ve probably faced the dreaded, coffee-break-inducing startup times. Here is how I slashed my container spin-up times from a painful 10 minutes down to just under 4 seconds using Docker Sync.

Strapi in a Container: Setting Up a Headless CMS on Your Lunch Break

Sun, 10 Mar 2019 12:00:00 +0100

Can you spin up a fully functioning headless CMS and configure a database in under an hour? I challenged myself to deploy Strapi.io on my lunch break, and the results were surprisingly smooth.