Blog
Notes from practice – automation with n8n, language models on my own hardware, and whatever the data centre throws at me. Also available as an RSS feed.
Monitoring that actually pages me
What years of vSphere and Checkmk in my day job taught me: monitoring is not collecting metrics, it's deciding what is allowed to wake you up.
A static generator without dependencies
Why I build my website with a self-written Python script instead of Hugo or Jekyll – and what 850 lines of standard library actually do.
Backups you actually restore
A backup you have never restored is not a backup. Why I now practice restores regularly – and which assumptions break every single time.
Testing local models in daily use
For a month I used local models on my Mac for real tasks instead of benchmarks. What they actually deliver – and where I still need the cloud.
n8n errors that stay silent
A workflow that ends "successfully" can still have done nothing. How I find silent failures in n8n – and why the green checkmark lies.
Keeping an Eye on Token Costs
Cloud language models charge per token. If you don't measure, you pay blind. How I track my usage – and what it revealed.
Two embedding models, one vector space
Index with one model, search with another, and you get either an error – or quietly wrong results.
When the server asks permission
Human-in-the-loop with n8n and Telegram – maintenance that runs itself but asks at the right moment.
What has to run locally – and what does not
Not every step belongs in house, and not every step may leave it. A decision guide from practice.
Monitoring without a monitoring stack
A scheduled job, one command, a Telegram message. When that is enough – and when it is not.
One server, seven services, 7.7 GB of RAM
Nextcloud, GitLab, n8n, YouTrack, a vector database and a Minecraft server on one machine. What runs out first.
A product advisor for your own shop
Shopify catalogue into Qdrant, vector search as a tool for a language-model agent, Telegram as the interface.
My own server, my own site
Why this site lives on a machine I run myself – and what will show up here.