I Built Homelab Architect — Plan Your Stack Before You Build It
Most homelab beginners make the same mistake: they grab a Docker Compose template, paste it in, and then discover three months later that their "simple setup" is a sprawling mess of undocumented dependencies, a database with no backup, and ports wide open to the internet. I've been there. I still end up there sometimes. So I built a tool to catch it before it happens. What Homelab Architect Does…
Homelab beginners often make the same error: they download a Docker Compose template, upload it, and later find themselves with a complicated setup full of undocumented dependencies, an unprotected database, and open ports. The author has been through this situation multiple times. To prevent this, the author created a tool named Homelab Architect.
Homelab Architect analyzes a docker-compose.yml file or allows users to build their stack manually from a list of 45+ common homelab services. It then generates several outputs. These include:
- A resource dashboard that provides total CPU and RAM estimates for the entire stack.
- Service cards displaying each service's resource footprint, exposed ports, and restart policy.
- A security audit that flags issues like using :latest tags, exposing ports without firewall rules, or missing restart policies.
- Single points of failure are identified, such as services without backup plans that others rely on.
- A dependency map shows which services interact with each other, helping users understand what to restart in what order.
- A backup plan details exactly what needs to be backed up and how, based on the specific services in use.
- An export feature that saves the analysis as JSON, allowing sharing or later reloading, or generates a Mermaid diagram for documentation purposes.
The tool works entirely in the user's browser. The docker-compose.yml file is never sent anywhere as all parsing, security analysis, and rendering occur client-side, and the tool functions even offline after the initial load.
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